Wrong muscles

Have you ever tried free weight exercises like barbell/dumbbell hip thrusts, Glute ham raises, deadlifts etc...?

you need to focus on engaging your glutes and using them to power the lifts. and also it takes a long time to notice a visual change in glutes, its a long slow process to build glutes.

squats and deadlifts

I have to change my form for a lot of stuff because I have disproportionately long legs. So for something like squats, I have to have a super wide, turned out stance and go pretty deep for it to feel like a natural movement. My glutes aren't hit as hard (though I can at least activate them some since Strong Curves) as they would be if my legs were more proportional and I could sit back without having a ton of forward lean. If I really want to work my glutes I still have to do weighted glute bridges and hip thrusts. I don't know how that would translate to the machines you're using, but it might be worth considering. I know there are other things that affect your form and which muscles do the majority of the work (ankle/hip flexibility etc), but I'm not knowledgeable enough on those to be able to tell you specifics.

Some people don't know the feeling of how to activate their glutes. So here's a way to figure out if you do know how.

Stand with feet about shoulder with apart. Now as if you had to do a no.2 but had no where close to go but didn't want it to come out, slightly push your hips forward and squeeze to keep from pooping on yourself.
If you did it right, then you'll feel your glutes activate. Lol, I do this with clients to make it easy to understand and also keep our sessions funny.

Can't wait to hear the responses.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MedeaKay wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the replies. I can't do free weights (unless closely watched) because I have hypermobility, so deadlifts are out for me. But I am going to try some modified squats. In the past, I have tried squats, but only felt it in my legs. However, like Noelani1503, my legs are pretty long. So I'm going to try tweaking the move just a bit and see if that helps. I wonder if there's some relation between long legs and weak glutes.. hmm.. something to look into. I like the idea of the activation/warmup exercises as well. Thanks again for the suggestions.

jogging backwards can help you find the muscles; leg lifts to the back, pulling up with your butt. Do the exercises that help you feel your glutes working, then actively try to recruit those muscles when doing the regular exercises. Stretch your quads and hip flexors (if that is safe for you, with the hypermobility)

And, it's a long shot, but are you very thin? I had killer legs but no butt until I reached over 20 BMI. Sometimes just a lack of fat means a lack of shape back there, even if you are doing the right things exercise-wise.

What you're experiencing is something called synergistic dominance. Your glutes are either too weak, you lack neuromuscular efficiency, or both and the synergist (in this case, the quadriceps) is taking over the load of the prime mover. You likely also have tight psoas.

There are several ways to fix this issue, but first and foremost if you're squatting right now.... STOP!

This might seem counter productive, but you want to stop movements in which you're body is currently inhibiting the glutes that might be reinforcing bad muscular adaptations or postural problems. Most people with this particular problem have some sort of anterior pelvic tilt.

First and foremost, you need to train your brain to FIRE the glutes during exercise. This can be done with a combination of very deep stretching, foam rolling (or other self myofascial release techniques), and isolated movements. The more efficient your body becomes at activating the glutes the easier it will be to consciously activate the glutes during movement.

So the progress goes: Force glutes to activate -> activate glutes consciously -> glutes activate unconsciously


Some excellent movements for this would be:
Deep V Stretch against a wall


Hamstring and hip flexor stretch:


(p.s. if you do this on a bench and let your bottom leg lay over the edge it's best, in the picture below you can see she's doing it with a foam roller for the same effects)



hip flexor stretch:


Foam rolling the glutes:



foam rolling the IT band:



Massage ball in the glutes on the floor version:



Or (This is a picture of me) ball against the wall:






As far as exercises go, some great ones i would start with are:
single leg glute bridge
crab band walks
split squats
stairs/steps
clamshells with a resistance band

I would go with no weight and VERY high volume (somewhere in the range of 50-ish repititions) and i would do it a minimum of 3-4 times a week.

In about 6 weeks or so I would re-evaluate glute activation, and if ready, move on to conciously activating the glutes throughout certain movements.