I'm suspicious of this "Glute activation" fad

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Replies

  • ijsantos2005
    ijsantos2005 Posts: 306 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    I feel like this tread is mixing up glute strength and glute activation (the process of “waking up the glutes” prior to lifting).
    Yes, building glute strength is good
    No, you don’t need to wake up your butt.

    I definitely find it helps. I have done it with and without, and going into my hip thrusts they go up like butter and get less fatigued when my glutes are warmed up and activated. To each their own I guess.

    I’m curious. Maybe you can elaborate on what you do to activate your glutes.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    edited April 2018

    Hmm weird. I didn’t know that. How does that even work?

    From what I gather based solely on internet knowledge, unlike a sprint or something where your body will naturally engage the most powerful muscles for the purpose (the glutes in this case), in distance running many people use their quads, hamstrings, or other leg muscles to initiate motion instead of the glutes because the body isn't calling for explosive power.

    In essence, instead of engaging the glutes to drive the rear leg, create a stable launching platform, and thus propel everything else forward, distance runners with poor glute activation will use other leg muscles to 'pull' the forward leg instead.

    Dynamically, in extreme terms it's like the difference between walking on tiptoes and doing single leg bounding leaps. One focuses on the forward pull while the other focuses on the rearward push.
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited April 2018
    It's very similar to back/lat activation...done to help other bodyparts from taking over for a movement (ex) lat pulldown - not using biceps/forearms). Apparently not engaging the quads & hamstrings as much is important for some womens' goals...taking a page out of a bodybuilder's book on how to alter one's physique

    This trend definitely seemed to coincide with the introduction of the bikini division in the IFBB.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Interestingly, I focused on engaging my glutes while walking into work this morning. I upped my walking pace by focusing on driving my rearward leg back and through instead of focusing on trying to step further/faster with my forward leg.

    The difference in power and stability for a given effort level was actually quite noticeable. Maybe I'll start playing with it during my runs.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    Interestingly, I focused on engaging my glutes while walking into work this morning. I upped my walking pace by focusing on driving my rearward leg back and through instead of focusing on trying to step further/faster with my forward leg.

    The difference in power and stability for a given effort level was actually quite noticeable. Maybe I'll start playing with it during my runs.

    Yeah. I started focusing on my glutes on walks last summer, trying to feel them working with each step. Without trying for it, this automagically shortened my stride, and increased my speed (per Garmin, over a 4 mile or so walk, from 3.8-3.9mph to around 4.1mph).
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    I don't know. I do know that conscientiously working on them helped me with running just as concentrating on engaging my lats while doing certain lifts helped with back pain.

    I used to have terribly tight hip flexors and it caused a lot of pain. Once I started incorporating glute focused work and becoming conscientious of engaging them, the pain disappeared.
  • alyssa_rest
    alyssa_rest Posts: 276 Member
    This thread has been so helpful. I've really been paying attention to the way I walk and I wasn't using my glutes at all.

    I'm going to incorporate some glute exercises from here on out.