The 11 Best Gluteus Medius Exercises for Healthy Hips and Strong Buns

However the muscle that almost all of us really must pay extra consideration to is the gluteus medius. Positioned alongside the edges of the hips, sitting slightly below the gluteus maximus, it might not be as massive as its neighbor with the extra spectacular title. But neglecting gluteus medius workout routines can come again to chew you within the, effectively, butt.

“It’s stabilizing your entire [lower-body] joints,” says private coach Holly Roser, CPT. “The very first thing we have a look at with damage prevention is strengthening your glute medius.”

Why you need sturdy gluteus medius muscle tissues

The glutes usually typically find yourself weak and underused as a result of most of us spend a lot time in chairs and couches and automobiles.

“Should you spend all day sitting in your muscle, you are clearly not utilizing it,” says health coach Jill Goodtree, CPT. Once we do stand up after a number of hours seated, our “useless butt” won’t activate correctly, leaving us a bit of wobbly—and weaker there over time.

The gluteus medius particularly performs a serious function in serving to to stabilize the hips, notably once you’re on one leg, like once you’re transferring your weight from one foot to the opposite as you stroll or run. When it’s not firing proper, your hip may drop once you take a step, which may result in an entire host of points like low again ache¹, IT band syndrome², shin splints³, and plantar fasciitis⁴.

“Something the place you are shifting your toes rapidly and you do not wish to fall—like mountaineering or working, Zumba, step class, rollerblading—you wish to stabilize your glute medius,” says Roser.

The 11 greatest gluteus medius workout routines

Whereas many workout routines can partially interact the gluteus medius, once you actually wish to strengthen this muscle, it pays to zero in on it with focused strikes so different muscle tissues aren’t doing the work. “You actually wish to isolate this physique half,” says Roser. “You need to have the ability to really feel it.”

“You actually wish to isolate this physique half.”—Holly Roser, CPT

Listed below are 11 gluteus medius workout routines that Roser and Goodtree suggest for feeling the burn proper the place you need it, demonstrated by Goodtree and Amanda Gabriella Ang, DPT. They vary from beginner-friendly strikes to extra superior challenges.

To know when it’s time to up the ante, Goodtree offers this guideline: “The final couple of reps of your set ought to really feel fairly difficult,” she says. “If you are able to do like one million reps of the identical train, it is perhaps time to extend the depth.” That may imply including a resistance band or ankle weight, or introducing an unstable component like a Bosu ball.

1. Clamshell

1. Lie down on a mat on the ground in your aspect, together with your hips and knees bent. Maintain your hips stacked on prime of one another with out tilting ahead or again, and ensure your head, hips, and toes are in a single line.
2. Maintaining your ankles collectively, slowly increase the highest knee towards the ceiling, then return.
3. Do 3 units of 15 on either side.

2. Banded clamshell

1. Lie down on the ground in your aspect, together with your hips and knees bent, resting in your proper elbow and lifting up by way of your obliques to maintain your backbone lengthy.
2. Wrap a mini-band round your thighs, simply above the knees. Maintain your hips stacked with out tilting ahead or again, and ensure your head, hips, and toes are in a single line.
3. Maintaining your ankles collectively, slowly increase the left knee towards the ceiling, then return.
4. Do 3 units of 15 on either side.

3. Aspect-lying hip abduction

1. Lie down on the ground in your aspect with each legs out straight, and your prime hand calmly holding onto the ground in entrance of you to keep up your stability.
2. On an exhale, elevate the highest leg straight as much as simply above the hip joint. Be sure that your knee stays pointing ahead, and your hips keep stacked on prime of each other.
3. Convey your leg again down on an inhale.
4. Do 2 units of 10 on either side.

4. Aspect-lying hip abduction with ankle weights

1. Wrap a 2- or 5-pound ankle weight onto every leg.
2. Lie down on the ground in your aspect. Bend your backside leg, hold your prime leg straight, and maintain onto the ground in entrance of you together with your prime hand to keep up your stability.
3. On an exhale, elevate your prime leg straight as much as simply above the hip joint. Be sure that your knee stays pointing ahead, and your hips keep stacked on prime of each other.
4. Convey your leg again down on an inhale.
5. Do 2 units of 10 on either side.

5. Standing abduction

1. Stand together with your toes hip-width aside, knees barely bent, shoulders again, and toes pointed straight forward.
2. On an exhale, elevate one leg straight out to the aspect whereas holding your hips stage, going as excessive as you’ll be able to with out utilizing momentum or shedding your stability.
3. Slowly return to the beginning on an inhale.
4. Do 3 units of 10 on every leg.

6. Lateral lunge

1. Stand together with your toes hip-width aside.
2. Step your proper leg about 2 to three toes out on to the aspect, touchdown on a bent leg together with your hips pushed again so your thigh is parallel to the bottom.
3. Push by way of the precise foot to return to the beginning.
4. Do 8 to 12 reps on either side, finishing 3 to five units whole.

7. Lateral lunge with a knee drive

1. Stand together with your toes hip-width aside.
2. Step your proper leg about 2 to three toes out on to the aspect, touchdown together with your proper leg bent and together with your hips pushed again so your proper thigh is parallel to the bottom.
3. Push by way of your proper foot to carry your weight again to your left leg, bringing your proper knee up towards your chest.
4. Maintain your stability for a second, then repeat.
5. Do 8 to 12 reps on either side, finishing 3 to five units.

8. Lateral step-up

1. Stand sideways subsequent to a step or a stair.
2. Raise your foot that is closest to the step, and elevate it up and over onto the step. Convey your weight up onto the step. Convey your different foot to fulfill it. Be sure that each toes are pointing straight the entire time.
3. Come again down, bringing each toes collectively once more off of the step.
4. Do 2 units of 10 on every leg.

9. Monster stroll

1. Stand together with your toes hip-width aside, and loop a mini band round your thighs simply above your knees.
2. Sit again right into a shallow squat.
3. Step to at least one aspect, growing resistance on the band. Maintain each toes pointed straight forward.
4. Convey the toes again to hip-width aside.
5. Repeat 10 instances in every course, finishing 2 units on each side.

10. Single-leg stability on a Bosu ball

1. Stand on prime of the bouncy a part of a Bosu ball on one leg, lifting your different foot a few inches off the Bosu. Maintain a slight bend in your knee, and barely tuck your pelvis.
2. Maintain for 30 seconds, and repeat for a complete of two units on every leg.

11. Foam rolling

Though this transfer doesn’t activate the muscle like the opposite gluteus medius workout routines on this record, it could actually assist hold the results of a weak gluteus medius at bay. “Your surrounding muscle tissues are attempting to overcompensate to forestall the pelvis from dropping,” explains Roser. “This results in tight muscle tissues, and tight muscle tissues result in damage.”

1. Sit on the highest of a tough foam curler. Relaxation your left ankle throughout your proper knee.
2. Roll backwards and forwards over your proper glutes, and switch aspect to aspect, lingering a bit of longer on any spots that really feel additional tight.
3. Spend 30 seconds on either side, and repeat 2 instances on either side.

How lengthy it takes to see outcomes

Goodtree recommends working a few of these gluteus medius workout routines into your exercises at the very least two or 3 times per week. With common apply, you must begin to really feel your hips getting stronger and extra steady inside a month or two.

Should you’re struggling, Goodtree recommends reserving a session with a private coach or bodily therapist. Given the key affect the gluteus medius can have on our our bodies and the way comfortably we transfer by way of life, don’t simply wing it when you’re undecided tips on how to greatest strengthen this muscle. “When doubtful,” says Goodtree, “ask an individual.”