Could Your Glute Medius be Stronger?
Written by Zak Roser

Do your knees always dive in on squats and lunges? Your glute medius could be the answer to this problem and a few others if it is weak or not activated. Learn all about the glute medius, its function and what movements it helps control, and try the simple tests to see where yours ranks. Then get your booty into gear with the routine focused on glute medius activation.

What is the glute medius?

The glute medius is a muscle located on the lateral part of your hip and is crucial for completing any hip abduction (bringing the leg away from the midline). Therefore, it plays an important role with any movement involving a single leg; balance, walking, running and most sports.

Signs Your Glute Medius is Weak or Inactive

Standing Single-Leg Test

The easiest way to tell is simply by standing on one leg. If the hip of the lifted leg drops down, the standing side is weak. This is a basic test but is extremely important because if you can’t stand on one leg and hold yourself there, imagine the issues that can arise from walking, running or lifting weights.

Single-Leg Catch Test

A more practical and dynamic way to assess this weakness on your own would be to perform a broad jump to single leg catch. Take a video of yourself during this test from the front and side. Note this is note a max effort jump for distance, two foot jump take off to single leg land with the non-working leg in front.

TEST PASS

What we would like to see:
– Minimal forward knee (Knees behind the toes)
– The hip is behind the heel
– Weight is midfoot
– Knee tracks over toes

TEST FAIL

Common faults:
– Knee valgus (diving in) – Most important!
– Knees too far over the toes (Too much quadricep load)
– Weight in the toes

How to Strengthen and Activate Glute Medius

If you notice some of these common faults, below is a simple glute medius activation drill. This drill will help to “wake up” the musculature, and make you more likely to hit the proper positions. In theory, this can be applied to the squat. Without activation, your knees want to cave in on the way up – after activation the knees are tracking perfectly over the toes.

Wall Glute Medius Activation Drill

Stand with a band around your ankles, a slight bend of the knees so you are in an athletic stance with the hands pressing into the wall. Next kick out the working leg to a 45-degree angle back, bring the leg back to the starting position and repeat. Do not rest the foot back to the ground, instead complete 20 repetitions with constant tension. During this notice how hard the standing leg has to work to hold you in a proper position. Both hips should be burning by the end of the 20 repetitions.

Be careful of using too much low back extension and compression. Brace the core to limit lower back movement and hyperextension or arching. This brace will make the leg range of motion smaller. But the focus is hip activation, not the distance of movement.

There are many ways to test glute medius strength but this is a simple test and re-test option. I would encourage you to try with a friend or coach so they can watch and help assess your areas of opportunity.

Love booty exercises? Check out these articles…

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