In the fitness space, the term ‘glutes firing’ has become as prevalent as a cheat day. Whether it’s a certain movement or a stim machine, there are countless of suggestions out there to tell whether your glutes are or aren’t firing/turned off or weak. You move, you stretch, you lift, everything seems to be working in your glute area or at least you don’t feel one bum cheek acting differently than the other one. So what exactly does it mean when people say get your glutes firing or that you have a weak glute? Let’s discuss.
The second group of the gluteal region includes the deep lateral rotators. This group are smaller muscles that mainly act to laterally rotate the femur. This group includes the quadratus femoris, piriformis, gemellus superior, gemellus inferior and obturator internus. And below the glutes are the hamstring muscles and above are the erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, obliques.
There is also a synergistic relation between muscles. The gluteus maximus and hamstring muscles are synergists (work together) for hip extension. Gluteus medius and lateral thigh muscles work together for leg abduction. No one specific muscle is working in isolation.
Going back to the question – how do you know your glutes are firing? The wonderous nature of our bodies is that a lot of what we do, to run, walk, breathe, doesn’t require us thinking about it to turn on those processes – it all happens automatically! As indicated before, the function of the glute muscles is to help move the leg while we stand, run, walk, jump, squat – so if we are doing any of those activities, glute muscles are activated automatically without needing an off/on switch. If there is an observable, significant size difference in your glutes, this might indicate there is a more serious issue than just a weak glute and would recommend you getting that checked out by your medical professional.
What the research study concluded was that in healthy individuals, there wasn’t a consistent muscle activation sequence. Therefore, this type of testing tool wasn’t an appropriate evaluation tool to determine whether muscles such as the glute muscles are weak. The study also found that the gluteus muscles were consistently recruited last. Back muscles and hamstrings were recruited before the gluteus muscle. These results questioned that a delayed gluteus maximus firing is abnormal in healthy individuals.
In another study, it indicated that gluteus maximus function is testable in the clinical setting by having a patient tighten their buttocks as much as possible while in the prone position with legs straight. During this procedure, the medical professional palpates the gluteus maximus and feels for contraction. When a gluteus dysfunction is found, gluteus maximus dysfunction is most likely due to inferior gluteal nerve dysfunction. This inferior gluteal nerve dysfunction causes difficulty in rising from a seated position, climbing upstairs, and loss of hip extension and it is commonly caused by hip dislocation.
While, we as fitness professionals, don’t have the sophisticated scientific methodology to conduct research on our clients, nor do we have authority to conduct medical tests, we do know that when developing a strength program, setting benchmarks to determine where you’re starting and tracking and testing your progress is a best practice when determining strength progress. We can objectively look at this data to determine whether someone has increased strength. What we can’t do, as untrained and unlicensed medical professionals or scientists, is make any diagnosis nor determine whether there is a specific, singular deficient muscle like a single glute muscle. If you can’t do a push up, this tells us your upper body is weak. If you can’t do a squat or a single leg RDL, this tells us your lower body is weak. If we test your chest press or your squat using weights, we can quantifiably determine how strong or not you are relative to your body weight. However, because you couldn’t squat your body weight, or your knees are caving in or out, this doesn’t pinpoint a weak glute. Executing a squat or a leg extension involves many muscles that help each other execute a movement. All the muscles involved should be strengthened.
It is also incorrect to say they are weak without having a reference point. Glute muscles are muscles, so they can become weak just like another muscle due to injury like hip dislocation or prolonged inactivity that leads to muscle atrophy. But to determine that only your glute muscle is weak would require medically invasive procedures to test that – just looking at your lower body wouldn’t tell us anything conclusive or reliable. To rotate your leg, the biceps femoris, sartorius, and gluteus medius and minimus are used, so which one would it be that’s weak? Conversely, when are your glutes strong? What is the benchmark for comparison and is it quantifiable?
As knowledgeable and experienced training professionals, we can recognize when movement patterns deviate from typical movement and which musculature groups are involved in executing particular movements. However, any diagnosing or medical testing would only be appropriate for your medical professional to do. What we can do is ensure that your training program addresses any muscle imbalances, minimizes injuries and ultimately, helps you have a good quality of life. We would follow your medical professional guidance if there is an injury or diagnosis. Your training program would work towards your specific goals, start where you are and build you up, it would track your workouts, test your progress and help you create a sustainable, lifelong workout routine.
To learn more about our training services or to schedule an assessment, establish your benchmarks and see your progress week after week – call us at 512-348-7113.