Glute Activation: Reduce risk of injury and increase performance

Hello again. This article follows on from previous articles on foam rolling and mobility, flexibility and stability. These three areas have been discussed as part of a pre-training routine, in order to reduce risk of injury and enhance performance.

This article will look at what glute activation is, how it can be achieved and why should it be considered as part of your pre training routine.

What is glute activation?

Your glutes are a powerful muscle group, made up of the gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius.  These muscles play an integral role in your performance, as they are heavily involved in powerful movement such as sprinting, jumping or change of direction.

If these muscles are weak or inactivate (gluteal amnesia), other muscles are forced to compensate, leading to an increased risk of injury and decrement in performance levels. Therefore it is important to strengthen these muscles and ensure they are ‘active’ ahead of exercise.

How can this be achieved?

There are a number of stretches and exercises we can do in order to activate our glutes.

Pre-activating muscles with near maximal exercises / lifts have previously proved effective, through enhancing neural drive. A disadvantage of this is that muscles are exposed to a risk of fatigue and you must have access to gym equipment.

By activating muscles using body weight exercises, your routine can be done anywhere and anytime, with no equipment required.  For example this can be done on the pitch before a game, as a part of your pre match warm up. Mini bands can be used to add an external resistance to the body. These bands are not too hard to find and won’t break the bank either.

Here are a few examples. Try to ensure all exercises are performed in a controlled manner.

Glute Bridges (double / single leg)

Image: http://slim.top.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/glutebridge.jpg

Clams

Image: http://www.hep2go.com/ex_images/007001-008000/800/image_007155.jpg

Hip Abductions

Image: http://www.thera-bandacademy.com/elements/clients/images/TCSideHipAbd-13_302__200901DD_023051.jpg

‘Fire Hydrant’

Image: http://www.menshealth.co.uk/cm/menshealthuk/images/e5/fire-hydrant.jpg

‘Donkey Kick’

Image: http://media1.onsugar.com/files/2013/11/26/035/n/1922729/6b0fef282ccd0c21_donkey-kicks.jpg

Side Steps

Image: http://www.beexercise.com/storage/tubewalk_300x300.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1281376334182

Monster Walk

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0H_-Xjv80STHFVxPFlaAQ_05KH-i0qbVioH8kmGlGCuM_4WIfzNWMTrQnH8yD3rTodnoZuuXsOWmvqdAGR4qTe09YeZUtBa_TV8Tw_2mmCxVzhul7DjxeGltEWT1nLZgVvzmsr0aqQ/s1600/Monster.jpg

What does the research say?

A study by Crow et al. (2012), examined the effect a low load warm up, to activate the gluteal muscles, had on performance with a group of Australian rugby players.

Seven exercises were used in the warm up to target the gluteus, including some of the exercises listed above; glute bridges, clams and hip abductions.

Results of the study showed that this warm up significantly increased lower body peak power and improved jump height scores in a weighted (20kg bar) squat jump test.

These results highlight that a warm up incorporating gluteal activation exercises has the ability to increase performance levels significantly.

So why not give it a go your self?

If you would like any tips on the exercises listed above or any other details regarding glute activation, as always, I am more than willing to help.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this article! Goodbye for now.

Reference

Crow, J., Buttifant, D., Kearny, S. and Hrysomallis, C. (2012). Low Load Exercises Targeting the Gluteal Muscle Group Acutely Enhance Explosive Power Output in Elite Athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(2), pp.438-442.