The Glutes

The glutes are a group of muscles, which help to stabilise the upper body, aid in movement (locomotion), and extend the hip joint. These muscles primarily work in abduction and extension of the thigh, although some do help with adduction, external rotation and internal rotation.

Gluteus maximus – the largest and strongest muscle of the human body! It is the most powerful hip extensor, and helps with day-to-day activities, along with explosive athletic performance.

Gluteus medius – the prime mover of abduction, although the Anterior and posterior portion of this muscle aids in other functions such as flexion, medial rotation of the hip, extension and others. It also plays a key role in the stability of the pelvis.

Gluteus minimus – the smallest of the gluteal muscles. It works with the gluteus medius to abduct and internally rotate the thigh, along with aiding in pelvis stabilisation.

Tensor fasciae latae – the muscles lie on the outside of the thigh (proximal anterolateral thigh).This muscles aids the three gluteal muscles in different hip movements such as, flexion, abduction and internal rotation.

There are also a number of deep muscles that help to laterally rotate the femur. We won’t go into detail about these, but they are: piriformis, gemellus superior, gemellus inferior, quadratus femoris, obturator internus.

Now that we’ve done a quick whistle stop tour of the muscles and function, let’s look at how we work these muscles.

How do we strengthen the glutes?

There are numerous exercises to choose from to strengthen the glutes, here are just a few (click on the exercises to see a demonstration):

Gluteus maximus:
• Hip Thrust
• Bulgarian Split Squat
• Squats

Gluteus medius:
• Banded Knee Barbell Hip Thrust
• Lateral Step Up
• Clam Shell

Gluteus minimus:
• Lateral Lunge
• Lateral Band Walk
• Simple Leg Glute Bridge