Why Glute Activation Matters
Glute activation is activating (ie contracting) your glute muscles. It’s essential for athletic performance, everyday comfort and injury prevention. How so? Strong, active glutes stabilize the hips, support the lower back, and help enhance activities like running, jumping, and all of our favorite lower-body movements.
Strengthening your glutes goes well beyond boosting your athletic performance. There’s also something called, "gluteal amnesia," which is when the glutes become weak, leading to the overcompensation of other muscles. This leads to poor posture, reduced mobility, and increased risk of injury. For this reason, glute activation is crucial for not just athletes, but anyone looking to improve their daily life and comfort.
The Science Behind Glute Activation
Engaging the glutes before workouts is necessary for preventing injury and improving performance. Strengthening the glutes will stabilize the hips, supports the lower back, and helps you get more out of your lower body exercises like running, squats, and lifting.
When the glutes are weak, other muscles like the hamstrings or lower back are hard at work, which often leads to muscle imbalance. This muscle imbalance can strain your lower body muscles, impacting your posture and weakening your stride and force in running, squats and other sports activities.
Weak glutes can also tilt the pelvis, which can contribute to lower back pain. A tilt in the pelvis will also compromise your form and strength during workouts.
Basically, think of your glutes as an essential foundation to your workout.
Want to enhance your muscle performance? Learn more about how compression gear supports your training and recovery.
Best Glute Activation Exercises for Every Fitness Level
Beginners:
1. Glute Bridge
○ Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat, and arms at your sides.
○ Lift your hips off the ground, forming a straight line from knees to shoulders. Lower and repeat.
○ You can use your own body weight for glute bridges or you can add weights or a body band to increase difficulty.
○ Make sure you feel your glutes working. If you don’t feel it in your glutes you're not building the strength where you need it.
Shop Compression Gear for Dynamic Movement and Injury Prevention to enhance your next work out session.
2. Donkey Kicks
○ Start on all fours, keeping your back straight.
○ Lift one leg, bent at the knee, and push your foot upward toward the ceiling. Flex your feet. Lower and repeat.
○ This will help work on core stability and hip extension as well.
Explore Women's Compression Gear to support your muscles during your next round of glute exercises to get the most out of your workout.
Intermediate:
○ Perform a glute bridge placing your feet close to your glutes, but lift one leg straight up, keeping the other foot grounded. Squeeze your glutes as you raise your hips and push off your grounded foot. Alternate sides.
○ Keep your core braced and be sure to drive with your elbows.
4. Clamshells
○ Lie on your side, knees bent at 90 degrees.
○ Keeping your feet together, lift your top knee as high as you can, with the idea of pushing your hips ‘forward’, hold, then lower.
○ Steady yourself so you don't rock as you lift.
○ Focus on your glute and the outside of your hip and less on range of motion.
○ This exercise helps target the Gluteus Medius. It’s ideal if you're working on rehabbing hip injuries and lower back pain or if you want to prevent it.
Advanced:
5. Banded Lateral Walks
○ Place a resistance band around your thighs. Keep the band flat and not bunched. Feet should be shoulder-width apart.
○ Step laterally in a half squat position, maintaining tension on the band.
○ Maintaining the half-squat position, shift your weight over one leg and take a step sideways with the other leg. Move this leg in and out, sideways. Switch sides after you’ve completed your rounds on the first side.
○ Keep your hips level during the movement.
6. Bulgarian Split Squats
○ Place one foot on a bench behind you.
○ Lower into a squat with the front leg, keeping your chest up and knee aligned with your foot. Your knee should not spill over your toes.
○ Engage your core, roll your shoulders back and lean slightly forward at the waist, beginning to lower down on your forward leg, bending the knee.
Enhance your workout with our new collection of Compression Gear Designed for Dynamic Movement.
Glute Activation Warm-Up Routines for Specific Goals
Your goals will determine what your glute activation warm up routine would look like. For instance, if you're a runner, you’ll want to focus on a warm-up that improves your stride and reduces fatigue. Weightlifters will want to prep the glutes for squats and deadlifts. And, if you find yourself at the desk all day long, you’ll want to loosen those tight hip flexors and engage dormant glutes to balance out your muscles.
Let’s take a look at each.
Runners
Here are our top recommendations for runners looking to improve their glute activation warm up routine.
1. Glute Bridge Single or Double Leg Hip Bridges (3 sets of 15 reps)
○ Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and knees bent.
○ Lift your hips towards the ceiling by pressing through your heels, squeezing your glutes at the top and contracting your core.
○ Lower your hips back down and repeat.
○ Move to single leg hip bridges for a more advanced burn.
2. Standing Leg Extensions (2 sets of 15 reps each leg)
○ Stand tall with your hands on your hips.
○ Lift one leg behind you, squeezing your glutes as you extend the leg back.
○ Keep your posture upright and avoid leaning forward.
3. Monster Walks with Resistance Band (2 sets of 10 steps in each direction)
○ Place a resistance band around your thighs or ankles and squat slightly.
○ Step sideways, maintaining tension on the band to activate the glutes.
○ Walk forwards and then backwards the same number of steps.
Get the most out of your workout with CW-X Endurance Generator Joint & Muscle Support Compression Tight built to provide unmatched support for muscles and joints during high-endurance activities like running and weightlifting!
Weightlifters
1. Clamshells (3 sets of 15 reps each side)
○ Lie on your side with knees bent at 90 degrees and a resistance band above your knees.
○ Keeping feet together, open your knees as wide as possible, without rotating your lower back. Make sure to engage your glutes.
○ Slowly lower back down, relaxing your knee to starting position.
2. Squat to Stand (3 sets of 10 reps)
○ Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart.
○ Squat down and hold your ankles while pulling your chest forward, stretching your hamstrings.
○ Stand up and raise your arms overhead to stretch your shoulders.
3. Kettlebell Hip Thrusts (3 sets of 12 reps)
○ Rest your upper back on a stable bench, placing a kettlebell or weight plate across your hips.
○ Drive through your heels and thrust your hips upward, with your legs hip width apart. Hold the kettlebell in place.
○ Your body should form a straight line from shoulders to knees. Engage your glutes at the top.
○ Lower back down and repeat.
4. Walking Lunges with Glute Activation (3 sets of 12 reps per leg)
○ Take a long step forward into a lunge position.
○ Ensure the front knee doesn’t pass the toes, and focus on pressing through the heel of your front foot to activate the glutes.
○ Continue with alternating legs.
Support your muscles and joints with Endurance Generator Joint & Muscle Support Compression Tight engineered for high-performance athletes and fitness enthusiasts pressing through intense endurance activities.
Desk Workers
1. Hip Flexor Stretch (3 sets of 30 seconds each side)
○ Stand tall and take one leg back into a lunge position.
○ Press your hips forward, stretching the hip flexor on the back leg.
○ Hold for 30 seconds, and repeat on the other side.
2. Glute Squeeze (3 sets of 20 reps)
○ Stand or sit tall, engaging your core and glutes by squeezing your glutes tightly for a few seconds before relaxing.
○ Repeat this exercise to build awareness and engagement of the glutes.
3. Hip Openers (2 sets of 10 reps each side)
○ Stand tall and bring one knee towards your chest.
○ Rotate the knee outward in a circular motion, stretching and opening up the hip joint.
4. Fire Hydrants (3 sets of 15 reps per leg)
○ Get on all fours, keeping your back straight.
○ Lift one leg out to the side at a 90-degree angle, squeezing the glute at the top while tightening your core.
○ Lower and repeat, then switch legs.
How Compression Wear Enhances Glute Performance
Compression wear is a simple and secure way to enhance glute performance during your workouts. By improving blood circulation, compression gear ensures that oxygen and nutrients are efficiently delivered to all your muscles hard at work. Healthy circulation helps reduce fatigue so you can work out for longer with reduced risk of injury.
The unique fit of compression wear also supports proper muscle alignment. Compression gear can help improve the engagement of the glutes and surrounding muscles during your lower body workout. Whether you’re squatting, sprinting, or weightlifting compression tights provide the stability needed to maintain peak performance while preventing injury and strain.
CW-X offers compression leggings and shorts specifically designed for lower body support, featuring patented EXO-WEB™ technology that targets key lower-body muscle groups, including those glutes. Our collection of leggings help optimize your workout by supporting proper posture and reducing the risk of injury.
Ready to elevate your glute game? Explore CW-X's compression leggings for women and compression gear for men today!
Conclusion
Strong, activated glutes are essential for overall fitness, athletic performance, and daily health and comfort. Prioritizing glute engagement not only enhances your workouts but also supports posture, reduces injury risk, and strengthens your everyday movements. The key is to combine targeted exercises with high-quality compression wear to maximize these benefits. The right compression gear will improve circulation, support muscle alignment, and boost overall results in a shorter amount of time.
Ready to take your glute performance to the next level? Compression gear from CW-X is designed to help enhance your performance and recovery . Get Started with CW-X today and experience the difference for yourself!