We have always known that warming up before a workout is important but we are now finding low load glute activation drills during a lower body warm up are becoming increasingly popular in strength and conditioning. These activation drills have been used in the rehab setting and certainly have a good cross over into the exercise world.
There are plenty of ways to set up your body for heavy load workouts and you can always benefit from better glute and hamstring activation. Getting the glutes activated before a workout is extremely important as most of us spend way too much time sitting. The side effect of this sitting is very tight hip flexors and glutes that don’t fire correctly or at all. Poor glute activation and tight hip flexors can have a negative impact on training as the quads and hip flexors will do most of the work. You need balance between the posterior chain and anterior muscles for maximum results and injury prevention.
When you do any lower body compound movement such as deadlift, squat, lunge etc. you want to be using your quads, hamstrings and glutes together. By properly warming up your hip extensor muscles before lower body workouts you will get maximal activation from all the key muscles and avoid overloading the quads. Activated glutes will make your lifts stronger and protect your lower back and fired up hamstrings will protect your knees through your movements.
The best warm up exercises I like for glute activation include
- Hip abductions with a band
- Glute bridges
- Single leg deadlift (bodyweight)
- Lateral walks with a band
