Glute Activating Exercises Myths
There is a common belief that you need to activate your glutes before doing any exercise to improve performance and grow your glutes.
The question we will be exploring is:
Is lying on the floor with a mini band doing glute activating exercises necessary before doing glute exercises?
The reality is glute activation may not be activating your glutes and it doesn’t provide immediate performance benefits or contribute to long-term improvements in glute activation or strength.
Despite the debates about the necessity of glute activation exercises, there’s a widespread trend of social media videos claiming a specific banded glute circuit before weightlifting, insisting that your glutes won’t function properly without it.
You may have heard your glutes are asleep and you need to wake them up or activate them before exercise. The truth is if you can stand or walk, your glutes are already awake and firing.
Let’s look at a couple of studies.
Two studies suggest that performing a glute activating circuit before activities like jumping or sprinting can lead to increased power output and faster sprints. However, neither of the studies were quality studies.
In the first study, Crow and the authors compared a seven-exercise glute circuit against two other pretty bad warm-up routines. The glute warm-up was the best of three pretty terrible warm-ups before jumping.
The focus of that study was measuring peak power, which isn’t an accurate representation of any improvements in jump performance. Problems occur when the depth of the countermovement isn’t standard, which affects the precision of peak power measurements.
Another study by Barry used the same poor glute activation warm-up but showed worse results that lacked a significant effect.
The study showed after completing the glute-activating warm-up, athletes took 0.02 seconds off their 10m sprint. They also found athletes were not able to jump as high following the glute activation warm-up, challenging the idea of “glute amnesia.”
Another study co-authored by Healy and Harrison found no short-term improvement in drop jump performance with the same glute activation warm-up compared to a dynamic warm-up.
Although a six-week glute activation training, performed three times a week, did not directly enhance glute muscle activation or strength, it suggests that adding a glute activation may not directly lead to increased muscle growth.
The current scientific literature doesn’t indicate there is any benefit to doing glutes activation exercises before your glute day. You’re better off skipping the trend of waking up your glutes before you do leg day.
