Glute imbalances are very common, especially if you
→ sit a lot
→ don’t activate and strengthen your glutes (so they stopped working properly)
→ adopted compensation patterns (due to pain), further exacerbating the glute snoozefest.
→ engage in work/sports activities that promote a glute imbalance (e.g. dentistry, soccer).
These 2 unilateral exercises will reveal your problems & fix them. Do them barefoot.
⓵ Stool Step-Ups
⓶ Front Rack Rear Elevated Split Squats
⓵ Stool Step-Ups
- Helpful when you feel "jacked up and out of alignment".
- 30 reps/side. Your glute max will burn! If it doesn’t, scroll through my older reels and do the “Find your Glutes” tutorial.
- Control up & down.
- Heel stays planted on the stool.
- Tap other heel on the ground beside stool.
- Fully extend hips at the top.
- Do it in your warm-ups to get your glutes firing.
When I first started this exercise 5 years ago, I had knee pain, so I scaled the exercise by holding onto a countertop. This stabilized me and decreased my weight bearing, making it pain-free.
⓶ Front Rack Rear Elevated Split Squats
- If you have knee pain, skip this and focus on exercise ⓵
- This is brutal but it will recruit the daylights out of your quads & glutes.
- Elevate rear foot. Majority of weight over front foot.
- Use padding/rug to protect your knee in the bottom position.
- Fully extend hip at the top.
- Upright torso (the front rack position forces this).
- Before graduating to a sandbag, make sure you feel good with a dumbbell.
- Do the weak side 1st. Do the same amount of reps on the good side.
Loading myself up with 60 lbs really shone the spotlight on the weakness in my right glute max & inner quad. I didn’t notice this right-sided weakness with lighter loads. I do it 1x/week with an extra set on the weak side. Prepare for DOMS.
Tips:
- Focus on feeling the glute max firing. No empty reps.
- Don’t go too heavy to the point where you no longer feel the glute doing the work.
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