Does your “a$$” need to be activated? Maybe, but likely not. This is the all so popular go to in the physical therapy realm. Not a week goes by when someone mentions that a physical therapist or trainer has told them that “their glutes aren’t working” or that “they need to activate their glutes.” Is this a thing? Do they actually need to be activated? The short of the matter, no, no they don’t. Before you get on me about this, let me clarify. There are instances which involve nerve injury or spinal pathology where the group of posterior chain muscles can in fact get inhibited or “turned off,” but for the majority of the population they are working just fine.
Lets look at some numbers. Evidence suggests that the glute max creates a maximum output of about 1.8x body weight during running. While this does seem like a lot, it is trivial in comparison to other muscles. For example the soleus (one of the calf muscles) generates 8x body weight while running, and the iliopsoas (hip flexor) about 7x body weight. The hip joint complex does need to be mobile and stable for a happy low back, hip and knee however the glutes really should not be the main focus. There are many other muscles of the posterior hip that have a larger role to play but do not get the credit they deserve. This is not to say that isolated “glute activation” exercises won’t help. Shoot, just doing general strengthening exercises for the lower extremity will help in most instances. It is significantly more important for your hip joint complex to be mobile and stable under standing/weight bearing conditions than to be good at doing clam shells or side lying leg lifts. While these exercises aren’t bad, they aren’t training those muscles to be good at their job when you go walk, run or jump. If you’d like to know more feel free to give a jingle to the clinic. We are happy to talk about glutes with you.
I’ll leave you with one more thought. If your glutes truly weren’t “activated” or “working” you would likely fall directly on your face when you go for a walk or attempt to navigate stairs. If your face is currently intact, chances are your glutes are “activated” just fine.
