21 Best Glute Activation Exercises To Improve Form and Prevent Injury

In injury prevention and recovery techniques, glute activation exercises target the glute maximus and glute medius, enhancing hip stability and priming the posterior chain for safer movement. This article outlines simple activation drills, progressions, and cues to help you wake up and strengthen your glutes, enabling you to move more effectively, lift with greater efficiency, and reduce the risk of injury in both workouts and daily life. Additionally, How to Recover Quickly From a Workout?

To help you put those steps into practice, Pliability’s mobility app offers clear tools and guided programs that combine practical warm-up routines, mobility work, and activation drills, such as band walks, clamshells, and glute bridges, to boost muscle recruitment and improve hip function.

Table of Contents

• What Is Glute Activation and Why Does It Matter?
• 21 Great Glute Activation Exercises
• How Often Should You Do Glute Activation Exercises?
• Improve Your Flexibility with Our Mobility App Today | Get 7 Days for Free on Any Platform

Summary

• Glute activation is a neural priming step, not a strength phase, and should be brief and specific, typically taking 5 to 10 minutes to re-establish motor control before heavier work.
• A practical frequency for reliable carryover is 3 to 5 short activation sessions per week, with three sessions per week a common baseline for sustained neural priming.  
• Short, structured routines beat scattershot warm-ups. For example, a 3-exercise circuit with three sets each can be completed in 8 to 12 minutes, while fuller warm-up blocks use 5 to 7 exercises once through.  
• Time activation close to the main work, ideally within 5 to 15 minutes, and follow a clear progression from bilateral isolation to banded lateral work to unilateral loaded patterns before integrating heavy lifts.  
• Poor glute recruitment manifests as knee valgus, anterior knee pain, and low back irritation. Adding simple pre-workout activation consistently over 6 to 12 week blocks often reduces these compensations.  
• Programming should match experience, with beginners doing 2 to 3 sessions of 5 to 8 minutes weekly, intermediates 3 to 4 sessions, and advanced athletes using up to 5 to 6 sessions per week while monitoring fatigue and movement quality.  
• This is where Pliability fits in; it centralizes movement screens, cue libraries, and program tracking to preserve warm-up consistency and objective progress data.

What Is Glute Activation and Why Does It Matter?

Glute activation is the deliberate process of engaging and “waking up” your glute muscles so they will recruit correctly during movement. It is not an isolated strength phase, but rather a preparatory step that alters how other muscles function. Activation primes the nervous system and builds a reliable mind-to-muscle connection so your glutes actually lead when you squat, run, or step, instead of letting quads and lower back take over.

What Does Glute Activation Actually Look Like in Practice?

Activation is a brief, focused exercise that teaches the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus to contract on cue, typically through isolation drills and targeted cueing. Think of it as turning the key in the engine, not rebuilding the engine; you are not chasing hypertrophy, but somewhat re-establishing timing and motor control so that the glutes contribute when load or speed increases. The glutes are the largest muscle group in the body, according to PEAK PERFORMANCE CLINIC, which is precisely why their coordination matters more than many people expect.

How Is Activation Different from Strengthening?

Activation focuses on neural recruitment, movement patterns, and precision, while strengthening uses progressive overload to change size and force capacity. Activation drills are brief and specific, performed at low to moderate intensity with a pain-free range and focused cues. Strengthening exercises use heavier loads, progressive sets and repetitions, and longer-term programming. When you skip activation, strength work still helps, but you risk training movement patterns where the wrong muscles dominate.

Why Should You Prioritize Activation Before Hard Work?

When your glutes fire reliably, you get cleaner hip extension and better pelvic control, which translates to improved sprinting, squatting, balance, and posture. This matters not because glutes are fashionable, but because targeted activation has real clinical payoff, with reports showing large numbers of people with chronic pain feel markedly better after adding glute activation work, according to CNN Health. In my experience working with weekend runners and desk-bound clients over 6- to 12-week blocks, the pattern is consistent. Simple pre-work activation drills reduce compensatory knee tracking, lessen low back irritation, and make strength sessions feel more effective.

What Usually Causes Poor Glute Recruitment?

This challenge affects office workers, cyclists, and runners, often coming down to two interacting constraints. Prolonged sitting and training bias toward forward motion. Sitting tightens hip flexors and shortens anterior tissues, while quad-dominant training habits allow the quads to steal the work during multi-joint moves. The failure mode is predictable. The glute medius and minimus become undertrained in lateral control, causing the knees to drift inward, and the low back absorbs torque it was not designed to handle.

How Can You Tell Your Glutes Are Not Doing Their Job?

Look for knee valgus on single-leg tasks, persistent anterior knee pain or nagging low back soreness after exercises you expect your hips to handle, and a sensation that your legs “power” from the front more than the back. Those signs indicate that other muscles are compensating, which, over time, can lead to chronic pain and movement inefficiency. Picture your body like a car. If the transmission is working but the engine is weak, other parts strain to move the vehicle; activation makes the engine run when you press the pedal.

Related Reading

• Why is a Recovery Period Between Bouts of Exercise Important?
• Signs of Injury
• Hip and Knee Pain
• Why Do the Insides of My Legs Hurt When I Run
• Deadlift Back Pain
• Signs of Overtraining Cycling
• Deloading Week
• How Do You Know if You Tore Your ACL
• Injuries in Weightlifting
• How to Prevent MCL Injuries

21 Great Glute Activation Exercises

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These drills work well both as a brief warm-up before heavier training and as a focused standalone routine when you have 5 to 20 minutes to spare, depending on how many movements you string together. Use them for progressive priming, or pick three to five that match your needs and do them as a short, repeatable circuit.

1. Hip Thrust

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, hamstrings, core 
Do: 3 sets of 10–12 reps. 
Steps:  

• Sit with your upper back against a bench, your feet hip-width apart, and your knees bent.
• Drive through your heels and lift your hips until your shoulders, hips, and knees form a straight line. 
• Squeeze glutes at the top, hold briefly, then lower under control. 
• Focus on hinging at the hips, avoid arching the lower back.

2. Step-Up 

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, hamstrings, quads 
Do: 3 sets of 10–12 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Stand facing a stable step or bench, place your full right foot on the surface.  
• Shift weight into the right foot and press up until the left foot meets the right.  
• Step down slowly with the left foot, keeping control.  
• Repeat for the prescribed number of reps, then switch sides.

3. Banded Lateral Walk

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, hip flexors 
Do: 3 sets of 8–10 steps each direction. 
Steps:  

• Place a mini loop band above the knees, and stand with a slight knee bend.  
• Maintain an upright torso and core tension.  
• Step right with control, then bring left in while keeping band tension.  
• Continue without collapsing through the hips; reverse direction after steps.

4. Standing Hip Abduction

Targets: Gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, core 
Do: 3 sets of 12–15 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Stand tall and shift your weight onto your left foot.  
• Squeeze the left glute and lift the right leg out to the side, keeping torso upright.  
• Lower the right leg without touching the floor, maintain pelvic stability.  
• Repeat, then switch sides.

5. Lateral Step-up

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, quads 
Do: 3 sets of 10–12 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Stand beside a step with feet parallel to it. 
• Place the entire right foot on the step and press up, bringing the left foot to meet it.  
• Step down slowly with the left foot and control the descent.  
• Repeat for the specified number of reps, then switch sides.

6. Clamshell

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius 
Do: 3 sets of 15–20 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Lie on your side with your hips and knees bent, keeping your heels together.  
• Keep your hips stacked and open the top knee as far as possible without rotating your pelvis.  
• Squeeze the glutes at the top, lower with control.  
• Add a band above the knees for more challenge.

7. Single-Leg Deadlift

Targets: Gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, hamstrings 
Do: 3 sets of 8–10 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Stand with weight evenly, shift weight into the left foot, and bend the left knee slightly. 
• Hinge forward at the hips, lift the right leg behind while keeping the back flat.  
• Reach toward the standing leg with the opposite hand until the torso and lifted leg are parallel to the floor.
• Return by driving the left glute and hip forward to stand.

8. Single-Leg Squat

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus 
Do: 3 sets of 8–10 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Stand just in front of a chair, lift the right leg forward so it hovers. 
• Sit back on the left hip and lower until the glutes touch the chair briefly. 
• Press through the left heel to stand, keeping the knee tracking over the toes. 
• Repeat, then switch legs.

9. Side-Lying Hip Abduction

Targets: Gluteus medius, gluteus minimus 
Do: 3 sets of 15–20 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Lie on your right side, legs straight and stacked.  
• Lift the left leg toward the ceiling without letting the hips tilt backward.  
• Lower slowly without letting the leg rest on the ground.  
• Switch sides after completing reps.

10. Single-Leg Glute Bridge

Targets: Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, hamstrings 
Do: 3 sets of 8–10 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Lie on your back, right foot flat, left leg extended toward the ceiling.  
• Tuck the pelvis slightly and press through the right foot to lift the hips into a bridge.  
• Hold briefly, keeping your hips level, then lower slowly and under control.  
• Repeat on both sides.

11. Banded Side-Lying Clam

Targets: Hip abductors, glutes 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps per side. 
Steps:

• Loop a resistance band just above your knees and lie on your side, keeping your knees at a 90-degree angle.  
• Keep your feet together and lift the top knee without rotating your hip.  
• Squeeze at the top, then return to the start.

12. Frog Pumps

Targets: Glutes 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps. 
Steps:

• Lie on your back with your soles together and knees wide, propping your elbows.  
• Tuck your chin slightly and drive your hips up, squeezing your glutes at the top.  
• Hold for two seconds, lower slowly.  
• Repeat for ten reps.

13. Quadruped Hip Extension

Targets: Hip extensors, glutes 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps per side. 
Steps: 

• Start on hands and knees, with hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.  
• Keeping the knee bent at 90 degrees, lift one leg until the sole faces the ceiling.  
• Lower with control and repeat, then switch legs.

14. Air Squat

Targets: Quads, gluteus maximus, calves, hamstrings, erector spinae, rectus abdominis, obliques 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps. 
Steps:

• Stand feet hip-width apart, hinge at the hips and knees to descend into a squat. 
• Keep knees tracking over toes and weight in the heels.
• Drive up through the heels, squeeze glutes at the top.

15. Split Squat

Targets: Quads, glutes, hamstrings 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps per side. 
Steps: 

• Step one foot forward into a long stance with both heels planted. 
• Keep torso upright, bend both knees until the back shin and front thigh are parallel.
• Pause, then drive through the front heel to stand.

16. Curtsy Lunge

Targets: Quads, hamstrings, glute medius, glute minimus, adductors, calves 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps per side. 
Steps:  

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart, take a big step back and across with your right leg behind your left.
• Bend both knees and lower until the front thigh is nearly parallel to the floor. 
• Keep torso upright and return to the start, then repeat on the other side.

17. Hip Thrust (variation)

Targets: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps. 
Steps:  

• Sit with your shoulder blades against a bench, with an optional weight across the hips.  
• Tuck the chin and press the hips up until the shoulders, hips, and knees align.  
• Clench your glutes at the top without arching the lower back, and lower slowly.

18. Staggered-Stance Deadlift

Targets: Hamstrings, glutes, lower back 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps per stance. 
Steps:  

• Stand with one foot slightly ahead, the other foot back on the toes, holding weights.
• Hinge at the hips with a slight bend in the front knee, lower weights toward the shins. 
• Pause when you feel a hamstring stretch, then return to an upright position by engaging your glutes.

19. Conventional Deadlift

Targets: Hamstrings, glutes, upper back, rhomboids, lats 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps. 
Steps:  

• Stand with your hips at hip-width, hinge, and grip the bar or dumbbells, bracing your core.
• Pull the weight upward by extending hips and knees together, keeping a neutral spine. 
• Squeeze glutes at the top without overextending, lower with control.

20. Sumo Deadlift

Targets: Glutes, hamstrings, quads, lower back, upper back 
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps. 
Steps:  

• Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned out 30 to 45 degrees. 
• Bend at the hips, chest up, grip the weight with an overhand grip.
• Drive hips forward, squeeze glutes, and stand tall.  
• Lower the weight to the floor in a controlled manner.

21. Donkey Kick With Resistance Band

Targets: Gluteus maximus 
Do: 3 sets of 12–15 reps per side. 
Steps:  

• Start in quadruped with a band anchored or looped around the working foot.
• Brace the core and extend one leg upward, pressing the foot against the band resistance. 
• Control the return, limit the range if the client has hip restrictions, and watch for lumbar compensation.

Related Reading

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• How to Prevent Arthritis in Hands
• Ankle Sprain Prevention
• How to Prevent Knee Injuries
• Shoulder Impingement Exercises to Avoid
• How to Prevent Achilles Tear
• Ankle Mobility for Runners
• ACL Injury Prevention Exercises

How Often Should You Do Glute Activation Exercises?

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Do glute activation before most lower-body or endurance sessions, and aim to do it regularly throughout the week rather than sporadically. A practical target is three to five short sessions per week, each lasting 5 to 10 minutes. For focused hypertrophy or when you need stronger neural carryover into heavy lifts, plan slightly higher frequency around training days. As Athlean-X suggests, a standard practical frequency is 3 times per week, which balances repeated neural priming with recovery. For general maintenance and rehab, a broader range makes sense because load and intensity vary, which is why BC Strength, 2-6 times per week provides a flexible window based on training volume and goals, not a single prescription.

How Should You Fit Activations into a Weekly Plan?

When we built short warm-up blocks for weekend athletes over a 6 to 12-week period, the pattern became clear. Small, frequent primes are more effective than occasional, long sessions. Slot 5 to 10 minutes of activation immediately before workouts that demand hip extension or single-leg control, and treat it as part of the session, not optional fluff.

Sample schedules:

• Three days a week on alternate lifting and run days for the general population
• Four days when chasing strength, pairing activations with both heavy lower-body days and a light unilateral day
• Five to six days only when volume is deliberately high and you are monitoring soreness closely.

What Should Beginners, Intermediates, and Advanced Athletes Actually Do?

Beginners, start simple. Pick two to three reliable drills, 2 to 3 sets each, 5 to 8 minutes total, two to three times weekly, and focus on feeling the glute contract. Intermediates add unilateral work and bands, progressing to three to four sessions and pairing an isolated set at the start of a lift, along with a short finish. Advanced athletes use activations more strategically, up to five or six sessions per week, when programming density is high. This involves increasing band tension or adding a loaded hip bridge as an activation-to-strength bridge, and monitoring fatigue so that the prime doesn’t blunt heavy lifts.

When Should You Increase Frequency or Intensity?

If single-leg control improves and perceived effort drops within the same warm-up, you have headroom to add volume or resistance. Progress from bilateral to unilateral drills, tighten band tension, or add tempo and extra reps. If you notice persistent pre-lift fatigue, drop the intensity or frequency until recovery returns. Pushing frequency without managing load creates motor-pattern decay, not better recruitment.

How Does Activation Translate to Running and Cycling Performance?

This pattern appears consistently across runners and cyclists. Those who added a short activation routine before rides or runs produced cleaner mechanics and reported less compensatory knee or low-back strain within weeks. Practically, keep the work dynamic and task-specific, emphasizing single-leg stability, hip abduction strength, and cadence-matched drills for cyclists. Use cues for foot placement, hip position, and a braced core so activation transfers into each stride or pedal stroke. If power output or technique feels off mid-session, a brief re-priming set during a long workout can restore recruitment without adding significant fatigue.

What Clinical Progression and Timing Details Matter That Most People Miss?

Start sessions close to the main work, within five to fifteen minutes of the activity, so neuromuscular priming remains active. Progression steps should be explicit: bilateral isolation, banded lateral work, unilateral loaded patterns, then integrated heavy lifts where the glute is intentionally overloaded.

Track Two Objective Signals Before Stepping Up 

Measurable improvement in single-leg balance or reduced knee valgus, and the warm-up feeling consistently easier across three sessions. If someone comes in with chronic symptoms and months of misdiagnosis, the emotional relief of seeing objective signs of motor control in 4 to 8 weeks matters as much as the numbers; that momentum is what keeps people engaged.

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Related Reading

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• Signs of Overtraining Running
• Eccentric Quadriceps Exercises
• How to Start Working Out Again After Knee Injury
• Scapular Mobility Exercises
• Glute Activation Exercises
• Injury Prevention for Runners
• SI Joint Mobility Exercises
• Running Injury Prevention Exercises

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