I first started lifting a couple years ago and focused on leg press, leg extension and leg curls without anything for the glutes… now when i do exercises like squats that should be working the glutes i find that other muscles are compensating for my weak glutes and when i lie on my stomach and raise my legs up my hamstrings seem to be the only thing that fires when it should be glutes?
If there’s any stretches or exercises or anything I can do to get my glutes going please let me know, thanks
Hey,
Do a search for glute bridges and pull throughs!
Check this article:
Lunges and more lunges. Then some single leg squats. Then lunge some more.
Good mornings, Deadlifts, Rack pulls, pull throughs.
Heavy rack pulls helped me a lot on this. I hit sets of 3-5, pulling from above my knee (with wrist straps) and focus on cleanly locking out each rep. With the straps and short range of motion, you can go pretty heavy on these- like 110% or more of your best dead single for sets of 5. This also helps with your deadlift technique by teaching you to shove your hips under your shoulders at the top instead of trying to pull the weight up/back.
Deadlift and Squat.
A2G narrow-stance smith squats always make my glutes feel like they’re on fire. They would be worth a try since strengthening your glutes sounds like a priority.
[quote]Da Vinci wrote:
Deadlift and Squat.[/quote]
Probably not. At least not on their own.
An individual with severely weak glutes is going to have trouble activating them in these movements.
OP, glute bridges, pull throughs, ghr’s, etc are all good. You can also attach an ankle strap to a low pulley station, face into the station, and, keeping your knee straight, pull your leg back while trying to contract your glutes.
For me activation was the biggest challenge. I added some bridges and some other light activation exercises before my workouts and that helped a lot. All of the exercises mentioned are great ones but if you have ‘glutteal amensia’ then you have to wake your glutes up before you start lifting them. That or your compensation patterns will kick in and you will have the same problems.
Yep, first focus on glute activation exercises. Then, you know, lunges, step-ups, single leg deadlifts, always trying to squeeze or at least “feel” your glutes working. And after concentrating on all these things for a while, squat and deadlift heavy! 
I would first begin by having a proper warm-up.
Start with ten minutes on a treadmill at the highest incline, at a 2.5mph speed.
Then do some hip rotation movements, some dynamic movements, and finish with some frequency movements.
Very Low box squats are extremely helpful for increasing glute strength, also it takes the pressure of the knees.
a great book to look at is core performance by mark vestergen, his dynamic warm-up routine is worth the 20 dollars alone.
Maybe some Glute ham raises, and reverse hypers?
Pistol Squats.
x 1,000 for pull-throughs
Good Mornings
Single Legged ANYTHING
Having lots and lots of rough, missionary sex
I say between single legged work and pull throughs you don’t even need to squat for a month or so to get some super glute activation.
If you DO squat; just REALLY focus on pulling your hips through. The same goes with deadlifts; once that bar passes your knees…PULL THE HIPS THROUGH!
Dumbbell Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts
I have problems with weak glutes and this is the best exercise I’ve done to compliment the activation drills I’ve been doing on a daily basis.
Also, stretch your hip flexors.
On top of that, do what the othe folks were saying, but just watch it on the full squats and deadlifts. They are something you’d do in the later stages of your glute training because of their complex nature.
I have a lot of trouble integrating my glutes into complex movements, but, lately, overhead squats with bands around my knees have been doing a good job of forcing me to get my glutes going.
Good luck!
If you’re too lazy to write up a good dynamic warm up that can help address this issue adequately, go ahead and PM me and I’ll send you what I’ve done with good success.
Thanks for all the input u guys i really appreciate it. From all of this I will start some glute activation starting tomorrow and stretch hip flexors along with that and once i feel comfortable with that start some heavier 1-leg exercises along with pull-throughs and others. I was focusing on getting my squat and vertical up but that will have to wait cuz my knees caved in very bad in both cases and i’ve started to get some knee pain.
Also, I think I have a very weak glute medius cuz on an assisted squat rack I can put up 90 lbs. with 1-leg and then when i have to balance my own bodyweight i can’t even get to parallel on 1-leg. One last thing is I noticed my 2-leg vert is way ahead of my 1-leg vert (1-leg vert involves more glutes/coordination/hips/balance) and my straight line speed is way ahead of my agility (I’m guessing agility is much more about hips/glutes)
Feel free to leave more comments because I need every piece of info I can get, Thanks
[quote]RWElder0 wrote:
For me activation was the biggest challenge. I added some bridges and some other light activation exercises before my workouts and that helped a lot. All of the exercises mentioned are great ones but if you have ‘glutteal amensia’ then you have to wake your glutes up before you start lifting them. That or your compensation patterns will kick in and you will have the same problems.[/quote]
Could not be in more agreement.
Add in some glute bridges before your squat sets.
If things still aren’t working, switch to hip dominant movements for a while; Romanian deadlifts, Good mornings, box squats.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but glute bridges really helped. Now, even bodyweight lunges (20 of them :D) flare up my glutes like never before…