Hi iam 23 years old, and i’ve trained for 3 years.I was suffering L4 L5 bluging disc. It leaded to sciatic nerve pain. Now i have no pain in gym but i dont want to squat and deadlift anymore. Anyone give me safe exercises to train my glute muscle ? Thank you
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Glute/Ham raises and lunges. You say no deads, does that include RDL/SDL?
Fire hydrants and mule kicks.
Bulgarian Split Squat with slight lean forward and deep stretch going down. Hip Thrust obviously (light weights at first and keeping lumbar region stiff - movement only at the hip) or glute bridge, single leged romanian deadlift, reverse hyper…most important thing is to activate glutes properly, make sure they are doing the job and not erectors and / or hamstrings so do some activation first (clams, donkey kicks etc. squeezing glutes before starting repetition). There are shit ton of safe glute exercises but important things to remember are:
- Squeeze those suckers all the time - mind - butt connection
- Tilt pelvis anteriorily
- Don’t go crazy with weights, You must feel glutes working
Oh, and in case of lunges, back lunges will be safer option for Your back.
In regards to find out if glutes are firing properly do this:
- Lay face down
- Put index finger on glutes and thumb on lumbar spine (same hand) and touch hamstrings with other hand (or ask someone to do that for You)
- Raise straight leg from the floor and check which is firing first - if it is not glutes, then you must teach them to do so, otherwise your lumbbar will stay overactive and tense - in such case, do this drill daily:
- Do the same as above, only this time squeeze glutes before raising leg - 20 repetitions per side, 2-3 sets
- Add some clams, fire hydrants etc. following the same principle - sqeeeeze
I have a completely blown L5/S1 disk and I work my glutes with squats and deadlifts.
You can still do same excercise, with appropriate weights, strict form, do contractions, dont do high weights. That worked for me.
You can do hip thrusts, bridges, lounges, fire hydrants, clams 