The REAL reason your glutes won't fire

I want to talk to you about the real reason your glutes won't fire.

If you have been to physical therapy (or just a fitness enthusiast) and you ever hurt your low back hip...almost universally your going to have people tell you that your glutes don't work.

They're going to say "your glutes don't work and you need to turn your glutes on."

The claim is that this will basically fix everything.

Unfortunately, a lot of times people report that doesn't help.

The real reason that your glutes won't fire is NOT just that they forgot how to work, but also that they are positionally inhibited. This means they are in a bad position and just mechanically can't do their job.
The Dreaded A.P.T

Most people are living in anterior pelvic tilt (APT) because their rectus femoris, iliacus, psoas and quadratuus lumborum (QL) are all pulling them into APT.

To see what I mean...if you try to arch your back and stick your butt out and then try to squeeze your butt, you will find it difficult. By contrast, get your pelvis to a neutral position, by tucking your tail, and then try to squeeze your butt. Easier?

I'm going to guarantee that when you are a neutral pelvic position and try to squeeze your butt, it's a whole hell of a lot easier than when you're in an anterior pelvic tilt and try to clench your butt.
Another Test of Positional Inhibition

The second test to prove to your anterior chain / hip flexor muscles are the reason your glutes won't fire is the "wall quad stretch with glute contraction."

Go into a quad stretch by putting your shin flush against the wall in a lunge position and try to squeeze your glutes (see video for demonstration.)

Can't do it easily? YOU'VE GOT INSUFFICIENT QUAD FLEXIBILITY! WOOHOO!

If you get excruciating tightness and tension right when you try this, it is telling you that that that muscle is too tight. You should be able to get into that position squeeze your butt as hard as possible it shouldn't be a problem.
The Take-Home Message

So if you're doing glute bridges and clam-shells till the cows come up and NOT stretching your hip flexors and quads - you are missing 1/2 of the equation.

Make sure that you have a complete mobility program if you are dealing with back pain or are rehabbing an injury.

TO BE CLEAR: I don't have anything against glue exercises I think they're actually very great and I include them in some of my programs. They were very important in me fixing my lower back and hip pain a couple years ago, but they are just one piece of a systematic rehabilitation plan.

If you're looking for a detailed plan for low back pain, check out "The Athletes Back":

-Shane

GotROM.com - Build an Injury Free, Athletic Body

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[GotROM]

QUESTION: What is your #1 problem / challenge with glute activation?

[EvilSamiad]

I've tracked down and watched dozens of YouTube videos about activating the glutes and this is the one that makes the most sense to me.

[chaikianyew]

Thank you. This is indeed the ultimate missing puzzle. It works almost immediately.

[tipupa]

Excellent bio-mechanical analysis. This makes perfect sense. Thank you

[ArMND]

I literally could almost see the light bulb go off over my head. Thank you!

[epicsoundzz]

This video actually confirms what I've been thinkin for the past 5 years but all physicians, doctors, ... keep ignoring. Thank you for confirming that I'm not insane and that you are one of the few people who has actually knowledge about this matter.

My life has been a nightmare the last 5 years just because my hip flexors are too tight. Low back pain, deep glutes soreness and I gained some form of sciatica in both lower legs... like I said, my life has been a nightmare! I only need to be able to release / unlock the tight psoas but it seems that I can't do it... the more I stretch them, the tighter they get... Do you have tips to get these psoas muscles released?

[cboozb]

You are so right about all the published content about glute activation. They are written with assumption that you have the naturally correct alignment. Well some of us don't. I am a running enthusiast and have been working on this for a long time (more than a year) and this video puts it so well. You need to have something close to the neutral pelvic alignment he is talking about (and that can be prevented by that tightness in hip flexors) just to be able to get those glutes to do their 'thing' ; otherwise you try to do things like glute bridges and all you'll get is a sore tight lower back! and you'll won't feel it where it supposed to be, the glutes.

[TheGoodfella]

This makes total sense. I have been stretching my rectus femoris, or the anterior chain as you mentioned here, and it definitely makes a huge difference to the glutes. Thanks for the video!

[davidbresson]

Thank you for this immensely useful video. I wish I had seen this earlier. It would have saved me a lot of pain and frustration

[nwsupernova]

Just came across this vid & you solved so many issues so quickly! Awesome!

[lukewilliams]

Great advice, been struggling with this but could never work out what was wrong

[veganprincess]

Thank you so much for this. Watched so many videos on this topic, and none actually helped me until now!

[SethIverson]

I’m glad you used the functional patterns letters hehe thanks for the tips!

[regal]

Thank you sir. This has cleared up everything for me.

[ChrisLutz]

awesome stuff man! have you ever came across someone that had trouble firing their deep abdominals or pelvic floor muscles???

[Fetherko]

I rotated my lumbar region forward as you described while pedaling my bicycle up a steep hill. I got out of the saddle and mashed it at a rather slow cadence. I stood up and I concentrated on using my hip extensors instead of hip flexors. I could feel it the next day in my glutes.
I had been doing other glute activation like a marching plank for a few weeks just to figure out how to activate the glutes. Of course, I found Dr. Bret Contreras book, Glute Lab.

[nn]

there is a bit more that I want to add to this great video... if you have apt, then there is a lot of compensation (or altered activation patterns) going on with all the muscles attached to the pelvis - hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, adductors, tfl, ql, and all abdominal muscles - I. e they take over from inhibited glutes and all fire incorrectly to balance the can deactivate them by thoroughly stretching them out and engage pvt before doing any glutes work... peace and look after your no1 asset...

[davidlonkevich]

You’re a hunk. This will be a fun channel to follow.

[randcome]

one of the first coherent talk covering both sides of the issue. everybody talks about one OR the other.

[lasphynge]

Yesterday I randomly tried tucking in my tailbone a little more during my HIIT workout, and today I feel more soreness in my glutes than I did after a gym session when I was specifically trying to target my glutes, so I think you're definitely onto something and I'm gonna experiment more with that in the near future!