Strong glutes, healthy body: Why your backside matters more than you think

If you suspect your glutes aren’t doing their job, watch for these signs:

• You feel most lower-body exercises, like squats and lunges, in your quads or lower back instead of in your glutes.
• You struggle to maintain balance during single-leg movements.
•  Your knees cave inward when you squat or lunge.
• You have recurring tightness in your hip flexors, quads or hamstrings
• You experience lower back or knee pain with regular activity.

To test your glute activation, try this simple glute bridge:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Press through your heels to lift your hips. If you feel the effort mostly in your lower back or hamstrings — not in your glutes — your glutes may not be activating properly. Poke a finger or two into the muscles of your glutes on each side to check for activation. If your touch is not met with any underlying feeling of tension, that’s a sure sign your glutes are under-functioning.

How to retrain and strengthen your glutes

The good news is that with consistent, targeted effort, you can reawaken your glutes and regain function. To that end, zero in on these three essential components: activation, mobility and strength.

1. Focus on intentional activation.
Before jumping into traditional strength exercises, reinforce your ability to activate your glutes. To start, use the same bridge position from your glute testing, but turn it into an activation exercise. Here’s how:

Lie on your back with your feet hip-width apart and a block or towel between your knees.

Exhale fully to engage your core and press through your heels as you lift your hips 4 to 6 inches off the floor. Hold at the top for a count of five seconds, squeezing your glutes without arching your back. Inhale as you lower down, slowly and with control. Repeat 10 to 12 times.

2. Restore mobility and alignment.
Tight hips often accompany weak glutes. Targeted hip mobility drills such as the three-way hip flexor release can help open up your hips and position your pelvis to engage your glutes more effectively.

3. Strengthen through compound movements.
Once your glutes are activating well, incorporate compound exercises that strengthen these muscles through functional ranges of motion. Prioritize quality over quantity, choosing three to four exercises that train your glutes in multiple directions with at least one single-leg movement. These could include squats, hip thrusts, step-ups, single-leg deadlifts, step-back lunges, lateral lunges or lateral monster walks (with or without a band). Do 10 to 12 repetitions of each exercise for three to five rounds. Start with body-weight exercises, and add resistance with weights only if and when you feel you have perfected your form and are ready to progress.

The bottom line

Ideally, add glute-focused training to your workouts two or three times per week, warming up with the glute bridge activation exercise and following up with one or two hip-opening mobility exercises and then your strengthening exercises. Taking this approach will help you safely build strong glutes that support better posture and pain-free movement in daily life.

Remember, glute training isn’t just about having a better-looking backside — it’s about creating a powerful, mobile and resilient body. Whether you’re working out, chasing your kids or simply moving through life, your glutes are behind you doing the heavy lifting, so it pays to give them the attention they deserve.