Glutes are a huge training priority in gyms everywhere today, which is fantastic. BUT, most people train the glutes they can see and skip the one that keeps them functional and pain free. The glute medius — the muscle on the side of your hip — is what stabilizes your pelvis every time you’re on one leg, which is every step you take. This is, without exaggeration, the muscle I see dysfunction and weakness in the most among clients. When it’s weak (and in most people it is), you get hip drop, knee cave in squats and lunges, impaired balance, and often pain in your knees, hips or back. Because of all that, strengthening it is one of the best investments you can make to move well at 60, 70, and beyond.
One of my favorite ways to load it is an exercise Bret Contreras came up with called the glute medius hip thrust — essentially a lateral plate raise for your hip.
Watch the demo (75 seconds): https://share.descript.com/view/p6R4fgghJ4h
How to do it
Set up sideways to a wall or rack with your supporting-side hand holding on for balance, outside knee bent 90 degrees, holding a plate low so it rests against the side of your knee. Sink the hip of your standing leg towards the wall or rack to stretch the working side and get full range of motion. Then drive the hip laterally and lift the outside knee as high as you can — without leading with a side bend. If your obliques take over, you’ve turned it into an ab exercise and the glute medius is mostly just along for the ride.
The detail that makes it work
Watch your supporting leg. The tendency is to externally rotate (so your raised foot swings in) and let the thigh and hip flexor do the driving. Instead, internally rotate slightly — turning that raised foot out just a touch — and the work locks straight into the glute medius. That’s worth doing deliberately, because those anterior fibers that internally rotate the hip are especially weak in most people. Sink the hip, drive, squeeze at the top for a count, then repeat for reps.
Where it goes in your workout
The end. The glute medius is an important stabilizer for everything else you do — squats, lunges, deadlifts — so fatiguing it first makes your other lifts suffer. As a finisher, it’s perfect: burn out the stabilizers after they’ve done their job, and they’ll be ready to handle even more next time.
I usually program this for two sets of 8-10 reps per side, controlled, with a real squeeze at the top. The first time you try these, you will feel them! Your future balance, performance and resilience will thank you.
