Exercises to train the gluteus medius

Everyone wants to have a lot of muscles on their body, because the more muscles they have, the stronger they are and the healthier they are. Therefore, many people will do some muscle training. After doing muscle training, our bodies will not get fat, and it will also help shape the body. Therefore, there are really many benefits. So what are the movements that can exercise the gluteus medius?

Gluteus medius

The gluteus medius is located deep in the gluteus maximus, originates from the outside of the iliac crest and inserts at the greater trochanter of the femur. It is a feathered muscle. (From left to right: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus)

Functions of the gluteus medius:

The gluteus medius is one of the major abductors of the hip, abducting and internally rotating the thigh when contracted. When standing on one leg, the gluteus medius can ensure the horizontal stability of the pelvis, which is extremely important for maintaining people's normal standing and walking functions.

Secondly, if the buttocks are not beautiful, the main reason is that the gluteus medius muscle is not developed enough.

If the gluteus medius is not well developed, the entire buttocks will appear to sag or fall. On the contrary, if the gluteus medius is well developed, not only the center of gravity of the buttocks is raised, but also the center of gravity of the entire body, which improves and enhances the buttocks and many other parts of the body.

How to train the gluteus medius:

Action 1: Single-leg upright side leg extension 3-4 sets * 15-20RM

Action 2: Side-lying hip abduction 3-4 sets * 15-20 times

Action 3: Do the split leg exercise with the posture machine 3-4 sets * 15-20RM

Exercise 4: Kneeling Hip Abduction

Side stretch

It is a common mistake to lift your feet as high as possible. The hip joint is designed so that the thigh can only be abducted to 45 degrees. Any movement that causes the hip joint to exceed 45 degrees is no longer the target muscle group for this movement. When performing the movement, you don't lift it up quickly, but slowly extend it outward under control and return to the original position.

Lying on the side is the basic movement, and adding a little more difficulty is (side stick + hip abduction), as shown below, the left side is the simple version with bent knees on the ground; the right side is the complete version.

Side stretch

According to the PFP website, the side stretch is the best exercise for training the gluteus medius, based on research results:

(When doing a side-to-side stretch, the MVIC with the dominant foot down is 103.11%, while when the dominant foot is up, the MVIC is 88.82%)

How to use this movement for training? The gluteus medius has two functions: stabilizing the pelvis and hip abduction. From a functional perspective, the training should be: training the ability to stabilize the pelvis over time. That is, when your feet are lifted, the time you stay there is counted. For example, do 3 sets in total, with a 45-second pause in each set.

Hip abduction movement ability is trained in repetitions. That is to say, it is calculated by lifting up and falling down. For example, do 3 sets of 20 reps each.

So if we take running as an example, the gluteus medius muscle mainly focuses on the ability to stabilize, so is it appropriate for us to use "time" as the training parameter!? This is just like what we often hear, that to train endurance, we just need to do light weight x high repetitions, but will combining strength and explosiveness training make endurance performance better? The answer may be yes.