Cornwall Physio

3 Ways Training your Glutes will improve your running and keep you injury free!

What if I told you that training your butt could help you pick the lock to your next PB?

Here at Cornwall Physio we love big butt muscles, and we can’t lie! The truth is we can all benefit from a strong backside, but it is especially important for you runners, and here’s why.

Your butt muscles AKA your ‘Glutes’ are the muscles that form your derriere, and they perform three vital roles in your running stride. In a nutshell…

  1. Propulsion! Your glutes are one of the key muscles that can make you run faster. When trained correctly they are a big powerful muscle group, and as they work to extend your hip they provide a large chunk of your power as you prepare to launch forwards into the next stride.
  2. Stability! Your glutes also keep your pelvis stable as you rock over your stance leg and they reduce the wasteful side to side movement of the pelvis that is associated with many injuries and poor running economy.
  3. Finally the glutes are a key player in the deceleration of your swing leg as you get ready to strike the ground. If they aren’t firing hard you are more likely to overstride and overstriding is a major cause of injury and poor running economy.

The problem for many of us is that daily life can involve a lot of sitting, and this can lead to tight hip flexors and ‘weak’ (or inhibited) butts, the prime suspects in some of the most common running injuries that we see, such as that pesky IT band and Achilles problems!

In summary, you should regard your glutes as one of your most powerful weapons and if you’re wise then you should get off your butt and get to work!

If you’re still not sold then try our 6 week challenge.

Commit to 2-3 sessions of butt strengthening for the next 6 weeks and lets see!

Here’s my three favourite exercises to get you started.

P.S. You can do these anywhere, even on the beach! SO GET IT DONE!

  1. Standing fire hydrant
  2. Single leg glute bridge
  3. Side plank leg lift

So lets make 2021 the year of the butt and get yourself ready to smash through your next race or challenge!

Stay safe! And keep running! Always!

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