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This short strength training workout is designed to strengthen the muscles in your glutes — gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus — as well as the small muscles that stabilize and control your hips.
Weak glutes can cause lower back pain or hamstring tendonitis because these smaller muscles have to take over some of the workload that should fall on the glutes.
Weak hips, on the other hand, can lead to issues lower down the kinetic chain, such as IT band syndrome and runner’s knee, as instability in the hips allows your knees to collapse inward.
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The Workout
Add this workout into your routine once a week to better balance out your strength as a runner and prevent injuries down the line.
Complete 2 rounds of the following:
- 15 forward lunges per side (option to hold dumbbells if you want some added resistance)
- 15 reverse lunges per side
- 15 lateral lunges per side
- 20 step-ups per leg (option to hold dumbbells if you want some added resistance)
- 15 single-leg glute bridges per side
- 15 single-leg Romanian deadlifts. Stand upright and reach your hand down towards your opposite foot in a controlled manner (option to do this one weighted for added resistance)
- 15 clamshells per side (option to use a resistance band)
- 15 kneeling fire hydrants per side
Cool down with a foam rolling and a figure-4 stretch (Laying on your back with knees bent, bring one ankle to the opposite. Reach through to grab the back of your bent leg and pull into your chest. Hold the position and then switch sides).
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Amber Sayer is a fitness, nutrition, and wellness writer and editor, and contributes to several fitness, health, and running publications. She holds two master’s degrees—one in exercise science and one in prosthetics and orthotics. As a NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer and USATF level 1 running coach for 12 years, Amber enjoys staying active and helping others do so as well.