You’ve probably heard a personal trainer or group workout instructor say, “activate your glutes” at some point in a sweat session. But what does that phrase actually mean–and how do you even activate your glutes to begin with?
This is a question that Sandy Brockman, CPT, the expert behind the Women’s Health Glute Gains Challenge, gets all the time and is super passionate about. Brockman calls glute activation the “number-one game changer” when it comes to glute growth. Let’s get into why.
Meet the expert: Sandy Brockman is a certified personal trainer at Kollective in Austin, Texas. She is focused on helping women build muscle and transform their bodies and health with strength training with a focus on glutes.
Watch Brockman demonstrate exactly how to activate the glutes here:
What does ‘glute activation’ mean—and why does it matter?
“Glute activation exercises create a really strong mind-muscle connection that helps you tap into your glutes during your workout,” Brockman explains in the video.
These mind-to-muscle moves, which Brockman refers to as corrective exercises and activations throughout the Glute Gains Challenge (more on these terms, next), help you use your glutes more efficiently in workouts and everyday life. They also increase blood circulation in the area, which is important for producing the most power and muscle activation whenever you’re performing an exercise. (You’ll do corrective exercises and activations in all three of the glute workouts in the full program.)
What is a glute corrective exercise?
Glute corrective exercises—such as couch stretch, frog stretch, which Brockman demos in the video—help with hip mobility. And “better hip mobility equals better glute gains,” she says.
Why? Tight hip flexors can prohibit you from properly engaging your glutes. Instead, you end up recruiting other muscles to get the work done.
What’s more, given that so many people spend a lot of time in modern life sedentary, they live with chronic hip flexor tightness. The more you work on and practice opening and releasing tension in her hip flexors, the more results you will see as far as growth in the backside goes.
What is a glute activation?
Activation refers to squeezing the glutes to create a strong mind-muscle connection that allows you to effectively tap into your glutes during workouts. This could be as small and simple as squeezing and releasing your left glute then right glute in your seat at a stoplight. Brockman also incorporates this squeezing/activation into reps of corrective exercises in the challenge.
Jacqueline Andriakos, CPT, is the executive health and fitness director at Women’s Health, where she oversees all health and fitness content across WomensHealthMag.com and the print magazine. She has more than a decade of experience covering the wellness space and has edited ASME-nominated health features, spearheaded brand packages such as Fitness Awards, and represented the brand on the TODAY show, podcasts, and more. Before Women’s Health, Jacqueline was the deputy health features editor at Self.com, and previously worked as the senior editor at Health magazine. As a writer-reporter, she has contributed to print and online publications including TIME, Real Simple, and People, among others. A dancer throughout her youth, Jacqueline went on to study journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and stoked her passion for health and fitness during her college years, ultimately inspiring her to make women’s health content the focus of her media career. She is constantly researching the latest health and wellness trends, trying a buzzy new workout class, hiking and snowboarding, or browsing athleisure. Her friends would describe her as the confidant to turn to for fitness and wellness advice, not to mention answers to any weird body questions. Jacqueline is also a former group exercise instructor and is a certified personal trainer via the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
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