I’m currently doing a Fitness-Tip Friday mini-series where I’m emphasizing a set of muscles that are significantly underrated as far as their overall importance – and therefore underworked by the vast majority of people! So far we’ve gone over the tibialis anterior, serratus anterior, flexor digitorum profundus, sartorius, erector spinae, and the soleus. (Note: if you just subscribed and want to view those, a catalogue of all previous FTF tips is included in the All-Access Basic Membership.) And this week’s underrated & underworked muscle is the gluteus medius!!
There are 3 different “glute” muscles – maximus, Medius, and minimus. Yet most people focus almost exclusively on the gluteus maximus, because it’s the largest. However, in modern day society training the gluteus Medius might be even MORE important than training maximus!
Why??
Partly because we all already engage and strengthen the gluteus maximus every day just by walking, sitting down, standing up, etc. The gluteus medius on the other hand is a laterally-based muscle, which means it’s engaged more in side-to-side type movements, which most people don’t do at all on a daily basis, much less train.
Another one of gluteus medius’s primary roles is to stabilize the hip. So to test whether you have a strong medius, try balancing on one leg. If the opposite hip drops and you can’t easily balance yourself, your medius is WEAK! And this makes you susceptible to a huge number of hip and knee injuries, including patellofemoral syndrome, knee osteoarthritis, and even chronic lower back pain!
Studies have also shown that, surprisingly, “Peak force produced by the gluteus medius during running is substantially greater than that of ANY other hip muscle.” And that includes gluteus maximus! If you check out the chart below, you’ll see that gluteus medius force was DOUBLE that of the next closest muscle (note that the y-axis of the “GMed” tops out at 40, while the others have a max of 20, so the scales are different). So training the gluteus medius will have a greater yield on running performance and health than any other muscle!!!
Also, unlike glutues minimus, medius isn’t a small muscle. It’s not as big as maximus… but is substantial, so will add to the overall size and shape of your glutes! 😜
So how exactly do you train the gluteus medius then? The two best movements are:
1. Hip Abduction (click to view)
2. Hip External Rotation (click to view)
And it’s important to work BOTH, because studies show that the gluteus medius is functionally separated into two different regions (see image above) – the anterior (front) region, which is engaged the most during hip abduction… and the posterior (back) region, which is engaged the most during hip external rotation!
Fascinatingly, due to the unique position of the gluteus medius right on top of the femur, the anterior region actually also performs hip INTERNAL rotation – the exact opposite of what the posterior region does! But hip abduction and external rotation will still give you the best bang for your buck.
GIF #1 below shows you an example of a hip abduction exercise.
GIF #2 shows you an example of a hip external rotation exercise.
GIF #3 shows you a combo technique I developed in order to hit both movements in one exercise!! (See related YouTube video link below for a full explanation)
APPLICATION: Stop ignoring your gluteus medius and start training it using both hip abduction and external rotation!!!
Relevant Research Article(s):
1) Hip muscle loads during running at various step rates
2) Gluteal Muscle Forces during Hip-Focused Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Exercises
Related Dr. Gains YouTube Video(s):
1) Want Better Glutes..? HIT ALL 3 GLUTEUS MUSCLES with a SINGLE EXERCISE!! (Maximus, Medius, Minimus)
GIF #1 – Side-Lying Hip Abductions
GIF #2 – Side-Lying Clam Shells
GIF #3 – The Kamalu All-Glute Combo
Dr. Gains 
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