Single leg romanian deadlift - a sure fire hit for the glute medius

I have a bit of an obsession with getting people's glute medius firing. All too often, people come in to see me complaining of undiagnosed knee ache. I don't diagnose them because I'm not qualified. I can guess at the root cause of what's up and if they refuse to get diagnosed, I do my best to improve their structural balance.

Just last week, one of my clients went in for treatment for knee pain with one of the go to guys at Athlete's Care. We've been working on her butt strength already. Sure enough her left glute medius wasn't firing and was inhibited. A shy bum needing a little accupuncture and stimulation.

I'm not saying the root cause of knee issues are the glutes. I'm just saying that poor glute medius strength can cause a lot of problems for us gals since the Q-angle from our hips to knees is more extreme than in the boys. Damn anatomical flaw designed to accommodate babies' heads through our pelvis.

"Women are more prone to several sports injuries than men based simply on biomechanical differences. One such difference is a wider pelvis in women then men. Many sports medicine experts have linked a wider pelvis to a larger "Q" (Quadriceps ) Angle - the angle at which the femur (upper leg bone) meets the tibia (lower leg bone)."
The Q-Angle and Injuries in Women Athletes

One of fave glute medius exercises in the single leg dead left as above. When someone nails it, the glute medius on the standing leg get's lit on fire and the core feels more integrated because to fire the glute medius, one has to fire up the transversus abdominus (TVA) or the hips will rotate open and the glute will remain asleep. And on top of that, you'll notice in the picture that the shoulder blade stabilizers have to engage or the weight of the dumbbell will pull the shoulder forward.

So all in all, I love this above exercise because it just gets the whole core integrated and working as a team. And let's remember that the core isn't the stomach. It's everything except the arms, legs and head.

Give it a got and let me know if you have any questions. If you pick the appropriate weight you should fatigue within 12 reps. Aim for 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps per leg. Don't be afraid to pick a challenging weight as long as you can integrate the whole body into the movement and don't lose a nice long spine and upper body alignment.

And thanks to Anna in the pics. I'm obsessed with her fantastic physique since she came to me 60 pounds heavier and now has ripped muscles. She's over forty, two kids and is in better shape than she's been in since her early 20s.