How Weak Glutes Affect The Way You Squat

Have you ever been told you have 'weak Glutes' or heard of the term 'Glute Amnesia?

A super interesting study, published in 2024, investigated whether experimentally induced gluteal muscle weakness affected how healthy people squat. 

The main 3 takeaway results from this study were:

• Gluteal muscle weakness did NOT change how the ankle, knee and hip joints moved on the affected side, despite a bigger anterior pelvic tilt (the researchers hypothesised this may be due to muscle compensations)
• Joint reaction force (how much force / load goes through a joint) was significantly higher on the opposite (stronger) side, especially in the knee
• Dynamic balance was also affected, with a sideways shift in movement and pressure towards the stronger side

At this point, most health and fitness professionals would prescribe glute strengthening exercises (eg. Deadlifts, Bridges, Clams, Band Walks). But I'm not like most in my field, and there's something very important you need to do BEFORE you dive into strengthening the muscles.

This is the step that's usually missing in rehab programmes. And this is why so many people either find temporary improvement but then get injured later, or the problem never quite goes away and becomes a constant niggle.

This missing link in current treatment protocols could be the difference between you moving confidently and pain-free, versus having to give up your favourite activities because your body keeps breaking down. 

Consider this situation.....

• You start feeling knee pain when doing squats
• You see a physiotherapist, who does some muscle tests and diagnoses 'weak glutes'
• You get given a gluteal muscle strengthening programme
• All's well, except for some lingering niggles from your knee, and then your lower back and hip start hurting
• You decide that squats don't suit your body, and stop doing them

Does this resonate with you? Then read on, and find out how you can change the ending to squat confidently and pain-free....

The Study

10 healthy adults with no previous history of pain were asked to perform deep squats before and after nerve blocks were administered to induce gluteal muscle weakness.

56 precisely placed skin markers tracked their movement via camera motion capture. The participants were instructed to perform squats standing on two force plates (one under each foot), starting from the upright position (0%) with their hip, knee, and ankles parallel, to the sitting posture (50%) and again in the standing position (100%):

The study's results showed that when gluteal muscles become weakened squat performance IS significantly altered. Understanding this is crucial for reducing training-related injuries.

CAVEAT: In this study gluteal muscle weakness was acutely induced with nerve blocks. Someone with chronic muscle weakness, pain or fatigue, may have different muscle compensations. However, this study does demonstrate that the gluteal and hip abductor muscles are very important for squat technique and execution.

People who sit for prolonged periods of time, perhaps they have a sitting job (eg. office / driving) or a sedentary lifestyle, are especially prone to weaker gluteal muscles, If you leave the office and drive your car to the gym, a group fitness class or go for a run, you open the door to injury, joint pain and eventually 'wear & tear'.

The study shows that the pelvis tilts forwards more, the joints on the opposite of the body have to absorb more force, especially the knee, and the body's balance shifts over to the stronger side. 

Although the ankle, knee and hip joints don't move differently, this is at the cost of muscle compensations. The researchers hypothesise that quadratus lumborum (QL) could be one of the muscles that work harder to stabilise the body when the gluteal muscles lose strength, The QL muscle is a lower back muscle, and one of the most commonly implicated muscles in 'non-specific' low back pain.

Follow up studies to deepen understanding of these changes will be very helpful for those who struggle with back / hip / knee pain when squatting. 

Now here's where most health and fitness professionals will dive straight into gluteal muscle strengthening exercises - Bridges, Deadlifts, Clams, Band Walks etc.

These are all great exercises, BUT there's something you need to do BEFORE starting a strengthening programming.

Not doing this is the reason why so many people get temporary improvement after a rehab programme, only to get injured later, or the problem never quite goes away and becomes a constant niggle.

The clue lies in the muscle compensations mentioned in the study. These changes help to stabilise the body, but it comes at a cost. The compensating muscles start doing jobs they weren't designed for. The force of the squat is also shifted to one side of the body, creating an overload on those joints, 

Given enough time and number of repetitions, muscle tension, soreness, fatigue, joint stiffness, pain and injury become ever more likely.

Imagine the cumulative effects on your body if you did 3 to 4 BodyPump (or any weights) classes.  In a typical BodyPump class you could be doing hundreds of squats.

What To Do Before Starting A Muscle Strengthening Programme

The magic sauce lies in changing muscle behaviour at the root source = the nervous system.

The glutes don't just suddenly decide to go on strike! It's important to explore WHY they're misbehaving. Here are some possible scenarios for the glutes presenting as 'weak':

• Over-active or hypervigilant hip flexor muscles (eg. psoas majot / iliacus) - again WHY?
• Pelvis unbalanced and pulling on the muscles at the front and/or back of the body
• A difference between the right and left foot / ankle - this could be structure, range of motion, how these 2 structures move (kinematics)
• Poor quality muscle contraction eg. an 2all or nothing" response or a phasic (flickering) contraction
• Sensory motor amnesia (SMA) of the gluteal muscles = a disruption to the connection between the brain, nervous system and muscle

So before you dive headfirst into a glute strengthening programming, it's very important to investigate the above scenarios. Remember, there are other possibilities too that involve the ribs and upper body.

If any of these situations are active in your body, what could happen when you do glute exercises is that you'll simply compensate with other muscles. 

Remember how the study researchers hypothesised that the QL muscle in the lower back could be compensating for weakened glutes when squatting. 

So now all that your gluteal muscle strengthening programme is doing is adding more muscle compensations to the ones you already had. Over time, this will reduce your resilience to injury, and increase stiffness, muscle tension and pain..... the opposite to your desired outcome!

A Simple Home Exercise to Assess and Improve Gluteal Muscle Function

Try this simple exercise to explore the connection between your feet, hips and gluteal muscles, and the quality of your glute contraction:

• Lie prone on your tummy, place your forehead on your stacked hands or a small cushion to support your neck, with your feet and legs hip width.
• Check your pelvis is level - place your hands onto your iliac crests (the bony ridges on the front of the pelvis), and feel if there's an equal gap between each side and the floor
• Allow your heels to softly roll out and relax your ankles
• Slowly and smoothly move both heels inwards until your feet become parallel - what do you feel happening with your buttocks (butt cheeks)?
• Slowly and smoothly roll both heels out to the start position - what do you feel happening with your buttocks (butt cheeks)?

1) If you can feel your buttocks coming together and your bum getting narrower as your heels roll in -> that's your gluteal muscles contracting. 

Does this contraction feel:

(a) All or nothing ie. they suddenly switch from to zero to 100% and straight back to zero (like an on/off light switch)?

(b) Flickering on/off/on/off (like a faulty fluorescent light strip)?

(c) Smooth and progressive (like a dimmer switch with the light getting gradually brighter and then gradually dimmer)?

2) If you can feel your buttocks sliding apart and your bum getting wider as your heels roll out -> that's your gluteal muscles relaxing.

If you can't sense your gluteal muscles contracting, you may have sensory motor amnesia (SMA), where your brain is no longer in voluntary control of this muscle.

Trying to strengthen a muscle over which you don't have sensory-motor control of will generally lead to you recruiting alternative muscles to compensate.

This is why so many people end up with constant niggles, stiffness, muscle tension and injury after injury. Eventually they give up doing their favourite classes and activities, which is just so sad.....and preventable, if they had just paused to explore what's actually happening with their body beyond weak muscles and joint pain. 

Muscle weakness, joint pain and altered movement patterns are very often symptoms, not the root problem. Given that the brain controls the whole body, including muscles, developing a deeper understanding of how your body and nervous system interact will help you to address structural imbalances, muscle compensations and unhelpful movement patterns. 

You'll start to feel back in control of your body, more confident about movement and clear about how to manage stiffness and pain if they flare up.

Try the simple home exercise for gluteal muscle function and let me know what you find.

This is one of the movement explorations used in The Befriend Your Body (BYB) Method for pain relief, and I use it in my Stretch and Pilates classes.

NEXT STEPS

• Get my expert insights on a specific injury or pain that you're struggling with in a 15 mins clarity call that will help you move forwards to recovery. Complete the interest form HERE
• Book into a Stretch or Pilates class with me - these are a good introduction to The BYB Method for pain relief.
• Come to a pop-up class - a different theme each month, open to everyone, run at a peaceful retreat venue, small group. See the class schedule HERE
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivering mobility and pain reduction tips directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

If you would like help with managing pain or a particular injury please reach out to me on any of these channels:

• Email at norma@unicornhealthandfitness.com
• DM me on Facebook Messenger 
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.

 Study Link

Dimitriou D, Meisterhans M, Geissmann M, et al. The effect of experimentally induced gluteal muscle weakness on joint kinematics, reaction forces, and dynamic balance performance during deep bilateral squats. J Orthop Res. 2024; 42: 164-171. doi:10.1002/jor.25644