We generally hear that running strength mainly comes from quads at the front of the leg. However, the real power is derived from glutes- your butt muscles! Activating your glutes just before your running( as a part of your injury prevention strategy), you will witness performance gains in the long run.
When you are running, glutes help in,
- Pulling your leg back once it is in contact with the ground
- Stabilizing your hips when you are standing on one leg( while running you are on one leg for half the time).
If your glutes are not trained & conditioned properly, it will decrease your running efficiency & reduce your ability to generate force. Weak glutes can also increase the risk of injuries related to hips, lower back & runners knee.
Glutes are made up of three muscles-Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius & Gluteus Minimus.
Gluteus Maximus
Gluteus Maximus provide power while running. To move forward, you have to push your body backwards- known as hit extension( Hip flexion would bring your knee closer to your chest). During running, this movement happens when your foot touches the ground & drives your leg behind you. This muscle helps carry out this movement along with hamstring
Gluteus Medius & Minimus
These two muscles provide your body stability while running. During running for atleast half of the time you are standing on one leg. These two muscles are positioned on the side of your leg & contract to keep your leg stable. A test to check if you have weak Gluteus Medius & Minimus is to stand on one leg & see if your hips drop to the side of raised leg
Muscles work in pairs. Opposite to Gluteus Maximus is Hip Flexion which brings the knee towards the chest as mentioned earlier. Since we usually spend a lot of time, our hip flexion shortens. The shorter your hip flexion becomes, more inactive the glutes get.
Since we have various other supporting muscles in the legs, when our glutes become weak, other muscles compensate for this weakness. We can lean on Hamstring & quads to get around. However, over long term this creates an imbalance & can result in injury
Our objective should be to train & condition our glutes so that they are strong enough to improve your running /sprinting performance.Besides, you should also consider including some hip flexor stretches to bring an overall balance in your hips
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