My Must-Do Tip For Hikers

​​Are you using your glutes to their full potential while you're hiking? I have an easy way for you to test if you are and if you aren't to start. 

As we gear up for hiking season, I always get clients telling me that their quads are sore or their calves are crazy sore after a hike, but they don't feel their glutes at all. 

Although soreness isn't always an indication of what muscles you're using, you don't want to be missing out on using the biggest muscle group of your body to help you hike. 

I've also had clients I work with in the gym and online struggle to feel their glutes working while we're doing glute-specific exercises. If this is you, this one tip I have found works with about 90% of my clients to help them notice when their glutes are actually working and lean into using them in the exercises, which lends itself to being able to use their glutes more fully when they're out hiking.

The Glutes in Action

That's important because your glutes, or actually the biggest muscle group in your body, do a lot of things. 

The glutes actually help us:

• Extend the hip 

• Externally rotate your upper leg 

• Abduct your foot away from your hips 

• Stabilize the IT band 

• Provide support for the knee in a straight-legged position 

All of this helps us avoid un-level hips and knock-knees, leading to knee soreness later in a hike. 

To be fair, there are lots of other, smaller muscles that also do these same actions. But if we're not using our glutes, we're relying on those smaller muscles that tire more easily. 

To build those glute muscles, we can do exercises in the gym like thrusters, squats, lateral step-ups, and glute walks. We could do those exercises all day and not make a difference in our hiking if we're going around the glutes and using those smaller muscles instead. 

Simple Cue to Check Glute Activation

I have a very simple cue you can use to make sure your glutes are firing before you do any of those exercises. 

Whether you are standing or sitting right now, I want you to:

1. Put your feet flat on the floor. 

2. Try and press your big toe into the floor while keeping it flat (no scrunching of your big toes!) 

Just like that, you're gonna start to feel your glutes working.

Why This Works: The glutes connect to our posterior kinetic chain. There's connective tissue that goes from the big toe all the way up into your backside. 

And if that's not enough, I want you to keep pressing down that big toe while you corkscrew your feet into the floor or slightly rotate your thighs, so that your knees point slightly to the outside. 

If you have a hand on your butt now, you should start to feel those glute muscles really activate to the point that you can feel them squeezing. That's because one of those primary actions of the glutes is to help externally rotate the femurs. 

My Favorite Glute Warmup For Hiking

This is my favorite warm-up for the glutes that I actually use before I go hiking every single time. All you need is a wall or flat surface to put your foot against, and some standing room. 

Movement 1: Hip Extension

1. Move 2.5 steps from a wall or raised surface and put your other leg against it 

2. You want your knee in line or just behind 

3. Then press into the wall while getting that hip extension and pressing that toe on the standing foot into the ground 

Do 10 of these and keep your hips level.

Movement 2: Hip Dips

1. Let your hip drop. 

2. Then use your glutes to bring it back up to level. 

Do 10 of these movements. You're really gonna feel this on the standing side, but make sure you’re still pressing into the wall to feel it on both sides. 

Movement 3: Hinges

1. Hinge forward

2. As you come up, press into the wall behind you.

Aim to do 10 of these as well. 

For Runners: Hops 

If I am going for a run instead of a hike, I will then finish this up with a couple of hops while trying to press behind me. 

If I'm hiking, I’ll skip the hops and stop after the hinges.  

Use Your Glutes!

Firing those glutes before you go hiking is super helpful, but it's going to be even more helpful if you've worked to develop your glute muscles over time. WILDR has a free, four-week Couch-to-Summit Fitness Program that will help you start to train for hiking.

At WILDR, I am all about building fitness so that you can experience more of the world around you. It brings me so much joy when I get to hear from clients who have done our programs and gone on to have great adventures!

So use your glutes and see you on the trails!