maratoolLying Glute
How to do the lying glute
- Lie on your back with your partner kneeling beside you.
- Flex the hip of one leg, raising it off of the floor. Rotate the leg so the foot is over the opposite hip, the lower leg perpendicular to your body. Your partner should hold the knee and ankle in place. This will be your starting position.
- Attempt to push your leg towards your partner, who should be preventing any actual movement of the leg.
- After 10-20 seconds, completely relax as your partner gently pushes the ankle and knee towards your chest. Be sure to inform your helper when the stretch is adequate to prevent injury or overstretching.
Muscles worked
The muscle under tension is the gluteus maximus, which is the strongest hip extensor you have and drives the pelvis forward at the top of the movement.
A stretch loads it at the far end of the range it normally works in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.
Nothing travels, but holding the position is not the target muscle’s job alone: the abductors stop the knee collapsing inward and hold the pelvis square.
How this movement works
Nothing travels once you are in position. The muscle holds a length under tension instead of working through a range, so effort is measured in seconds rather than repetitions — and the honest progression is more time in a good position, not a deeper one forced early.
It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.
What you need
No equipment at all. The resistance is your own bodyweight, so you progress by changing leverage, range or tempo rather than by adding plates — and you can do it anywhere.
Every exercise using:Body only
These train the glutes too, using equipment this one does not:
- One Legged Cable Kickbackcable
- Physioball Hip Bridgeexercise ball
- Piriformis-SMRfoam roll
- Barbell Glute Bridgebarbell
- Hip Extension with Bandsband
Difficulty
Listed at expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.
Of the 24 glutes exercises in this database, 3 are listed at expert level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.