Did you know that your glutes are made up of three muscles? The gluteus maximus is the largest and most well known glute muscle, but the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are also super important! We should be using all of them when we are doing exercises like squats or lunges.
I feel like I’m constantly reminding my clients to pull their knees apart while squatting or to pull their knee out to the side while lunging. That’s because it’s very common to have sleepy glutes and to compensate by relying on using the quadriceps more than we should.
Squatting or lunging this way increases risk of injury, especially in the knees and hips. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are the muscles responsible for pulling the knees out. If you’re wondering how to do these exercises properly, I made a couple videos on how to do a squat and a lunge.
If you have trouble keeping your knees out while doing a squat or lunge, I highly recommend supplementing your training with some exercises that specifically target the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. Here is a video I made of one of my favorites that requires no equipment: Kneeling Side Plank Leg Lifts