What's up guys Michael Kamalu here aka dr Gaines  and in this video I'm going to show you how to  

hit all three glute muscles in a single combo  exercise. Now, if you don't know your anatomy you  

may think, well, that's easy. I mean just do some  deep squats or some hip thrusters and it's bound  

to hit all the muscles in there, right? Well,  you'd be wrong because unlike Gluteus Maximus  

the other two glute muscles are not activated with  hip extension. In fact, in order to hit both the  

Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus you need to  abduct and externally rotate the leg. However,  

most of the glute workouts you see out there will  only do one motion, in fact, most of them only  

do an extension of the leg at the hip. There are  a few out there that will combine two emotions,  

either extension and abduction or  extension, and external rotation, but  

this exercise will show you how to incorporate  all three. First, I'll show you how it's done,  

and then, we'll dive into the anatomy to find out  how and why it works. To perform this exercise  

you'll need a cable system along with a cuff  attachment which you'll place around the ankle  

of the leg that's farthest away from the cable,  then you will alternate between two motions.  

For the first, you'll abduct your outside leg  while standing straight up and keeping both knees  

locked. And for the second you'll drop down into  a single leg squat on the leg closest to the cable  

while you externally rotate or laterally rotate  the opposite leg, then you'll stand back up  

and repeat alternating between the two motions. To  understand why this exercise is so effective and  

efficient in working the three glute muscles, we  first need to understand the anatomy. If you put  

your hand on your hip and press, you'll be able  to feel a bone. That bone is called the ilium and  

it's what you see right here on mr bones, and the  largest of the three muscles the Gluteus Maximus  

originates along the medial side of the Ilium,  medial meaning closer in towards the center of  

the body. It also has origination fibers along  the Sacrum and the Coccyx, and then it inserts  

down on the back of the femur on what's called  the Gluteal Tuberosity. So, what does it do when  

it contracts? Well, it does a couple different  things. First, because the origination fibers are  

above the insertion points when they contract,  it'll pull the femur back and up, and that's  

what we call the extension of the leg at the  hip, and because many of the fibers are also  

medial to the insertion point and behind or  posterior to the insertion point, they're going  

to pull back and in and that results in external  rotation also called Lateral rotation of the leg  

at the hip. So one way to work Gluteus Maximus an  easy way actually just lifts your foot up off the  

ground and then point your toes laterally, point  them to the side as far as you can go and relax,  

rotate them again and you're going to feel that  contraction in Gluteus Maximus. And then for the  

third motion, because some of the fibers are  on the lateral side of the body and above the  

insertion point, they will pull up and to the  side and that is abduction of the leg. However,  

of the three motions its primary role is extension  of the leg at the hip. So in the combo exercise,  

when you are down in that single-leg squat  both holding that position and extending back  

upwards you're nailing gluteus maximus.  Next, let's take a look at Gluteus Medius.  

It lies somewhat underneath Gluteus Maximus but  also farther out to the side or more lateral  

and you'll see that because its origination fibers  are on the lateral aspect of the Ilium, and then  

it inserts down on this bony knob here, it's  called the Greater Trochanter of the femur so  

when it contracts since it's on the lateral side  of the body and the origination fibers are above  

the insertion point on the lateral side, it's  going to pull up and to the side so the Gluteus  

Medius is actually the primary abductor of the  leg at the hip. So if you really want to hit  

the Gluteus Medius you want to be able to place a  significant amount of resistance on the abduction  

of the leg without incorporating external  rotation as well, which we'll get to in a bit,  

but we want to isolate it as much as possible and  the best way to get abduction of the leg without  

also externally rotating it or extending your  hip, is standing completely straight with your hip  

straight and your knees locked and abducting your  leg out to the side. And so that's why, in this  

exercise, one of the two positions that you're  alternating between is standing up completely  

straight with the knee locked and abducting your  leg. During that movement, you are really nailing  

the Gluteus Medius in the most isolated way  possible. There is actually another role for the  

Gluteus Medius that very few people know of and  if you take a look at the muscle from the side,  

you'll see that many of the fibers are not only  anterior to the origination point they're closer  

to the front of the body and they're also more  medial to the insertion point, closer to the  

middle of the body so when those fibers contract  it actually brings the leg out and in front of you  

and towards the center of your body and that's  called internal rotation or medial rotation which  

is literally the opposite of what Gluteus Maximus  does. It's an example of why it's so important and  

beneficial to understand anatomy because you  wouldn't think that two muscles that have the  

same name, they're both gluteus muscles, they  have completely opposite roles when you look  

at specific motions that they do. So, when you're  done rotating your toes laterally to work Gluteus  

Maximus you can start rotating them internally and  you'll be able to work gluteus medius. Finally,  

let's get into the Gluteus Minimus. Now,  some of you may think that, because it's so  

small and underneath the other muscles, it's not  worth your time. However, not only is it a very  

important muscle functionally, but because it is  underneath the others it plays a significant role  

in the thickness of the glutes overall. There's a  similar concept with the calves, most people only  

focus on working the Gastrocnemius because that's  what's on the surface and so they believe that's  

all that matters, that's what's going to be seen.  However, the bulk of the calf muscle is actually  

made up by the soleus which lies underneath  the gastroc and so, in building the soleus  

you get better, thicker calves overall. Similar  concept here with the glutes like the other two,  

the Gluteus Minimus originates on the Ilium  just a little further down, and then like  

Gluteus Medius it inserts down here on the  greater trochanter of the femur, this big knob,  

but farther towards the front or more anterior and  that's important functionally, as we'll see in a  

minute. Because some of the fibers of Gluteus  Minimus are above the insertion point and it's  

laterally displaced, it will do some abduction of  the leg. However, because the insertion point is  

more anterior or more lateral than the other  muscles, and because the origination points are  

so much more medial or towards the middle of the  body, it's going to have its primary role be -  

external rotation of the leg. It's going to pull  medially and backward on the femur and externally  

rotate or laterally rotate the leg. That is its  primary role and the best way to put significant  

resistance on the external rotation motion of your  leg at the hip, is with a bent hip and bent knee.  

In that position, you can really put a significant  amount of resistance in that lateral rotation of  

the leg. And that's why it's incorporated in  this exercise. The second of the two different  

alternating positions that you do, you're going to  be squatted down where your leg is bent at the hip  

and your knee is bent with the cable attached  right here on your ankle and you're going to be  

externally rotating that leg, pulling against the  resistance. And when you're in that motion you're  

going to be nailing primarily Gluteus Minimus.  So, to summarize, in this exercise you're hitting  

Gluteus Maximus by forcing extension of the leg  when you're doing that single leg squat on the  

leg that's closest to the cable, you're hitting  Gluteus Medius when you're doing the standing up  

abduction of the leg and you're hitting Gluteus  Minimus when you are doing the bent external  

rotation of the leg. Now, to be clear there are  a lot more muscles involved you're not completely  

isolating those each gluteus muscle with each one  of those workouts, each one of those positions.  

However, they are the best position you can do  in order to isolate them as much as possible and  

make sure that you're getting a good workout on  all three of those muscles. I will give you two  

tips on this exercise that should help you make  it as effective as possible. First, if you try  

to do completely unassisted single leg squats  while the other is doing abduction and rotation  

the leg that's sitting in that squat is going  to tire a lot more quickly than the outside leg  

and so I recommend supporting yourself by holding  on to the cable or whatever you can that's nearby  

and hold yourself up just enough that you're  able to get a really good workout on the leg  

that's doing the external rotation and abduction  before the leg that's doing the squats completely  

tires out, and obviously make sure that you are  switching which side you're doing the standing up  

and squatting versus abduction and external  rotation so that you're hitting both sides  

equally. And then second, after you have this  motion down try implementing a slight rotation  

when you're doing the external rotation so, what  i mean by that is, when you are going down into  

that single leg squat instead of staying with your  body faced sideways or perpendicular to the cable,  

turn and face the cable slightly and what that's  going to do is it's going to change the angle of  

resistance to more directly oppose the lateral  rotation aspect. You're changing the resistance  

from coming you know directly from the side of you  to now the resistance is coming from in front of  

you and to the side and that angle is the best  in order to get the most resistance possible  

on that external rotation motion and therefore on  Gluteus Medius. Try this out on your next leg day  

and I promise it will leave your glutes burning so  badly that you won't be able to sit for a week. If  

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