Glutes: muscles, exercises, stretches

01The short answer

02Three muscles, three roles

According to Cleveland Clinic, there are three glutes:

• gluteus maximus, the biggest and strongest muscle in the body. It extends the thigh and supplies the force to stand, walk, run and climb stairs; it also helps keep the trunk upright when you sit;
• gluteus medius and gluteus minimus (the minimus is the deepest of the three). They move the legs away from the body's center and rotate the thigh.

Together, they stabilize the pelvis and keep it from tilting too much when you shift your weight from one leg to the other, with every step. Deeper still are other muscles that rotate the hip, including the piriformis: Psoas and hip flexors covers it.

03The glute bridge

Mayo Clinic presents the bridge as a way to strengthen your core: lying on your back with your knees bent, tighten your stomach muscles, then raise your hips until they line up with your knees and shoulders; hold for three deep breaths, return to the starting position and repeat.

An exercise handout from Kaiser Permanente adds a few details: knees bent about 90 degrees, feet pressed into the floor, squeeze your buttocks as you lift; hold for about 6 seconds while breathing normally, lower your hips and rest for up to 10 seconds, and repeat 8 to 12 times. It advises starting slowly and easing off as soon as pain appears; if the exercise hurts, stop it.

04Two more exercises

• Sideways leg lift. The NHS “Strength exercises” page suggests holding the back of a chair and raising your leg to the side as far as is comfortable, keeping your back and hips straight, without tilting; 5 times on each side. Moving the leg out to the side is the movement Cleveland Clinic attributes to the gluteus medius and minimus.
• Mini-squats. From the same NHS page: hands on the back of a solid chair without wheels or arms, bend your knees as far as is comfortable, keeping them facing forward over your big toes and your back straight, then gently come back up squeezing your buttocks; 5 times, slowly.

The NHS advises doing these exercises at least twice a week and building up the repetitions gradually. Leg muscles offers others.

05Stretching the buttock

Cambridge University Hospitals offers this stretch: sitting on the floor with one leg straight and the other crossed over it, bring the knee toward the opposite shoulder until you feel the stretch in your buttock. For adults, the American College of Sports Medicine advises holding a stretch for 10 to 30 seconds (30 to 60 seconds for older adults), at least 2 to 3 days a week.

06Less sitting, more moving

Cleveland Clinic sums it up: staying active is the best way to keep your glutes healthy, and standing up and moving around during frequent breaks also helps when you work sitting down. Joanie Roussy's women's classes, at noon on weekdays, give you the chance: Strong Nation™, cardio and strength set to music, with no equipment; Bootcamp, from station to station; Zumba®. Joanie also offers private, personalized 60-minute training sessions on request. Adult karate, mixed and open from age 14, runs in the evening.

07From Brossard, on foot or by bike

The Samuel-De Champlain Bridge multi-use path, open all year, links Brossard to Nuns' Island: an active way to come on days when you want to move more. The REM, for its part, stops at Île-des-Sœurs station. For the route to 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, see getting to the dojo, and for the days, the schedule.

Sources

1. Cleveland Clinic, “Gluteal Muscles (Glutes)” (2025) — my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/gluteal-muscles-glutes
2. Mayo Clinic, “Bridge exercise” — www.mayoclinic.org/bridge-exercise/img-20006409
3. Kaiser Permanente (Healthwise), “Gluteal Strain: Rehab Exercises” (2026) — healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/health-encyclopedia/he.gluteal-strain-rehab-exercises.zp4551
4. NHS, “Strength exercises” (2024) — www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/strength-exercises
5. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS, “Stretches for the hip” — cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/stretches-for-the-hip
6. Garber et al., American College of Sports Medicine position stand, Med Sci Sports Exerc (2011) — doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318213fefb

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