Stretching your tight glutes reduces muscle stiffness, increases range of motion, and can even help you build more muscle. Here are my five favorite glute stretches for unlocking the muscles around your rear end.
Did you know that stretching your glutes is critical for not only better posture, but also more natural, fluid movement?
Your gluteal muscles (in your butt) tend to get tight for a number of reasons—from spending too many hours sitting down to not getting enough exercise to overexertion during sports.
Regardless of the cause, tight glutes can be a problem because they cause your lower back and upper leg muscles to stiffen, making bending and squatting more difficult.
It’s absolutely crucial to your overall exercise performance that you stretch out these muscles regularly in order to maintain easy movement.
Just like you’d do dynamic stretches for upper body mobility, you need to give your lower body some love, too!
Below, I’ll share with you some of my favorite glute stretches, including one that has helped to reduce my back pain exponentially.
With just a few minutes of stretching per day (even when it’s not Leg Day), you can enjoy easier, smoother, and more pain-free movement!
Benefits of Stretching Your Glutes
Before we get to my favorite glute stretches, I want to take a moment to look at all the benefits of glute stretches and explain why they’re so critical for a healthy, fit body.
The benefits include:
⭐ Better flexibility and mobility. Stretching your glutes helps to prevent stiffness in the critical muscles that connect your lower back to your legs.
Think of your glutes as sort of the “bridge” between your core and leg muscles—if they can’t move easily because they’re stiff, you’re going to have a harder time moving.
Flexible glutes not only help you to have greater mobility, but facilitate easier movement when walking, sitting, standing, squatting, lunging, bending, and even climbing in and out of bed.
⭐ Reduced muscle stiffness. A lot of things can cause your glutes to tighten up and get stiff—sitting for too long, not doing exercise enough, injuries, and the list goes on. Sadly, far too many of us ignore our stiff, tight glutes and instead pay attention to the lower back and legs.
When the time comes to work bending, twisting, squatting, or lunging exercises, our stiff glutes can’t move or flex properly, so our other muscles around them—such as our back or hamstrings—have to compensate. As a result, you run a much higher injury risk.
Related: 6 Tips for Targeting Your Glutes on Leg Press
That’s why it’s so important to do stretches before leg workout sessions. By addressing the stiffness in your glute muscles, you enable more natural range of motion, so your muscles can all work together smoothly to lift weights or move effectively.
⭐ Improve lower body joints. When your glute muscles tighten up, they can actually make it hard to move correctly through the natural range of motion. Your hips, knees, and ankles try to compensate, but in so doing, can end up being damaged or worn down incorrectly. This contributes to higher rates of osteoarthritis—or can worsen cases of rheumatoid arthritis.
Loosening up your glutes helps to restore proper mobility to your pelvis, so your hips, ankles, and knees can all move normally.
⭐ Increase strength. Science has proven that stretching makes you stronger. When you stretch before your workout, you will enable your body to move through the full range of motion, which makes each weightlifting exercise more effective.
Plus, it can lead to visible increases in your exercise performance—as one study found, stretching after a workout can lead to an increase in muscle growth of over 300% in a matter of weeks.
As you can see, there are a lot of great reasons to incorporate glute stretching into your workout routines (and daily life!).
Let’s dive right in with some of my all-time favorite glute stretches below…
My Favorite Glute Stretches
Stretch 1: Downward Dog
Also known as “Downward Facing Dog”, this Yoga poses is absolutely spectacular for loosening up all of the postern chain muscles (along the back of your body), from your neck and upper back down to your calves and hamstrings.
See also: 5 Best Quad Stretches for Increased Flexibility and Performance
Incorporating it into your Yoga workout or just doing it a few times per day can do wonders to loosen up stiff glutes (as well as the lower back and hamstring muscles connected to your glutes).
To perform this stretch:
- Start on your hands and feet in the Plank position on a Yoga mat.
- Using your hip and core muscles, lift your butt high into the air and push backward until your body forms an inverted “V” shape. Keep your head between your shoulders and work toward straightening your knees.
- Hold the pose for 15 seconds, return to Plank position, then back to Downward Dog. Repeat 3 times.
?️ TRAINER’S TIP
Can’t fully straighten your legs right away because of the tension and stiffness in your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back?
No problem! “Cycle” through the motion by bending your right knee and pressing your left heel toward the floor, then bending your left knee and pressing your right heel toward the floor.
Working unilaterally can focus the stretch on each individual glute and help to increase mobility.
Stretch 2: Knee to Opposite Shoulder
This is, hands down, my favorite stretch to help combat lower back pain. Anytime I feel my sciatica flaring up, I get on my back and use this stretch to loosen up my glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles.
Spend just a few minutes doing this stretch—anytime, anywhere—and you can eliminate a lot of stiffness in your core and leg muscles.
To perform this stretch:
- Lie on your back on a Yoga mat or soft floor, with your legs extended out in front of you.
- Bend your left knee and bring it up toward your chest, until you can wrap your hands around your shin.
- Using your hands for extra leverage, pull your left knee up toward your right shoulder. You’ll feel a bit of twist in your lower back as well as tug on your glute muscles—that’s how you know you’re stretching out the tightness!
- Hold the stretch for 20-30 seconds, then release and extend your leg. Switch to the right leg, bringing it up to your left shoulder.
- Repeat 2-3 times per side.
Stretch 3: Seated 4-Figure Stretch
This stretch gets its name from the way your crossed legs look like the numeral “4”, but I tell you it’ll make you feel like at least a thousand bucks when you’re done.
Best of all, it requires no equipment other than a chair, and it’s a stretch you can do anytime during the day, anywhere.
To perform this stretch:
- Sit with your butt halfway off the front end of your chair, with your feet planted firmly on the floor in front of you.
- Bring your left ankle up and place it on top of your right thigh.
- Bend forward at the waist and go as low as you can over your bent left leg.
- Hold the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, then relax, lower your leg, and repeat on the right side.
- Repeat 2-3 times per side.
Stretch 4: Pigeon Pose
Pigeon Pose is an amazing Yoga pose that can seriously limber up stiff glute muscles and help to improve mobility in all your lower body joints.
To perform this stretch:
- Start on your hands and knees. Slide your left knee forward toward your left hand, place your shin on the ground, and swivel your ankle outward toward your right hand. As you do this, slide your right leg backward to sink into the stretch.
- Make sure your hips are facing forward and your spine is erect as you walk your hands forward as far as you can to fold over your legs.
- Hold the pose for 10-15 seconds, then return to your hands and knees and repeat with the right leg.
- Repeat 2-3 times per leg to work out the kinks in your glutes, hips, and lower back.
Stretch 5: Standing Straddle
Standing straddle is the last glute exercise I want to share in this article. It’s absolutely amazing for working not only your glutes, but your lower back, hamstrings, calves, and hips. You’re guaranteed much better lower body mobility with this simple stretch.
To perform this stretch:
- Spread your feet as wide as you comfortably can, and point your toes straight ahead of you.
- Hinge at the hips and bend forward until your hands touch the ground.
- Without bending your knees, shift your upper body to the left, bringing your hands over to wrap around the outside of your left ankle.
- Hold for 10-15 seconds, then swing slowly across to the right foot.
- Repeat 4-5 times per side.
TRAINER’S TIP
Don’t worry if your hands don’t touch the ground or can’t reach your ankles right away. Just keep stretching and you’ll see progress in your flexibility over time.
Glute Stretches – FAQs
When is the best time to do glute stretches?
You want to limber up your glutes before working out, as that will enable more fluid, natural movement throughout your entire training session. You should also stretch out your glutes after training. Not only will it help to drain away lactic acid (which leads to sore, stiff muscles), but it also increases muscle fiber growth and accelerates recovery.
Of course, you should also consider incorporating a few stretching sessions into your day, especially if you spend many hours (6+) sitting down. Make sure to fit glute stretches into these sessions to combat the stiffness and inflexibility that results from long hours sitting on a chair.
What causes tight glutes?
Poor posture, too many hours spent sitting down, injury, muscle imbalances, joint immobility, lack of exercise, poor exercise form, and not properly warming up before a workout can all cause your glutes to tighten up and feel stiff.
The Bottom Line
Your glutes are one of the most important muscles to facilitate movement. They connect your lower back to your legs and hips, and enable you to run, jump, and play.
Thanks to the modern (sedentary or seated) lifestyle, tightness and stiffness are an all-too-common problem, one that could seriously impact your mobility.
But you don’t have to let it!
Incorporate these glute stretches into your warm-up/cool-down sessions—and even throughout the day—and you’ll find you can move far more easily and smoothly.
More Guides Like This:
5 Hip Thrust Variations for Stronger Glutes. While the hip thrust is one of the best exercises on the planet for building glute strength and stability, there are some variations that can help you fine-tune your efforts. Here are five of my favorites.
Hyperbolic Stretching — An Athlete’s Full Review. Hyperbolic Stretching is a digital stretching program that covers your whole body–from unlocking your chest and shoulders to loosening up your hips and glutes. Here’s a detailed look at this popular flexibility program and whether it’s for you.
The Best Stretching Programs and Apps for Improving Flexibility. Looking for a stretching program or app to help you kick up your flexibility? Here’s a detailed look at the top stretching apps for every level of user.
8 Best Barbell Hip Thrust Pads for Rock Star Glutes. Hip thrust pads are the best way to protect your hips, stabilize the bar, and push more weight, building stronger glutes. Here is a breakdown of my favorite barbell pads for hip thrusts.
