What Treadmill Incline Level is Best to Target Gluteus Medius?

I have not done one of these in a while. Before I went to bed last night, I thought I needed to block off an hour Friday morning to look at the research and see what was new. As I started to research, I found great stuff on what Incline is best for the glutes.

Let’s look at the research…

Does Treadmill Incline Affect Gluteus Medius Activation?

1. What Did They Look At?

In the study they looked at the muscle activity of gluteus medius at varying angles of treadmill walking.

2. What Did They Find?

A study [¹] found that as they increased the treadmill from 0 degrees to 5 degrees, there was an increase in gluteus medius activation, but the difference was not significant. When the treadmill was at 10 degrees incline, there was less gluteus medius activation compared to 5 degrees.

3. What Does This Mean to You?

If you are looking at targeting or rehabilitating gluteus medius, consider adding a 5-degree incline to your treadmill walking. This will be a great idea because gluteus medius is a key muscle that needs to be targeted if you have foot, ankle, knee, hip, or back pain.

Remember to watch the volume and time under tension when it comes to exercises targeting stabilizing muscles like gluteus medius. If you over do it or fatigue them out, it will put other joints at great risk of injury.

Which Way Should You Rotate Your Leg to Target Gluteus Medius More?

1. What Did They Look At?

The researchers looked to see if it was better to keep your leg straight or rotate it in order to target the gluteus medius better in a side-lying isometric hip abduction exercise.

2. What Did They Find?

The study found[²] that gluteus medius activity was greater when the thigh was rotated in (hip internal rotation) compared to neutral or thigh rotated out (hip external rotation).

3. What Does that Mean to You?

This result is not earth-shattering, but it is a nice tweak to remember. Also, I am a big fan of isometric exercises for addressing muscle imbalances and rehabilitation.

If side-lying hip abduction is difficult for you, you can regress down to isometric hip abduction. If you want to target the gluteus medius more, just turn your leg in.

That was fun.

I look forward to getting back to doing more of this.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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