Hamstring Cramping & Glute Exercises

Have your hamstrings ever cramped during glute bridges?

Glute bridges are a foundational exercise that we prescribe quite frequently to our clients. It is also pretty frequent that once someone goes into the 'bridge' position they immediately go back to the floor, straighten out their leg, and state, "My leg (hamstrings) just cramped!!!"

Banded single leg bridges…ya don’t need to use a band to get a cramp!

Has this happened to you? You are not alone.

The likely cause of this? Don't worry folks, we are just going to cut to the chase with this one.

Your hamstrings, like your glutes, are hip extensors. When you push up into a bridge position your hamstrings will naturally engage with your glutes. During a bridge, your hamstrings are in a shortened position because they cross your knee joint, and your knees are bent.

What do we know about muscles in shortened positions that contract? The length-tension relationship is not optimal, meaning, the muscle can't contract as hard.

Why do some folks cramp up and others can lift their bum in the air no problem? Most likely, this is a muscle dominance issue - your hamstrings are trying fill the role of primary hip extensor (instead of your glutes) and because the hamstring isn't in an optimal position when it contracts, it cramps up.

Pretty interesting, eh? This doesn't happen because your hamstrings are tight. (Although you might have flexibility issues in this muscle group.) Due to the fact that your hamstrings are shortened in a bridge - they aren't under high stretch forces, so even if they are tight, they aren't being stretched during a bridge.

There should be a balanced distribution between muscle activation of the erector spinae (back muscles), glutes, and hamstrings during bridges.

If we peel this layer back even further...

Consider the glutes a protector of the knees and low back. Who do we see this cramping phenomenon happen to mostly? Folks who come into the clinic with either:

A. Back Pain

B. Knee Pain

Moral of the story, if you're a victim of the 'ol dreaded hamstring cramp during bridges, we need to strengthen your glutes to bulletproof your knees and back. Now, we would also want to rule out any other contributing factors (like tight hip flexors), but we will save that for another day.


What are the best glute exercises??

There has been a lot of research that has looked at EMG findings for glutes across a range of exercises, meaning, what exercises produce the highest glute contraction.

Before we go too much further it important to understand the glute muscles. Noticed we said glutes, as in plural. There are 3 gluteal muscles.

  1. Gluteus Maximus: this is the big booty muscle - it is the largest and most outermost gluteal muscle. It is the primary hip extensor aka brings your leg backwards.

  2. Gluteus Medius: your side bum muscle. This muscle stabilizes your pelvis in keeping your trunk upright, it also performs abduction aka brings your leg out to the side and internally rotates your hip.

  3. Gluteus Minimus: this is the smallest and innermost gluteal muscle. It lies under the gluteus medius and primarily abducts the leg and stabilizes the pelvis.


Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let’s dive into the highest EMG producing glute exercises.

There have been a lot of research studies that have looked at this, let’s see what they have to say…

Gluteus Maximus:

  • Step Ups: Forward Facing Step Ups rank #1 followed by (in order of activation) lateral, diagonal, and then cross-over step ups. This particular study also performed EMG testing against these other exercises that included, lunges, deadlifts, and back squats. There were 24 exercises tested and back squats (>60% 1 rep max) ranked last. See the exercise table HERE and full study found HERE.

Gluteus Medius:

  • Side Plank with Hip Abduction: this study looked more at rehab type exercises and the Side Plank plus Hip Abduction was the winner for highest EMG productivity. Now, it’s important to note that the muscle producing the high force was the stance limb! As in, NOT the top leg performing the hip abduction. Read the full study HERE.

If a side plank is out of the question for you, try this exercise which is SUPER at gluteus medius activation…

Too easy? Hold the bridge position for a longer duration. We like folks to have a baseline of 30 sec holds per side.


Let’s tie this all together…

If you try to do a single leg bridge and cramp there is a chance that you have a muscle imbalance between your hip extensors. Let’s get you stronger! Don’t hesitate to reach out. We have a phone call with all clients PRIOR to scheduling your first visit to learn about you, your goals, and discuss the issues that you’re having to ensure that we are the very best fit for you.

Thanks for reading!

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