A Simple Test for Glute Activity

I recently came across this article written by Rob Panariello.  For those of you unfamiliar with Rob, he is one of the most respected strength coaches/PT's out there.  He has presented numerous times and has had his hand in both the strength and conditioning world and physical therapy community for quite some time.  

This article presented a simple way to test overall glute activity and I found it quite curious.  At face value it seems to be very simple but as Rob explains so well, it really is a good test.  I encourage you to read the comments section under the article as Rob answers some of the readers questions.  

What I liked about this article was Rob's explanation to how hip height in sprinting and glute function is correlated.  Furthermore, he explains the active insufficiency principle to further his reasoning for this test.  I think that many times we forget that the hamstrings are a hip extensor and athletes often overwork their hamstrings in replacement for weak glutes.  As a result we see many hamstring injuries, imbalances, and poor movement patterns in some sets of athletes.  The body will typically travel the path of least resistance and when evaluating the root cause of injuries, we must examine where the primary breakdown has occurred.