Why “Gluteal Amnesia” Makes Me Wince (and What I Actually Think We Should Do About It)

I’m going to start with a confession: every time I hear the term gluteal amnesia, a part of me wants to slap someone. Not in a dramatic way… just in a “we can do better than this” kind of way.

It’s not because there’s no truth in the idea. There is. It’s because the term turns something beautifully complex into a meme, and then sells the solution as three sets of clamshells and a banded crab walk. And while those exercises can absolutely make your glutes burn, they rarely change how your body actually moves in the real world for more than a few days. One hour in the gym + 6 hours of sitting = most activation dies and you need to repeat the "wake up".

Here’s the deeper truth: your glutes don’t just “switch off” or forget who they are. What we’re usually seeing is a nervous system that has adapted. To pain. To stress. To long periods of sitting. To injury. To habit. To the way you’ve been loading your body for years. The body always chooses the safest or most familiar strategy available, not the most biomechanically pretty one. That’s not amnesia. That’s intelligent protection.

So instead of asking, “How do I wake my glutes up?”, I think the better question is: “Why did my system decide this was the best strategy in the first place?” Sometimes it’s fear of pain. Sometimes it’s poor load tolerance. Sometimes it’s coordination or your habitual gait pattern. Sometimes it’s just the task you keep asking your body to do. And here’s the key line I wish more people heard: you can’t strengthen your way out of a strategy problem. You have to change the context the movement is happening in.

Yes, strength work can be part of the picture. But in my clinic, I look first at how someone actually moves: how they stand, walk, hinge, climb stairs, shift weight, rotate, and transfer load. Can they access hip extension? Can they control rotation? Do they feel safe in those ranges? When those pieces improve, “glute activation” usually takes care of itself without endless cueing, bands, or ritualistic pre-workout drills.

And often, the most powerful changes are also the simplest. Something as basic as using a standing desk instead of a chair changes how often your hips move into extension and how load is shared through your pelvis and legs. Walking uphill, taking slightly longer steps, or varying your terrain naturally invites more posterior chain involvement without turning your life into a rehab program. When the environment changes, the nervous system updates the strategy. The glutes “switching back on” is just a byproduct.

So in the spirit of not rejecting the term outright, here’s my gentle reframe: if you’ve been told you have “gluteal amnesia,” don’t panic - and please don’t sentence yourself to a lifetime of clamshells. Instead, ask how you can move differently, more often, and in more varied ways in your actual life. Because the goal isn’t to activate your glutes for five minutes in a workout. The goal is to give your body reasons to keep choosing them all day long.

Your glutes don’t need shouting at.They need a better reason to show up. If this resonates and you’d like help changing your movement patterns rather than just adding more exercises, you can book an in-person physio appointment or an online movement assessment to get started.