Building glutes without overloading the hips?

[Miina]

I'm trying to build that nice round butt, but I'm having troubles with my hips (maybe due to hip dysplasia when I was born). Doing squats or leg press with anything over 35kg cause a lot of pain in my right hip joint. I've been working out for 5 months now, worked on flexibility and building up strength but the problem does not go away, and the limit is still at 35kg as it was in the beginning..

Does anyone know if there is any other good ways to build your glutes that wont require that much pressure on the hips? Or has anyone had similar problems and know how to fix it?

I'm doing a lot of exercises that don't require extra weight (like glute kick backs etc) but I guess these are not as effective when it comes to actually building up the muscles so I need some advice!

[mavd]

Have you tried glute bridges and/or hip thrusts? Since the angle is different on the joint you may be able to handle more weight.

[superja]

I have a friend with a very bad dysplasia (like future surgery bad), and she can't do regular squats or anything at all, but split squats seem okay and one-legged versions of things work as well.

[birdiefu]

I have hip dysplaisa in my left hip, and also have lumbar scoliosis that tilts my right hip up, so I would end up bearing more weight on the dysplasic left side. Before I started lifting, I was getting more gimpy than in my youth, would often wake with a limp, and god forbid a storm was coming, that left side was awful, lol. Currently, other than some occasional non-painful clicking during mobility work, my left hip is 1000 times better and sometimes I forget it has dysplasia - I have built enough muscle around the joint that it is supported very well and laxity has decreased a ton. If anything, I have to be more conscious of the scoliosis during training.

First of all, what program are you on? Secondly, I would not recommend leg press if you have dysplasia and have not strengthened supporting musculature with squats. Where exactly is the pain - actual joint pain or hip flexor pain? It is quite common to have tight/painful hip flexors and weak glutes. Many times with hip flexor tightness, pain while using it makes it even tighter, and in protecting/shortening the hip flexor further one unconciously fires the antagonist (glutes) even less - a cycle that needs to be stopped. I would definitely look into hip mobility/hip opener exercises, and take them slowly. Foam rolling also, it will hurt like a bitch at first, but help a ton. A few hip drills/stretches that helped me a lot are some like these:






Also look up Bret Contreras for glute activation exercises - he has quite a few where you can work up from easier to more challenging over time. Strengthening the posterior chain is essential for this type of issue - not just for cosmetic reasons, but to maintain proper muscle balance and optimal joint mechanics.

Granted, this is all with the disclaimer that you should check with your doc first to make sure there isn't anything else going on, or your degree of dysplasia or degeneration of the joint needs other therapy first.

ETA: Do post a form check for squats as well, it is common for newbies to be too far forward on toes and/or not dropping *between* the hips - those mistakes also stress hip flexors a lot.

[Miina]

I have hip dysplaisa in my left hip, and also have lumbar scoliosis that tilts my right hip up, so I would end up bearing more weight on the dysplasic left side. Before I started lifting, I was getting more gimpy than in my youth, would often wake with a limp, and god forbid a storm was coming, that left side was awful, lol. Currently, other than some occasional non-painful clicking during mobility work, my left hip is 1000 times better and sometimes I forget it has dysplasia - I have built enough muscle around the joint that it is supported very well and laxity has decreased a ton. If anything, I have to be more conscious of the scoliosis during training.

First of all, what program are you on? Secondly, I would not recommend leg press if you have dysplasia and have not strengthened supporting musculature with squats. Where exactly is the pain - actual joint pain or hip flexor pain? It is quite common to have tight/painful hip flexors and weak glutes. Many times with hip flexor tightness, pain while using it makes it even tighter, and in protecting/shortening the hip flexor further one unconciously fires the antagonist (glutes) even less - a cycle that needs to be stopped. I would definitely look into hip mobility/hip opener exercises, and take them slowly. Foam rolling also, it will hurt like a bitch at first, but help a ton. A few hip drills/stretches that helped me a lot are some like these:






Also look up Bret Contreras for glute activation exercises - he has quite a few where you can work up from easier to more challenging over time. Strengthening the posterior chain is essential for this type of issue - not just for cosmetic reasons, but to maintain proper muscle balance and optimal joint mechanics.

Granted, this is all with the disclaimer that you should check with your doc first to make sure there isn't anything else going on, or your degree of dysplasia or degeneration of the joint needs other therapy first.

ETA: Do post a form check for squats as well, it is common for newbies to be too far forward on toes and/or not dropping *between* the hips - those mistakes also stress hip flexors a lot.

Thank you so much for this thorough answer^^
Now that you mention it I guess the pain is located at the hip flexor and not the hip joint.
So if that is the case I should be able to loosen it up by hip flexibility exercises?
I have no pain when it comes to squats without extra weight added, and I've gotten a personal trainer to look at the form to see if there was anything wrong with it but she said it looked nice. (I go deep, keep the weight in my heels, keep my knees out and a straight back). But I must say I do have some trouble reaching my glutes while doing squats, seems like all the lifting comes from my thighs. Does this mean I should do other exercises rather than squats, or will they eventually catch up if I keep doing squats (but with less weight so it won't hurt my hips)?