Gluteal muscles / hip abductors

Lateral glutes / hip abductors

Musculus gluteus medius et musculus gluteus minimus

Gluteus medius and minimus lie on the side of your pelvis. They move the leg outward and help keep the pelvis level during walking and single-leg stance.

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Back view with the lateral hip region highlighted schematically
Back view · lateral hip region

At a glance

Region
Lateral hip
Movement pattern
Sideways leg raises and lateral stepping
Joint
Hip joint

Exercises

Exercises for the lateral glutes

Seated hip abduction with outer knee pads and moderately opened thighs.

Machine · Outer knee pads

Seated hip abduction machine

Open the thighs against the machine pads to train the lateral hip muscles.

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Standing cable hip abduction with a low pulley, ankle cuff and supported upright torso.

Cable machine · Ankle cuff

Cable hip abduction

Move one leg sideways against a low cable while keeping the pelvis stable.

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Side-lying hip abduction with the upper leg straight and lifted, lower knee bent and pelvis stacked.

No equipment · Mat

Side-lying hip abduction

Lift your top leg sideways while keeping the pelvis stacked. This trains the lateral gluteal muscles without added equipment.

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Shallow squat during a sideways step with a loop band around both thighs just above the knees.

Resistance loop · Above knees

Lateral band walk

Take small sideways steps against a loop band. The lateral glutes move the leg outward and help control the pelvis and knees.

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Understand the muscle

Two key muscles at the side of the hip

Gluteus medius lies above and lateral to the gluteus maximus. The smaller gluteus minimus lies beneath it. Both run from the ilium to the greater trochanter of the femur. Other muscles, including tensor fasciae latae, also assist hip abduction.

The listed exercises involve this region alongside other parts of the muscle. A muscle head or deep portion is not necessarily trained in isolation.

Simply explained

What does the muscle do?

These muscles lift your leg sideways and steady the hip when you stand on one leg.

Move the leg out to the side

Hip abduction

The thigh moves sideways away from the midline. Gluteus medius and minimus work with other hip abductors.

Keep the pelvis level on one leg

Pelvic stability

The abductors of the supporting leg resist dropping of the opposite side of the pelvis, for example during walking.

Often works with
Sources & illustrations

The highlight shows the lateral hip region schematically. Gluteus minimus lies beneath gluteus medius and is not directly visible from outside. Exercise illustrations are AI-generated.