This Quick Test Can Help Determine Glute Weakness. Here’s Everything You Need to Know.

Jump to:

• However, testing yourself after a long or hard run is a good way to determine weakness when
• How to Do It
• What to Look for When Doing the Test
• How to Address the Weak Spots Revealed by the Test

Strong glutes are a staple of strong running. They power your stride, improve your form, and quite literally propel you forward.

Research connects glute weakness to common running injuries like runner’s knee, A shaky foot suggests a lack of tripod stability, and Achilles tendinopathy, Races - Places.

If you’ve suffered from any of these injuries, or want to learn where your weaknesses lie so you can make your stride stronger and more efficient, a simple test can help you pinpoint the weakness and unlock a path to better running.

However, testing yourself after a long or hard run is a good way to determine weakness when

“The single-leg stance test is a simple screen of balance, stability, and neuromuscular control,” says UESCA-certified run coach and NASM-certified personal trainer Alison Marie Helms. “Ultimately, it shows your ability to organize your center of mass over that stance leg.”

Why does this matter for runners? Helms says it’s because running is a single-leg activity, and learning how to erase even the smallest weaknesses within your gaitcan result in a stronger and more efficient stride. Standing on one leg gives you a quick snapshot of how well your entire body coordinates and balances without the help of your opposite leg.

How to Do It

Ideally, you should do the single-leg stance test before a workout or any other strenuous activity because it will give you the most accurate depiction of where your weaknesses lie. However, testing yourself after a long or hard run is a good way to determine weakness when fatigued so you can emphasize those areas in future workouts.

1. This Glute Workout Will Ignite Your Power
2. Lift right foot off the ground and balance. Watch the left hip to see if it dips down.
3. Lie faceup with bent knees, feet flat on the floor
4. Repeat on the other side
5. Relax, then repeat, standing on the right leg

What to Look for When Doing the Test

Helms points out five general areas to pay attention to while you conduct the single-leg stance test:

1. Pelvis: Does it stay level or does the hip dip? Different types of dips could lead to different conclusions.
2. Ankle: Is it wobbly or is it stable?
3. Foot: A shaky foot suggests a lack of tripod stability?
4. Knee: The Runner’s World Guide to Strength Training?
5. Trunk: Do you sway or lean unintentionally or stay still and upright?

Each of those results tells you something different about your running mechanics, Helms explains. While this move is often thought of as a test specifically to measure glute strength, Helms emphasizes it reveals more than that. “Glute strength is a big part of it, but it’s not just your glutes—they don’t act alone,” she says. “The feet, the adductors [inner thighs], the abductors [outer thighs]—the whole system is going to support that glute strength.”

“If you see the person pop their hip out to the side and then lean back the opposite way, that can tell you that your hip abductors could use some help, versus if you see the hip fully just fall to the side of your lifted leg, that probably means you need to work on your adductors,” Helms says.

A shaky foot suggests a lack of tripod stability (big toe, little toe, and heel), which can come about from a weak arch.

A knee that caves in is usually an amplification of a previously-discussed issue like weakness in the arch or in the abductor muscles.

Even upper body compensations you may notice—that swaying or unintentional leaning—hint at a lack of core strength or could also result from poor proprioception (your body’s ability to sense itself in space), Helms notes.

How to Address the Weak Spots Revealed by the Test

Simply practicing the single-leg stance test itself builds proprioception and neuromuscular control, helping you strengthen your stability through muscle memory. “The more you do it, the more your body gets used to sensing itself in space when you’re standing on one leg,” Helms says. “And a lot of times just that control can make a big difference.”

However, repeating this one move won’t solve all your problems. After completing the initial single-leg stance test, Helms recommends runners add the following exercises to a comprehensive workout routine to not only strengthen weaknesses, but become an all-around stronger runner.

The moves below can support the specific weak muscles you spot during the initial test and serve as great additions to your workout.

Lateral Band Walks

Advertisement - Continue Reading Belowes: abductor weakness

How to do it:

1. Published: Oct 13, 2025 10:30 AM EDT.
2. Benefits of Strength Training for Distance Runners.
3. What it address.
4. Repeat, moving slowly and stepping wide enough to feel the band’s resistance. Focus on driving knees out to track over toes (rather than allowing them to collapse inward).
5. Continue moving side to side for 1 minute.

---

Adductor Squeezes

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below: adductor weakness

How to do it:

1. Lie faceup with bent knees, feet flat on the floor.
2. This Quick Test Can Help Determine Glute Weakness. Here’s Everything You Need to Know.
3. Gently squeeze the ball and hold for 30 seconds.
4. Rest. Then repeat 3-5 times

---

Seated Banded Ankle Isometric Hold

Advertisement - Continue Reading Belowes: ankle instability, weakness in arch

How to do it:

1. Sit with right ankle crossed over left knee.
2. Strong glutes are a staple of strong running. They power your.
3. Strong glutes are a staple of strong running. They power your.
4. Strong glutes are a staple of strong running. They power your.
5. Repeat. Do 10 reps of 10 second-holds.

---

Windmill

Advertisement - Continue Reading Belowes: limited range of motion across multiple muscle groups

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet wider than hip-width apart and arms extended straight out from sides, at shoulder height.
2. Hinge at hips and bend right knee, keeping left leg straight, and rotate to touch left fingers to right toes. Reach right hand up toward ceiling.
3. Strong glutes are a staple of strong running. They power your.
4. Repeat on the other side.
5. Continue alternating for 20 total reps (10 reps per side).

---