Buzz
'Activation' exercises are commonly suggested as part of your pre-workout routine. You may have heard—whether from random TikToks or from a trainer you trust—that activations are crucial for ensuring your muscles are properly primed to perform the upcoming workout. However, that’s not entirely accurate. Let’s take a closer look at the true role of activations.
What does it mean to 'activate' your muscles?
You’ll often hear that our muscles—especially our glutes—'forget' how to activate properly. But this idea is a myth, as physical therapist Tyler Detmer explained to our own Rachel Fairbank when talking about the so-called gluteal amnesia. Our muscles don’t require special exercises to contract correctly.
That doesn’t mean activation exercises are pointless. A more accurate way to view these exercises is as warm-ups with a specific goal. As I’ve mentioned previously, warm-up routines range from general (like light jogging before squats) to specific (such as doing lighter squats before heavier ones).
The warm-up routines sometimes referred to as 'activation' exercises sit somewhere in between these two extremes. They’re designed to prepare you for more intense exercises, focusing on the muscles you’ll use. In some cases, they’re quite effective. So, here’s when activation exercises work—and when they don’t.
Activation exercises help you connect with a muscle
When performing isolation exercises, it’s helpful to understand what it feels like to properly engage the muscle. Using the glutes as an example, a side-lying leg raise can be executed in a way that maximally activates the glutes (when the leg is slightly behind you) or in a way that shifts some of the load to other muscles (like when the leg is slightly in front of you). As you perform these leg raises, you can focus on whether you’re feeling your glutes work—but to do that, you need to know what it feels like to activate those muscles.
This is where activation exercises come into play. They involve movements that are difficult to do without using the glutes, helping you become familiar with the sensations associated with activating that muscle. You might feel a burning sensation as the muscle fatigues, or a tight, full feeling as the muscle fills with blood (what bodybuilders often refer to as a 'pump'). These sensations bring your awareness to the muscle, and when you perform your next exercise, you’ll be able to recall that feeling.
Activation exercises are just extra volume in disguise
The more work you give a muscle, the larger and stronger it becomes. This amount of work is often referred to as 'volume,' which is typically measured by the number of sets. You’ll gain more muscle by doing six sets of squats at each session than by only doing three.
Activation exercises, when challenging enough, can contribute to that volume. Picture two people in the gym: One completes three sets each of banded walks and single-leg glute bridges (both often classified as activation exercises) before moving on to three sets of barbell hip thrusts. The other person does just the hip thrusts. The first individual is giving their glutes more work than the second, no matter how the exercises are labeled.
To use activation exercises in this way, they need to be challenging. If you perform your activations with enough intensity to reach near failure by the end of each set, they contribute to your total volume. But if they’re too light and easy, and you’re simply going through the motions, they won’t add any real value.
Activation exercises are never essential
I’ve mentioned a few ways activation exercises can benefit your workouts, but that doesn’t mean they’re mandatory. You don’t need to feel a muscle working to know that you’re effectively training it. If you want to add more volume to a muscle group, you can do those extra sets before, after, or during your main workout—they don’t need to be confined to the 'activation' phase at the start.
So if activation exercises aren’t part of your routine, that’s perfectly fine. Just make sure you’re warming up appropriately. (If you're unsure, check out this guide I wrote on creating an effective warm-up. A warm-up should be designed to prepare you for the work ahead, and it should be tailored to your specific body and workout needs.)
However, if your trainer has assigned you activation exercises, or if you’ve come across a few you’d like to try, feel free to incorporate them. They’ll provide additional work for the target muscles, and you may find that they help you feel more prepared when you get to the main sets of your workout.
