Your glutes might be sleeping through your workouts, and your lower back is covering for them. Here is the simple core cue that flips them back on.
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EVER FINISH A GLUTE DAY AND ONLY FEEL YOUR BACK?
If your lower back is sore after bridges and thrusts but your glutes feel like they barely showed up, you are not training harder, you are training the wrong muscle. There is a quick fix.
It happens to almost everyone at some point. You run through your hip thrusts, your bridges, your kickbacks, and the next morning your glutes feel fine while your lower back is wrecked. That is frustrating, and it is easy to blame yourself for not pushing hard enough. The real reason is usually different. When your pelvis tips forward and your lower back arches during these moves, the back muscles jump in and take over the job your glutes were supposed to do.1
The good news is that the fix is small and you can learn it in a few minutes. Right before you lift, you gently pull your lower belly inward. Physical therapists call this the abdominal drawing-in maneuver, or ADIM for short. That tiny action steadies your pelvis so your glutes can finally take the lead. Below you will find what it is, what the research shows, how to do it correctly, and exactly where to use it.
| Author’s note: This guide was researched, gathered, and written by Navid Moravej, pulling together peer-reviewed studies into a simple, practical how-to that anyone can follow, whether you are brand new or coaching others. References are listed at the end. |
| So what is ADIM? It is a gentle inward pull of your lower belly. Picture softly drawing your belly button toward your spine and away from your waistband, without holding your breath and without crunching. That quiet action switches on your deepest core muscle, the transverse abdominis, which wraps around your middle like a built-in support belt for your spine and pelvis. |
THE RESEARCH: ONE CUE NEARLY DOUBLED GLUTE ACTIVITY
The clearest study on this is hard to ignore. Researchers asked people to do a face-down hip extension, which simply means lying on your stomach and lifting one leg, both with and without the draw-in. They measured how hard each muscle worked using EMG.1 Pulling the belly in changed everything about which muscles did the job.
Figure 1. With the belly drawn in, glute activity climbed from 24% to 52% while lower-back activity fell from 49% to 17%. Data from Oh and colleagues (2007).
Put simply, drawing the belly in told the glutes to get to work and told the lower back to ease off. The pelvis stopped tipping forward, so the right muscle led the way.1 Later studies found the cue also improves the timing of it all, so the glutes switch on sooner and more reliably instead of firing late after the back has already taken charge.2,3
HOW TO DO THE DRAW-IN
Learn it lying down first, then bring it into your lifts. It should feel light, around 30 percent effort, not a hard squeeze. The photo below shows exactly what to look for.
Figure 2. The draw-in on a real torso. Gently pull the lower belly inward and slightly up, keep the spine in its natural position, and keep breathing the whole time.
| STEP | WHAT TO DO | WHAT IT SHOULD FEEL LIKE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat. Let your spine rest in its natural position. | Calm and relaxed to start. |
| 2 | Breathe normally. As you breathe out, gently draw your lower belly in, like you are pulling it away from your waistband. | A soft tightening low and deep, below the belly button. |
| 3 | Keep breathing the whole time. Do not hold your breath, puff up your chest, or crunch. Ribs and shoulders stay soft. | You can still talk easily. Only the deep low core is on. |
| 4 | Hold that gentle pull for 5 to 10 seconds while breathing, then relax. | Light and easy to keep, about 30 percent effort. |
| 5 | Once it feels natural lying down, use the same pull right before and during your glute exercises. | Pelvis feels steady, back feels quiet. |
| COACH’S TIP — FIND IT IN FIVE SECONDS Lie down and rest two fingers just inside your hip bones. Give one small cough. The muscle that tightens under your fingers is the transverse abdominis. Recreating that same gentle tension while you keep breathing is the draw-in.5 |
WHY IT WORKS: THE CORE AND GLUTE TEAM UP
Your glute does not work on its own. It is part of a diagonal chain of muscles that runs from one shoulder, across your back, down to the opposite glute and leg. Coaches call it the posterior oblique sling. A steady core is the anchor that lets this chain pass force through cleanly. Without that anchor, the glute has nothing solid to pull against.4
Figure 3. The sling links a back muscle on one side, across the core, to the glute on the other side. Drawing in firms the center so the glute has something to pull on.
| THE SCIENCE, IN PLAIN WORDSWhen you draw in, your deep core muscle tightens around your spine and pelvis like a snug belt. That stops the pelvis from tipping forward into an arch. With the pelvis steady and level, the glute sits at a strong working angle and the lower back loses its chance to cheat the movement. So the glute has to step up and do the work.1,4 |
WHERE TO USE IT IN YOUR TRAINING
Think of the draw-in as a switch you flip for activation and clean technique, especially on moves where pelvis control decides whether you feel your glutes or your back. Here is where it pays off most.
| EXERCISE | HOW TO USE THE DRAW-IN | WHY YOUR GLUTES BENEFIT |
|---|---|---|
| Glute bridges | Draw in before you press up and keep your ribs down. | Stops the back from arching at the top, so the glute finishes the lift. (6) |
| Hip thrusts (warm-up and lighter sets) | Draw in on setup and through the rep, tucking the pelvis under at the top. | Keeps the work in your hips instead of your spine. (1) |
| Kickbacks on all fours | Draw in to lock your trunk before you extend the hip. | Stops the low-back swing and keeps the glute isolated. (2) |
| Face-down leg raises | Draw in, then lift the leg without letting your back arch. | This is the exact move the research tested, where glute activity doubled. (1) |
| Bird-dogs and planks | Draw in to set a steady base before you move a limb. | Trains the core and glute connection under control. (4) |
THE HONEST PART: WHEN NOT TO RELY ON IT
This is where good coaching gets honest. The draw-in is excellent for waking up your glutes, for warm-ups, for rehab, and for learning to actually feel the muscle. It is not the right tool when the weight gets very heavy.
| WHERE COACHES DISAGREE – DRAWING IN VS. BRACINGNewer reviews show that the gentle draw-in gives you less full-body stability than a hard brace, which is a 360 degree tightening of the whole midsection, during heavy lifts like big squats and deadlifts.7 So use the soft draw-in for glute activation, warm-ups, and lighter technique work, and switch to a strong brace once the load is heavy. They are two different tools for two different jobs.7 |
| THE BOTTOM LINEThe draw-in is a switch, not a strength exercise on its own. It teaches your pelvis to stay steady so your glutes lead the movement instead of your lower back. Use it to wake the glutes up in warm-ups and activation, and use a full brace when you go heavy. |
| BUILD GLUTES THAT ACTUALLY SHOW UP Knowing the cue is the easy part. Putting it inside a smart plan is what changes how you look and how you lift. At Booty Center, every drill and every cue is chosen on purpose, backed by research, and built around your glutes. Want a plan that works?→ Get coached |
This guide is for education and is not a replacement for personal medical or coaching advice. If you have low-back pain or any medical condition, talk to a qualified professional before starting new exercises.
REFERENCES
- Oh JS, Cynn HS, Won JH, Kwon OY, Yi CH. Effects of performing an abdominal drawing-in maneuver during prone hip extension exercises on hip and back extensor muscle activity and amount of anterior pelvic tilt. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2007;37(6):320–324. doi:10.2519/jospt.2007.2435
- Kim TW, Kim YW. Effects of abdominal drawing-in during prone hip extension on the muscle activities of the hamstring, gluteus maximus, and lumbar erector spinae in subjects with lumbar hyperlordosis. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(2):383–386. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.383
- Kim T, Woo Y, Kim Y. Effect of abdominal drawing-in maneuver during hip extension on the muscle onset time of gluteus maximus, hamstring, and lumbar erector spinae in subjects with hyperlordotic lumbar angle. J Physiol Anthropol. 2014;33:34. doi:10.1186/1880-6805-33-34
- Effect of abdominal drawing-in maneuver with prone hip extension on muscle activation of the posterior oblique sling in normal adults. J Phys Ther Sci. 2020;32(6). (Latissimus dorsi to gluteus maximus chain.)
- Practical transverse abdominis cueing reference; abdominal hollowing technique. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015. (Coughing cue to locate the deep core.)
- Cho M. The effects of bridge exercise with the abdominal drawing-in maneuver on an unstable surface on abdominal muscle thickness. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(1):255–257. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.255
- Systematic review: the abdominal drawing-in maneuver is less effective for core stability during high-load tasks compared with abdominal bracing. Asian J Sports Med. 2024.
