Why You Feel Glute Workouts in Your Back (and How a Physio in Bondi Junction Fixes It)

By Maria Josefina Cánepa Bustos

MSc Senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist · physiotherapist

AHPRA registered · PHY0002918524

Paediatric Musculoskeletal Sports Rehabilitation · Overuse Sport Injuries Rehabilitation · Dry needling · Therapeutic exercise

Maria Josefina Cánepa Bustos is a Senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist with a focus on sports and paediatric musculoskeletal rehabilitation, with eight years of clinical experience across private practice, sports clubs, and academic settings. Holds a Master of Science in Advanced Professional Practice in Paediatric Musculoskeletal Health, alongside postgraduate qualifications in therapeutic exercise and university teaching, with a focus on young athletes, injury prevention, and performance-based rehabilitation in sport settings.

Last reviewed: 7 November 2026

Feeling glute exercises in your back usually means your lower-back muscles are contributing more than intended, often because of how your pelvis is positioned, how you're performing the movement, or sometimes because of underlying stiffness or weakness. A physiotherapist can watch how you move, work out what's driving the pattern, and adjust the exercise so your hips do the work instead of your spine.

Key Takeaways

• Back sensation during glute bridges or hip thrusts usually reflects technique, pelvic position or fatigue rather than injury.

• Small changes to foot placement, pelvic tilt or load can shift the work from your back to your hips.

• "Glutes not firing" rarely means they're switched off, it usually means the movement isn't set up to use them properly.

• Persistent or sharp back pain, or symptoms travelling into your leg, warrant a physiotherapy assessment.

What's Actually Happening When Your Back Takes Over

Your back is working harder than your hips during the bridge. Glute exercises ask your hips, pelvis and trunk to coordinate. When your pelvis tips forwards or your spine arches too much, the muscles along your lower back have to work overtime to control the position. Add fatigue or a heavy load, and your body will use whichever muscles can finish the movement, even if they're not the ones you intended.

This is especially common if your pelvis naturally sits in an anterior tilt, where the front of the pelvis drops forwards and the curve through your lower back increases. When you lift into a bridge from that position without adjusting it first, you're extending your spine rather than your hips. The movement looks right from the outside, but the effort is landing in the wrong place.

Feeling muscle effort in your back is different from pain. Exercise-related soreness that settles within a day or two is normal. Sharp pain, pain that travels into your buttock or leg, tingling, numbness or progressive weakness are not, and those symptoms need assessment.

Why "My Glutes Aren't Firing" Usually Isn't the Whole Story

Your glutes are almost certainly working, they're just not doing what you want them to during that particular exercise. The glutes are the largest muscle group in your body. If they genuinely weren't firing, you'd struggle to walk, climb stairs or stand up from a chair. What people usually mean when they say this is that they can't feel their glutes during the exercise, or they feel their back instead.

"While this is a hugely common complaint that I hear in clinic, it is crazy what a few small tweaks in techniques can do. Our glutes are the biggest muscle group in the body, if your glutes weren't firing, you would most likely lose your ability to walk, do stairs and most things that involve simple hip extension," says Mark Howlin, Associate Physiotherapist at Physio K.

The problem is rarely that the muscle is switched off. It's usually that the exercise setup, the load, or the way you're moving doesn't give the glutes a reason to work hard. Change the position or the cue, and the sensation often changes immediately.

The Exercises Where This Happens Most

People notice back sensation most often during bridges, hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts and hip extensions on a bench. Each of these exercises can be excellent for building hip strength, but they all require good control of the pelvis and trunk. Lose that control, and the back compensates.

A bridge performed by arching the lower back places more demand on the muscles along the spine. A hip thrust with the bench too high or too low can force you into a position where your back has to stabilise instead of your hips. A Romanian deadlift performed by bending at the waist rather than hinging at the hips loads the lower back instead of the hamstrings and glutes. The exercise itself isn't the problem, the setup or execution is.

Research published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy in 2008 found that trunk position changes lower-limb movement and muscle activity during lunges, showing that technique can alter the relative demands placed on the hips and lower back. A 2015 systematic review confirmed that muscle activity in the glutes varies between different hip exercises, supporting the idea that exercise choice and setup matter.

How a Physiotherapist Figures Out What's Going On

A physiotherapy assessment for this problem usually starts with watching you perform the exercise that's causing the sensation. We're looking at how your pelvis moves, whether your back arches, where your feet are placed, how much load you're using, and whether fatigue changes the pattern. We'll also check hip and spinal movement, strength, and whether there are any signs of nerve involvement or an underlying back problem.

From there, the plan is usually a combination of education, movement retraining and graded strengthening. That might mean adjusting your foot position, cueing a posterior pelvic tilt, reducing the range or load temporarily, or choosing a different variation of the exercise while you build control.

At Physio K, we often see people who've been doing glute bridges for a while and are confused because they think their form looks right. Usually behind that question is the realisation that just because you're doing the movement doesn't mean it's having the outcome you want. A small change in how you set up or cue the exercise can make a significant difference.

What You Can Do Right Now

If you're feeling your back during glute exercises, start by reducing the load, range or number of repetitions. Fatigue makes it harder to control the movement, so stopping before you lose form is more useful than pushing through. Slow the movement down and focus on lifting from your hips rather than arching your back. Your ribs should stay down and your pelvis should tilt slightly backwards at the top of the movement, pressing your lower back gently towards the floor or bench.

Try a simpler variation. A short-range bridge or a side-lying hip exercise may feel more controlled than a loaded hip thrust or deadlift. Progress only when the movement feels stable and symptoms remain manageable during and after the session. Track how you feel over the next 24 hours, including pain, stiffness and whether it affects your sleep or daily tasks.

Seek a physiotherapy assessment if pain is sharp, travels into your leg, causes numbness or weakness, or doesn't settle with modification. Seek urgent care for bladder or bowel changes, numbness around the saddle region, progressive leg weakness, major trauma, fever, unexplained weight loss or severe unrelenting pain.

Common Questions

Why do I feel glute bridges in my lower back?

You're probably lifting by arching your spine rather than extending from your hips. This is especially common if your pelvis naturally tips forwards. Before you lift, tuck your pelvis slightly so your lower back presses gently into the floor, then push through your hips. At Physio K, we often adjust foot placement or add a small cue to change where the effort lands, and the sensation shifts immediately.

How do I activate my glutes instead?

Place your heels closer to your hips to reduce hamstring dominance, and consciously squeeze your glutes as you lift rather than relying on momentum. Think about pushing your hips up towards the ceiling, not lifting your chest. Start with a bodyweight bridge, and only add load once you can feel your glutes working without your back taking over. If you're still not sure, a physiotherapist can watch you move and give you specific feedback.

How do I know if my hip thrust setup is right?

Your hips should be free to move, and you should be driving your hips towards the ceiling rather than arching your back. Press your lower back gently into the bench as you lift, and keep your ribs down. We often find that people rush the movement or add load before they've built the control, and that's when the back compensates.

Reviewed by Kenny Merlevede. Kenny Merlevede is a Senior Physiotherapist with 18 years of experience in private practice, with a focus on complex cervical presentations and persistent musculoskeletal conditions. Registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (PHY0002060505).

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for personal medical advice. If you have concerns about your health, please consult a qualified clinician or your GP.