Apple Fitness+ Glute Workouts: Are they Good for Runners with Knee Problems?

The video: Strength with Sam 30 minutes Ep80

This workout is part of their “Get Your Glutes in Great Shape” Collection. On the app it’s recommended to alternate this and another workout to do them each 3x/week for 1 week before moving on to the next set.

The workout:

Warm up

• Squat with hip opener

• Squat with a forward reach

• Reverse lunges with trunk twist

• High knee skips

Block 1

• Deadlifts with moderate weight

• Goblet squat with reach back, holding moderate weight

• Static lunge holding moderate weight in one hand and other arm out

• Bear crawl position with leg reach back

Glute Burner in the middle

• Bridging

• Side hip lift with top leg kickout with arm overhead

• Clam bridging

Block 2

• Sumo deadlift with moderate weight

• Lateral lunge with skater tap holding moderate weight

• Curtsy lunge holding moderate weight with other arm out

• Bear crawl position with leg side kick out

Overall this was a great glute workout… I really felt my muscles working. But would it be good for my running clients with knee problems like runner’s knee, knee arthritis, meniscus tears and IT Band Syndrome, just to name a few?? Read on to find out.

I did this workout immediately after a 2 mile walk, so not a run. And I don’t have really any weights at home so I used 2.5 pound ankle weights instead of the moderate weight suggested. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this workout to my clients. After going through it they would have had to skip all but 1 exercise.

The Warm Up

What I liked about this warm up:

I like that there was a warm up. I had just finished a walk so I was warmed up, literally came inside and went straight back to workout so my muscles were still warm. I hadn’t anticipated there being much of a warm up so I planned it that way.

What I didn’t like about this warm up:

So many squats and lunges. Already in the first 5 minutes we’re doing 2 kinds of squats and lunges. For me this was fine, but for my runner clients with knee problems they would’ve had to skip over practically the whole warm up!

Block 1:

Block 1 had deadlifts, goblet squat, static lunge and a leg reach in bear crawl position. I anticipate my clients would have been able to do the deadlifts because this is typically an exercise that doesn’t involve a lot of pressure through the knees since you only have a slight bend. But, then there was the goblet squat, static lunge and bear crawl position. Squats and lunges typically are a no-go for my clients with knee problems. Bear crawl is really hard so they would’ve needed to be on all 4s with their knees resting, which is painful for most of them. So all in all I think they would’ve skipped 3 exercises in block 1.

Glute burner in the middle:

3 exercises to really feel the glute burn is how the instructor prefaced it. I did feel the burn. The bridging was good with a slow and controlled motion with an isometric hold for the last 20 seconds. The side hip lift with kickout was hard. It was hard on my shoulder and on my glutes. The clam bridging was weird. To be honest I had never seen someone do that exercise before and I think that would be a crapshoot if someone with knee problems could do it. I think if their knees felt OK in the position I think it would just be really hard to coordinate the movement, that one’s definitely advanced. I think someone with runner’s knee or IT Band syndrome would get some symptoms with the positioning of this one when they engage the lift because of the pressure that was put on the outside of my knees. Of these exercises there’s potential for 2, bridging is a definite yes for a runner with knee problems, the clam bridging is a maybe. The side hip lift with leg kick is a no. 

Block 2:

We’re back to having lunges and bear crawl position. I think the sumo deadlift as the first exercise may be fine, my concern is the wide stance for this so someone with knee problems could probably do it with a modified stance, so I’m going to say this one would be skipped because then we’re back to just doing regular position deadlifts which isn’t the exercise here. Lateral lunge with the skater tap this is a definite skip. The lateral lunge is a problem with the pressure on the knees and with the skater tap it makes you have to replant your leg with every repetition again, leading to an easy tweak of the knee like in the warm up. Curtsy lunges are a definite skip. The position of the back leg in the curtsy adds a lot of pressure to the knee so a runner with knee problems would likely have a lot of pain with this one. Finally, the bear crawl with side kick: with the bear crawl position it’s really challenging so I think runners with knee problems would have to be on all 4s which is a painful position so that’d be a skip.

What I liked about this workout:

I liked the music choices. I didn’t necessarily sing to the songs but it kept me entertained. I like how the workout was structured, the instructor told me when to go slow and when to add some extra oomph. Overall the time passed very quickly. I like that it was circuit style where I did the 4 exercises in the block before starting them again.

What I didn’t like about this workout:

So many squats and lunges. And for me, without knee problems I can do them. But I was specifically trying this workout because my clients ask me about strength workout recommendations from Peloton and Apple Fitness+, so here I am. I didn’t like that the majority of the exercises were dynamic. For a runner who has knee problems, having to plant the leg after every repetition leads to the possibility of tweaking the knee again. I recommend sticking with static position while working on rehabbing your knee. 

Number of exercises likely completed: 1+1+2+0 = 4

Number of exercises likely skipped: 3+3+1+4 = 11

Conclusion: Is it good for runners with knee problems?

So of the 15 exercises in this workout I anticipate runners with knee problems would skip 11 exercises and possibly be able to complete 4. This workout isn’t worth it for runner’s with knee problems, they’d be skipping or modifying ¾ of the workout, instead I recommend finding a workout that’s nice on their knees where they don’t have to modify or skip so many.

If you’re looking for glute workouts that give you Glute Gains without Knee Pains I invite you to check out my Glute Workout Program.