Gluteus minimus
The smallest and deepest of the three glutes, doing much the same job as gluteus medius from underneath it.
- Type
- Muscle
- Region
- Hip
- Standard name
- m. gluteus minimus
- Origin
- Outer surface of the ilium, between the anterior and inferior gluteal lines
- Insertion
- Anterior border of the greater trochanter of the femur
- Actions
- hip abductionpelvic stabilisationhip internal rotation
- Verify
- TA2 2600 TA98 A04.7.02.008
What it is
The deepest and smallest of the three gluteal muscles, lying directly beneath gluteus medius and shaped much like it — a fan spreading across the outer ilium and converging onto the greater trochanter, slightly further forward than its larger neighbour.
You cannot feel it separately from gluteus medius, and in practice the two are almost always working together. Some anatomists describe them as functionally a single unit with two layers.
What it does
The same work as gluteus medius: abduction of the hip, and — much more importantly — keeping the pelvis level when you are standing on one leg.
Its slightly more forward insertion gives it a stronger line of pull for internal rotation of the hip than gluteus medius has.
What loads it
The same things that load gluteus medius, and it is not practically possible to load one without the other. Single-leg stance, step-ups, lunges, and walking.
This is worth stating plainly rather than implying otherwise: no exercise isolates gluteus minimus. Any claim that one does is a claim about something nobody can observe without inserting an electrode.
What is commonly got wrong about it
That it can be targeted separately. It cannot, not by anything you can do voluntarily. It sits under another muscle doing the same job, and the two share a nerve supply and a line of action.
That "the three glutes" are three exercises. They are three muscles with two distinct jobs between them — maximus does forceful hip extension, medius and minimus keep the pelvis level — and training the jobs is the only access you have to the muscles.