why the focus is mainly on the hamstrings when the glutes are the primary hip abductors,more people should focus on strengthing the glutes
why is abduction so important?
they are also the primary hip extensors
Which is why most people think they are very important and why most sprinters have big butts!
glutes also laterally and medially rotate, adduct, and flex the hip. they do it all! HOORAY glutes
other than tyson gay i don’t see a lot of sprinters with well developed glutes
glutes are the most powerful muscle in the human body
You haven’t seen a lot of sprinters then.
i see a lot of big hams but not a lot of glutes
If you have big hamstrings it may not appear like you have big glutes because the gluteal fold will tend to disappear. That doesn’t mean they don’t have developed glutes and posterior chain in general (lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calves, etc.).
GOOD POINT WELL DEVELOPED UPPER HAMSTRINGS WILL LESSEN THE GLUTEAL FOLD APPEARENCE
Well that is something that hasn’t been discussed before on here I guess! 
NOPE IT HASN’T I SEARCHED
what about alien abduction?
what are you doing looking at blokes’ glutes. what would yo mother say!
Actually Davan is right. You don’t really want to notice much division between the top of the hams and the lower part of glutes. … means somehow you would have developed them separately, quite possibly developing a bulge in the hammy which suggests a shortening (constriction) of the hammy. You need to develop strength in the hammies when they are in the long position, not when they are shortened as in a hammy curl.
you can get that development through sprinting and romanian and straight leg deadlifts, right.
Correct. Also through doing “straight-leg hamstring raises” - for want of a better description.
CF taught me this a few hundred seasons ago.
You Lay on your back (supine position) legs straight, arms by your side, head resting on the floor.
But you have one Heel propped upon something the height of a step (no more than about six inches vertical).
Then keeping a stiff, straight line, you raise your entire body vertically so that the only points of contact are that one Heel and your head-and-shoulders.
Hold that position for a few seconds. Up to 10-seconds is fine (sometimes longer, but just so long as your hammy doesn’t turn to concrete, or you lose stability).
Then change legs and go for another raise of 10-seconds or so.
We did three reps of 10-15sec on each leg, just to finish off every gym session.
The degree of difficulty we added was to raise the knee of the free leg, so as to “engage” the pelvis. The pose looks like a sprint position, with the grounded leg in triple extended mode and the free thigh raise to be perpendicular to the floor (like a high knee-lift in the running action).
It doesn’t sound like much, but along with all the other running activities and the lifting, I think it played a huge part in avoiding hammy injuries.
I realise this is getting away from the topic of the separataion of hammy and glute development but it’s important anyway)…
The other thing that helped us avoid hammy trouble was doing a drill called “stiff-leg dollies” (there are probably other names for it). It’s basically a drills where you lock at the ankle and knee joints and propel yourself in a stiff, slightly bouncing action. Fast arms will gave a faster foot contact.
We did 3 reps over about 10 to 15 metres every track warmup.
This drill somewhat simulates the contact phase and works the chain in a fully extended position which I think helped condition the hammies a little more specifically.
Although the reps were very low, over time, those stiff-leg dollies and the straight-leg hammy raises realy help the athletes I worked with to avoid injuries.
Of course, doing regular checks with a chiropractor (before every race or time trial) to make sure the structures were in order was also of primary importance.
i just tried the straight-leg hamstring raises and i could really feel the static contraction in my hams thanks
CF has discussed this topic before explaining the value of high mountiong points around the joints for improved leverage. Thus the discussion of the ‘If it looks right - it flies right!’
The correct athlete somatotype is dependent on the key function of hip extension ‘primary source of imparting force against the ground during a stride’ (CF Training System).
Francis Obikwelu - big butt - winning 100m at Zurich 2007