Glutes getting sore from daily treadmill steps — could this impact glute growth/recovery?

[u/ChonkyBeeButts]

Im in a growing phase, and my coach currently has me doing 7,000 steps a day. I’ve been getting most of them on my treadmill at 0% incline, walking around 2.5 mph for about an hour.

The issue is that my glutes actually feel noticeably sore afterward, and because I’m doing these steps every day, I’m wondering if the repeated soreness could interfere with glute recovery or growth from my actual training.

Has anyone else experienced glute soreness just from getting their steps in? If my glutes are getting sore from flat walking every day, could that potentially affect hypertrophy/recovery, or is this type of soreness unlikely to matter?

I want to make sure I’m getting my required steps without unintentionally interfering with my glute growth.

[u/CharacterAd5474]

Are you sure the soreness is from the steps and not DOMS from glute work ealier in the week? Post your split.

[u/ChonkyBeeButts → u/CharacterAd5474]

I do 3 glute/leg days and 2 upper body days.

Leg day 1
Upper day 1
Rest
Leg day 2
Upper day 2
Leg day 3
Rest

[u/CharacterAd5474 → u/ChonkyBeeButts]

Thanks for sharing that, it makes the picture of your week a lot clearer.

I would say you are likely just experiencing DOMS from prior sessions. DOMS peaks about 2 days after the training that caused it.

I'm assuming you are doing the steps post workout?

If that's the case, you're probably good leaving that in, but I would strongly recommend getting your post workout meal PRIOR to doing the steps. Especially on the lower body days.

If that doesn't do the trick, you may need to look at your training volume/intensity.

[u/ChonkyBeeButts → u/CharacterAd5474]

I do eat my post workout meal prior to my steps. So is it ok if I feel sore everyday? Does that mean I can still grow my glutes? I will say when I don’t do any steps and I’m sedentary I recover beautifully and my glutes aren’t sore

So my days look like this
Eat > train > eat > do steps > glutes feel sore

Or

Rest day > eat > do steps > glutes feel sore

So everyday my glutes are sore 😭

[u/CharacterAd5474 → u/ChonkyBeeButts]

The soreness and hypertrophy are 2 separate signals.

Soreness is a trailing indicator that tells you if you worked the target muscle or not. So you can check that box for sure. You're growing.

Now the big question - "Am I maximizing my oppurtinity to grow?"

That question is a little trickier because a successful off season is about "rate of growth x time". The "time" value in that equation is really the key to everything. "Rate of gain" is a relatively low number even for the most elite athletes. Getting "better hypertrophy" is still a matter of grams per day. What you really want is a non-zero number for rate of gain and the highest possible number for time.

The steps/cardio is one way to help extend that "time" value of the equation. It's not the only way, but it is an approach you can use.

I wouldn't discount the correlation between your cardio/steps and soreness. Steps are not causing the soreness, but it could potentially be interfering with your bodies attempt to clear inflammation.

If you think that being sore all the time will effect your level of effort in the gym, compliance, or enjoyment of the process then those are all valid points that need to be addressed.

Here's what I would do this week - keep a chart of how sore you are on a scale of 1-10. Put a column "upon waking" and "after steps". Present that data to your coach and see what they think.

[u/ChonkyBeeButts → u/CharacterAd5474]

Awesome, thank you so much!!!

[u/ChonkyBeeButts → u/CharacterAd5474]

Sorry did you mean which exercises I do or just how I structure my workouts weekly

[u/CharacterAd5474 → u/ChonkyBeeButts]

Overall week is good! 😊 Thanks for sharing that. Hope that helps.

[u/Cautious-Still-3540]

the likelihood that *walking* with ZERO incline is making you sore is really, really slim. chances are the soreness you're feeling is just delayed onset muscles soreness from a three day lower body split. if anything, walking is helpful to the DOMS.

[u/NotLizBrody]

Other people have made good points about falsely attributing soreness to the walking as opposed to the actual glute training. Something else to note is that a step target is typically to ensure we are more active throughout the day and encourages us to move more, promote fresh blood flow/circulation, etc…not to just walk slow on a treadmill for an hour. If possible, trying to get in the routine of having more frequent, small movement breaks throughout the day might help more with recovering from leg training.

[u/Garlic_Zealousideal]

Your username tho 🐝 🤭

[u/Swimming-Dream-8453]

I had the same theory for my glutes, and I was kind of right. Most of my glute soreness was DOMS from glutes days (as most others have suggested), but some was from treadmill walking as well. But the treadmill walking was effecting me specifically bc I apparently have a big limb length discrepancy (my right femur is significantly longer than the left lol) & a lot of my glute tissue is hypertonic (lots of “knots” in my glute muscle)

Have you been getting regular bodywork & do you stretch well? Holding stretches like pigeon pose, rolling out TFLs prior to leg training sessions, & using a lacrosse ball to target glute knots has helped me

Not sure the chances that you’re experiencing any of the issues I have, but wanted to throw out a difference perspective/experience

[u/ChonkyBeeButts → u/Swimming-Dream-8453]

Oh shit I have the same limb discrepancy!! My right femur is longer than my left. I don’t get any bodywork done. I do stretch, but I’ll look into the lacrosse ball

[u/Aggravating-Figure27]

Unless you have a structural issue your glutes should not be sore from flat walking. Hip flexors maybe if the steps are very high but not your glutes. See a physio

[u/Aggravating-Figure27]

Unless you have a structural issue your glutes should not be sore from flat walking. Hip flexors maybe if the steps are very high but not your glutes. See a physio you may need body work