Glute Workouts or booty gains. Of course, we want to look good in our leggings, shorts, or suit but, there’s more to building your glutes.
Having strong glutes is very important in building a foundation for your body. Whether you’re an athlete or just want to improve your strength, building your glutes is the most important foundation. They are the largest muscle group in the body and build a strong foundation for a strong core. Weak Glutes could lead to pain or weakness in other areas of your body.
There is 6 exercises and they make up a 3 round circuit. Each exercise will be worked for 1 minute. You will work for 45 seconds and rest for 15 seconds.
1. Double Low Squat, Pulse and Jump
This three-pronged exercise is a real burner. Ensure you get real deep on each squat and pulse to really hit the glutes. Keep your back and neck in line and engage the core throughout. Land softly to take the impact off the back and knees.
- Start with your feet shoulder-width apart
- Engage your core and keep your spine and neck inline
- Lower your bum to the ground as if you are sitting down and go as low as you can.
- Ensure your spine and neck are still straight
- Come back upwards but only halfway, creating a pulse movement
- Lower back to the deep squat position and power through into a jump
- Land softly and repeat
2. Curtsy Lunges
An alternative to the lunge allowing the glutes to be hit from a different angle. Isolating the leg in this way allows for more emphasis to be put on the strength aspect of the quads and glutes.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands on your hips.
- Take a big step back with your right leg, crossing it behind your left.
- Bend your knees and lower your hips until your left thigh is nearly parallel to the floor.
- Keep your torso upright and your hips and shoulders as square as possible to the wall in front of you.
- Return to start and repeat either on the same side for all reps or interchange.
3. Glute Kickbacks
Potentially the most useful bodyweight exercise to isolate each glute while using your core to stabilise your body throughout the movement. Be sure to hold the pose for a second to activate the muscle.
- Get on all fours, with a straight spine, and engage your core muscles.
- Extend your right leg back and up until your thigh is parallel with the ground.
- Contract your glute at the top of the move and hold for a second.
- Return to your starting position without touching your knee to the ground and repeat.
4. Glute Bridge
Probably the most popular glute exercise with the ability to alter the movement so much to make it more difficult whether that be using one leg or adding weight. Also utilises the hamstrings for stability and support.
- Lie face up on the floor, with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
- Keep your arms at your side with your palms down.
- Lift your hips off the ground until your knees, hips and shoulders form a straight line.
- Squeeze those glutes hard and keep your abs drawn in so you don’t overextend your back during the exercise.
- Hold the pose for a couple of seconds and squeeze the muscles before easing back down.
5. Lunge with Kickback
Another useful multi movement exercise allowing for focus on the quads and, unlike the lunge, adds an extra move to isolate the glute even more so with the kickback.
- Lunge back with one leg, dropping the back knee toward the ground as you sit back in your front heel
- Drive through your front heel to come back up to standing without putting the other foot down
- As you stand and balance on the front leg, lift the leg you lunged back on up behind you, extending your hip as you squeeze your glute
- Drop the toe if needed and repeat the lunge on the same side
- Keep the body upright best you can and the core engaged throughout.
6. Lunge Pulse
Here we take the lunge and add even more focus on the glutes. Remaining in position and holding a deeper pose with a pulse gives more time under tension for the glutes. Usually, you would come all the way back up and rely more so on the quads.
- From a standing start, step forward like a regular lunge.
- Lunge down partially, about a quarter of the way down as you would for a normal lunge.
- Begin exercise by pulsing up and down, performing the lunge by going up and down about 3 inches or so.
- Be sure you are always in the lunge position and never standing up during the exercise.
- Complete for the desired number of repetitions.
Take Home Message
Increasing your focus on your glutes and building strength makes for more than a good look. Build a strong foundation for your sport or training and improve your overall strength and posture by taking extra time to build your glutes.
