Benefits Of The Barbell Glute Bridge
- You can directly target your glutes, more so than any other exercise, which will carry over to other exercises that require glute strength.
- The shorter range of motion of this variation allows for more focus to be placed on the glutes over other lower body muscles.
- Youre able to place high amounts of focus on the glutes without loading the spine, protecting your low back, and increasing the stimulus placed on the glutes.
Bum Exercises To Do At Home
Our first set of bum exercises require just your exercise mat and some motivation, so you can easily start your quest for a big bum at home, or at the gym if you fancy a change of scenery . If you’re building up confidence, here is a good place to start. Favour perfect form and no weight over compromised form and heavy weight, always.
1. Air squat
a) Standing with feet hip-width apart hinge at the knees to come into a squat position making sure your knees track in line with your toes and you can see your toes at all times.
b) With the weight in your heels push back up to standing, squeezing your glutes at the top.
2. Clams
a) Start by laying down on the ground on your side. Pop your head onto the arm that’s on the ground. Start by moving your hips up to a 45-degree angle and your knees to a 90-degree angle.
b) Push your knee away from your core but keep your feet pressed together.
c) Pause when you get to the top of the move, clenching your glutes and ab muscles, and return to the ground. Repeat.
3. Glute bridge
a) Lie on your back on a mat, with your knees bent, and feet flat on the floor. Your feet should be hip-width apart.
b) On an exhale, squeeze your glutes and push your heels into the floor to lift your hips up towards the ceiling. Pause for a moment at the top before slowly lowering back down to the mat. Thats one rep.
4. Single leg glute bridge
b) Squeeze your glutes and lower your hips thats your starting position.
5. Glute rainbows
6. Gorilla squat
Get Progressively Stronger Over Time
If you stop getting stronger, your butt will eventually stop getting bigger .
Thats why you should also strive to add weight or reps to every exercise in every workout. This is known as progressive overload, and its one of the best ways to maximize the muscle-building effects of weightlifting.
And whats the best way to get stronger?
Ditch the high-rep pump training and lift heavy.
And by heavy, I mean doing the majority of your butt exercises with weights in the range of 75-to-85% of your one-rep max , or in the range of 8-to-10 to 4-to-6 reps.
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The Glutes On Fire Challenge
Ever heard of Celas Glutes on Fire Challenge? Its a great go-to workout to ensure you target and strengthen your glutes, while you enhance your performance and grow your confidence, she explains.
The workout contains a mixture of what the PT thinks are the most effective glute exercises combined with a rep range to ensure you hit that growth and make gains, too. Carefully created with every ability in mind, Ive developed this workout to ensure you target every angle of your booty so that you come away feeling strong, confident and the glowing goddess that you are, she goes on.
Exercise 5: Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
Reps: 12
Exercise 6: Frog Pump
Reps: 20
Prefer to workout alongside a trainer? Give this glute workout from Celas YouTube channel a go, or try her IG workout above.
How To Do The Conventional Deadlift
To get into position, push your hips back as you reach down for the bar. Allows the knees to bend naturally. If you are tall, have long legs, or limited hip flexion abilities, you may want to elevate the bar with a small box under each weight plate. Once you have made contact with the bar, secure your grip and engage your abdominals. Drive through the floor.
As you push through the floor with your quads, drive your hips forward as you reach the top. Return safely back to the starting position by hinging at the hip and controlling the bar as it returns back to the ground.
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Do The Reverse Hyperextensions If You Don’t Have Access To Equipment
Jeremy: And as far as alternatives, this one does seem to be a little tricky to replace at home. But would you say that something like reverse hyperextensions done on a bench or even a countertop would be suitable?
Bret: Yup. Make sure you do it controlled. If you have a tall surface, you can do straight legs. I like doing the spread eagle method. Start narrow at the bottom and end wide at the top. If you have a low bench, like say you just had a bench press, you can still do them. But you would just bend the legs at the bottom and kick the legs at the top.
Benefits Of Training The Glutes
Besides looking great and the obvious sex appeal, adding strength and mass to the glutes has several important benefits, including:
1. Better Knee Stability and Ankle Mobility
Training the glutes improves glute strength and hip mobility. This helps knee stability and ankle mobility because they will not be required to pick up any shortfalls in hip mobility because you have this covered by training the glutes.
2. Reduced Lower Back Pain and Better Hip Mobility
Improving glute strength and hip mobility by doing the exercises below will help improve posture and lumbar and core stability. If the low back has to pick up any shortfalls because of limited hip mobility this may lead to lower back pain in the future.
3. Improved Balance And Agility
Being able to stop and change direction requires lower body and glute strength. This is needed when you shift your weight one way or another or when youre rapidly changing direction. By strengthening and adding mass to your glutes youre improving your ability to change direction at speed.
4. Better Running Performance
Strength training the glutes helps you run faster and more efficiently by improving your neuromuscular coordination, power and improves your running efficiency because of better movement coordination and stride efficiency .
A SHORT NOTE ON HOLDING THE DUMBBELLS
There are a few ways you will hold the dumbbells to increase the training effect, particularly on the squats and lunges, except for the sumo squats .
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Train Largest To Smallest
Tackle exercises that require the greatest amount of skill, coordination, or load first. Many of these exercises such as squats, deadlifts, or leg presses will be heavily fatiguing because of how much load they can require. The safest and most effective way to train is in the order of biggest movement patterns or loading schemes to smallest.
You Can Bet Your Ass That These Workouts Will Grow And Strengthen Your Butt
Everybody wants a nice butt. Bodybuilders need a well-developed posterior to bring a complete package to the stage, powerlifters have to have strong glutes to lock out heavy pulls or squats, and pretty much everyone wants to look good in jeans.
Glute training has risen to prominence in the fitness world, but many mainstream exercises and workouts are inherently flawed. Building a rock-solid booty takes a bit more finesse than yet another set of unweighted kickbacks.
If you want to train your butt properly, youve come to the right place. Here are five workouts that have been fine-tuned to guarantee glute gains.
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How To Do The Step Down
Start with one foot close to the edge of a step up box or bench ensuring the whole foot is in contact with the surface with the other foot hanging off. Drop the foot to the ground, controlling your body weight with the opposite leg. Tap the heel of the foot to the ground and drive through the step with the working leg to return back to the starting position.
Bum Exercises With Weights
Behold, the best bum exercises using weights .
16. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift
a) Stand with both feet flat on the floor and a dumbbell in each hand.
b) Keeping your legs straight, bend at the hips to lower your weighted hands towards the floor. Go to just below knee height and then stand straight again. Clench your glute and core muscles as you do so. Repeat.
17. Weighted single leg deadlift
a) Start with your feet together and shift your weight to your left leg, knee slightly bent. Hold the dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand. You can keep your left hand on your hip or hold it out to the side whatever makes it easier for you to balance.
b) Hinge at your hips to lower your chest down, while raising your right leg straight out behind you. As you hinge, lower the weight down towards the floor. Reverse back to the starting position, and repeat on this side before switching over. Remember: the weight goes in the opposite hand to the planted leg.
18. Bulgarian split squat
a) Stand with a dumbbell in each hand facing away from a bench with your right leg extended back and foot on top of the bench.b) Bend the front knee until the knee of the rear leg is almost in contact with the floor then return to the original standing position. Try not to let your front knee go beyond the toes of your forward foot.
19. Dumbbell alternating reverse lunge
b) Step your foot back forwards to meet the other, then repeat the exercise on the second leg.
20. Split stance glute bridge
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Why Cant You Only Do The Hip Thrust
So, why is only doing the hip thrust an inefficient way to grow your glutes despite its impressive glute activation levels?
It comes down to 2 things: muscle growth mechanism and activation pattern of gluteal muscles.
More specifically:
- Muscle growth mechanism: The hip thrust is great at driving hypertrophy through mechanical tension and metabolic stress . It doesnt do all that well when it comes to the remaining key driver of muscle growth: muscle damage .
- Activation of gluteal muscles: The hip thrust is a hip extension movement pattern. That primarily targets the gluteus maximus. While the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus are activated to some degree, they arent the prime movers here. For that, youd need hip abduction movement patterns .
If you want to learn about how the glutes work and why theyre so important, heres a guide on getting a bigger butt you should check out.
Of course, The Best Glute Exercise that ticks all boxes by driving muscle growth through all 3 mechanisms and activating all 3 gluteal regions doesnt exist.
Thats why youll have to mix-and-match a variety of glute exercises.
Summary
The hip thrust is undeniably one of the best glute exercises to exist. Even then, it cant ensure optimal glute development on its own. Youll need a variety of exercises to help target other muscle growth mechanisms and glute regions.
Structuring Your Workouts With The Best Glute Exercises
Now how do you apply all that to your training routine?
Well, for optimal glute development, youd want to select at least 1 exercise from each category. I usually include 2 abduction movements because they offer little opportunity for overload so I compensate with more volume.
Depending on your training volume requirements, you could also spread out your sessions over the week to suit your preferences and lifestyle.
Heres an example of how you could structure your glute workouts based on the list of best glute exercises:
Summary
Structure each of your glute workout sessions to include at least 1 exercise from each unique category. This ensures youre targeting the glutes in a varied and well-balanced manner. Consider programming in 2 abduction exercises as theyre challenging to overload the increased training volume can help with better growth.
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Muscles Of Your Gluteal Region
There are several muscles in your buttocks you can feel when you touch the area.
- The main muscle group you are aware of is called the gluteus maximus. It covers much of your upper leg and extends down into your thigh.
- You also have the gluteus medius. You will feel this muscle on your outer thigh, just below your gluteus maximus.
- The gluteus minimus you will feel in your outer, lower buttocks.
- Finally, you have your piriformis. You can find this muscle by reaching backward and feeling the base of your spine.
Hyperextensions For Glute Growth
The third exercise is the hyperextensions:
And there’s one of two ways Brett says this should be done the “neutral-neutral”, which is neutral feet, neutral spine. This works the glutes, hamstrings, and erectors really well.
The other alternative to totally isolate the glutes is to “round over at your spine fully” at the bottom. This takes your lower back right out of it!
It now becomes a glute and hamstring show only!
Also, turn your feet outwards 45 degrees, which will also deliver more glute activation. Here’s what this looks like:
It might feel awkward at first, but there’s no doubt you’re going to feel your glutes work!
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Benefits Of The Banded Barbell Romanian Deadlift
- The band helps give counterbalance to the torso, allowing you to lean forward and place more resistance on the glutes throughout the range of motion.
- This exercise prioritizes hip extension, helping build muscle and strength in the glutes, hamstrings, and adductors.
- It adds resistance to the glutes in the top position where there usually isnt any at all.
Organizing The Best Glute Exercises Into 4 Categories
But wait. With so many glute exercises around, how would you know each exercises: 1) muscle growth mechanism and 2) gluteal region activation patterns?
The answer to this: figuring out its movement pattern.
In general, there are 4 categories of glute exercises differentiated based on their movement patterns.
Each movement pattern elicits specific gluteal muscles activation and hypertrophy mechanisms:
So, if youre looking to maximize your glute development, one things clear. At the very least, you need to be doing at least 1 exercise from each of the 4 categories.
To help you out with that, youll find a list of the best glute exercises you can do in each specific category.
Summary
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Build Your Glutes With 19 Trainer
One common misconception when it comes to getting a bigger butt is that you should be doing squats every time you work your lower body. The truth is, squats are a quad-dominant exercise, meaning that the movement mainly targets your quadriceps. Your glutes get some work, but come secondary to your quads in this move.
If you’re trying to get a bigger butt, you’re going to have focus on building your glute muscles and doing exercises that target the glutes specifically, like hip thrusts and lunges, just to name a few. You’ll also more than likely have to eat in a caloric surplus to help you build and maintain your muscle mass, with plenty of protein included in your diet. To help you get started on the exercise side of things, we’ve rounded up some of the best exercises you can do to improve your glute strength, and as a result, get a bigger butt.
Follow The Rule Of Thirds
“I recommend training the glutes three times per week with a variety of loads and exercises,” says Contreras. “Approximately one-third of the glute exercises you perform should be horizontal in nature, one-third should be vertical in nature, and one-third should be lateral/rotary in nature.” So, for example, you’ll want to do exercises such as hip thrusts and cable pull-throughs for horizontal loading, deadlifts and step-ups for vertical loading, and lateral band walks and clamshells for lateral/rotary loading.
The rule also applies to weight, rep ranges, and effort. “Roughly one-third of loads you use should be heavy for lower reps, one-third should be medium for moderate reps, and one-third should be light for higher reps. In terms of effort, around one-third of your sets should be carried out to failure or one rep shy of failure, one-third of your sets should be performed to two to three reps shy of failure, and one-third of your sets should be taken nowhere close to failure.”
This strategy for how to build glutes helps ensure you’re working them from all angles while keeping you from burning yourself out or getting too fatigued. (
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Can I Work My Glutes Every Day
While you might think that more is always better, trust that when it comes to working out, getting the balance right is key. Your body needs to be worked out, sure, but it also needs to recover from said workouts, too.
Why? Simply, because working out too much will only fatigue your muscles and make your workouts generally less effective.
Naturally, working out too little will mean no progress. Aim for two to three workouts a week for best results.
Best Glute Workout For Hypertrophy
Training the glutes for hypertrophy places an emphasis on heavier load and higher volume bilateral and unilateral versions of the bridge, hinge, and squatting patterns. Machine or cable work is a great way to stabilize the range of motion so your limiting factor is glute fatigue, not stability in the hip or spine.
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