Here is Kate Upton, trained by one of my favourite trainers, Ben Bruno, performing heavy set of Hip Thrusts. Notice the head and shin position which are both very important!
Glute training is something that we see all the time in gyms, mainly by women, but there’s plenty of reasons why men should train glutes too. They are the largest muscles in the body, are a key player in sprinting and athletic performance and are used greatly in a big number of regularly seen exercises! Plus, women love a good bum on a bloke just as much as men love a good bum on women (You can’t tell me that’s not true, ladies).
We’ve heard time and time again that squats are the key to building a great bum, but is it the most optimal and are there other exercises that we can use? Well here are a few of my favourite movements that you can try out to help build up your behind:
- Barbell Hip Thrust – The king of all glute exercises, this movement allows us to use a heavy weight to really crush those cheeks. Make sure you keep your chin tucked at all times.
- Lunges – Forward and Reverse lunges are great glute exercise and especially so if you maintain a slight forward lean at the hip and focus on drop down with the back leg as opposed to push forwards with the front.
- Step Ups – The key to this exercise is to ‘pull’ through the heel with the leg that is on the box/bench as opposed to ‘pushing with the trailing leg or toes of the front leg.
- Banded Crab Walk – With a mini band just above the knees, crab walk (sideways) from side to side in a squatted position. Feel the burn!
- Stiff Legged or Romanian Deadlift – A difficult one to get right. Keep the angle of the knees fairly straight and push your hips back to get a stretch in the hamstrings and then push your hips forward to raise the bar up. For the Romanian variation, simply use the same motion but bend the knees a bit more. Don’t go down too low.
Summary
And there you have it, 5 great exercises for you to really hammer those glutes!
Adam C. Morris - Fitness Coach 