The buttocks are one of the muscle groups that tend to underestimate beyond a mere “aesthetic” muscle, so they are not usually given the importance (talking about physical activity in the gym) that they really deserve. Today we present a series of exercises focused on working mainly the glutes and being able to show off this summer on the beach.

Squatting

The classic inferior train exercise par excellence not only serves to gain strength in our legs , but can be a wonderful ally to give shape and volume to our buttocks, perhaps not with the classic squat but through some of its variants .

One of these variants is the sumo dumbbell squat style on step : to perform it, we must have two steps on which we will place our feet (one foot in each step) and between which we must leave a small gap to place the dumbbell standing . Climbed the steps, hold the dumbbell by one end with both hands (can also serve a kettlebell, in which case we will grab it by the handle).

As in any squat variant , we must take great care of our back position to avoid arching and increasing the risk of injury. In addition, we must bear in mind that with this variant can increase the range of movement, and greater range of motion, greater risk of injury if we do not do things right .

So, once the dumbbell is held, the goal is to perform the same squat movement as if it were the classic style until we were completely upright. Ideally, when lowering the dumbbell or kettlebell does not touch the floor, so we must adjust the height of the steps.

Bridge of buttocks

Another classic exercise that could not be missed in this post is the buttock bridge, which as its name suggests is focused on working mainly on our glutes . The basic movement consists of lying on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet resting on the floor. From this position, we must perform a hip lift by contracting the buttocks in the final part of the movement.

If we want to add intensity to our glute workout , we can use a TRX or core slidersto perform the exercise. The TRX will be a great ally since we will work incorporating the component of instability into this exercise, which will force our gluteus medius to a greater stabilization work .

Another way to add difficulty or intensity to our training would be to perform this exercise on one leg . This is an ideal way to correct possible muscle decompensation between one leg and another.

Buttocks kick

To perform this exercise, we must have the pulley machine (although it can also be done without accessories and only with our body weight), which is where we will most easily be able to do it. In addition, we must have the handle to place on our sole.

Once placed in front of the pulley machine, we will place the handle on our foot by the instep (there are gyms that have specific “handles” to place the feet on them) and we will perform the typical movement of kicking backwards (also there are some who say that it is as if we gave a coz).

For this exercise to involve mostly our buttocks, we must ensure that the movement of the leg part of the hip and gluteus instead of knee flexion. In addition, being another exercise that is carried out unilaterally will allow us to correct decompensation.

Uploads to drawer or step

Although mainly the target muscle of this exercise are the quadriceps, the step ups or drawer will allow us to focus work on a muscle of great importance to our lower train : the gluteus medius, whose main functions include acting as a stabilizer . Often, when we lose balance this can be caused by a weak gluteus medius, so strengthening this muscle will help us improve our balance and prevent accidental falls.

To do this, we will only need a step adjustable in height , a drawer or a chair (in case of doing this exercise in the living room of our house: placed facing the step or drawer, we will place one of our feet resting on it (The smaller the surface of the foot supported, the more instability we will generate.) We will place the arms on both sides of the body, as they will also help us to stabilize and maintain balance.

Next, we will try to raise the knee of the leg we had on the floor to our chestand return to the ground. The ideal would be to perform this movement of the pull, but if we saw that it costs us a lot we can support the foot in the chair and lower in two times until we are able to do it often.

Stride or Bulgarian squat

This exercise can be found in either of these two ways, since in English it is very common to see the stride as “bulgarian split squat” . You can also find the exercise referenced as ” lunges “.

The most basic way to perform the exercise is starting from a standing position with your hands at your sides and making a forward stride so that the knee of the forward leg is flexed to approximately 90 degrees. From here, there are multiple variants to add intensity to this exercise :

• Free stride (without weight) with foot supported on bench or step .
• Free stride with TRX .
• Free stride with fitball : it will differ from the stride with bosu in that in this exercise the foot that we support on the fitball is the one that is behind.
• Free stride with bosu : the foot that we will support in the bosu is the foot that advances, with which we force a greater work of stabilization of the gluteus medius.
• Dumbbell with dumbbell : this exercise in turn has several ways of doing it: we can hold the dumbbell in our chest with both hands, have a dumbbell in each hand, take only one dumbbell with the hand on the side that leaves the leg behind …
• Stride with bar : we will start from a classic position as if we were going to perform a squat, but instead we will take a stride. Obviously, the weight should be considerably lower than we would use in the squat .

Hip Thrust

Possibly, hip trhust is the exercise with the greatest activation of our glutes of all that we can name. However, it is an exercise in which, like the deadlift, it is very easy to perform an incorrect technique, which may end up leading to an untimely injury .

As we can see in the image, the green lines indicate what would be the correct posture: knees at 90 degrees in the final position of the movement and the neck-hip-knee axis forming a straight line . In contrast, the red dotted line indicates the most common error of this exercise: performing a neck flexion , which implies excessive tension in the muscles of the area.

The sequence to perform for this exercise is as follows: we start from a sitting position on the floor with our backs glued to the edge of the bench and knees bent. While we are performing a hip lift , our shoulders should be placed on the bench, as shown in the image (the position of the arms will be that which is more comfortable without this suppose that we help them to facilitate movement). When we reach the point of maximum hip elevation, we will contract the buttocks for one or two seconds and return to the initial position.

The recommendation is to start doing this exercise only with our body weight and gradually incorporate extra weight.

“The doggy”

This position known as “the puppy” has a fairly simple mechanism to perform: starting from the quadruped position , we will raise one of our legs with the knee bent at approximately 90 degrees, as shown in the image above. We should try to avoid at all times arching or “chepar” the back to avoid injuries .

From this position, we will make the gesture of abduction of the leg that we have raised, in the same way as when a dog urinates.

Bonus track: the deadweight

We wanted to add a last exercise, although outside the main category of glute exercises, given the incidence it has in the entire posterior chain and its multiple benefits: dead weight . This exercise will allow us to work our entire posterior chain (from the shoulders to the lower body) and it is also one of the great exercises that should not be missed in any routine unless you have some type of injury .

Starting from a standing position, in this case with a dumbbell in each hand, we must begin by making a movement of flexion of our hips as we slide the dumbbells down our legs. When the dumbbells exceed our knees, we must perform a slight flexion of the same (this will reduce the tension that is generated in the hamstring of the knee and will help to avoid possible injuries ). Our final position should be, as we see in the image with the back as neutral as possible, avoiding arching it . From here, we will return to the starting position.

This exercise can be done with dumbbells, bar, discs, kettlebell or even with elastic bands . The range of options will allow us to avoid that our routine becomes boring and monotonous.