Top 3 Glute Exercises for a Stellar Bikini Booty!

          I have to admit, when the alarm goes off at 6am on glute day I feel like an excited little girl on Christmas morning.  Training my glutes is something I look forward to every single week because I love the exercises, the feeling, the results, and I work up a great sweat during my lifts.


          Since I started training for bikini back in 2010 I have been on a "buns of steel" mission.  I naturally don't have big, strong glutes so I need to work extra hard to build them.  As additional incentive, the shape of nice perky buns are also a great side effect to the actual long term benefits of strong glutes.  Glutes are one of the largest muscle groups in the human body and many people tend to be weaker in this area because we focus more on the "mirror muscles" instead of the muscle groups that are behind us (literally!) and out of sight.  Weakened glutes (and hamstrings) tend to lead to knee pain, tight hip flexors, and lower back pain. 

          When you strengthen your glutes you not only look amazing in a pair of jeans but you also move better, improve your number in all your lifts, experience less knee, back, and hip pain and have better posture.

          There are tons of exercises that you can do to strengthen and shape your glutes.  Some of my favorites isolate the glute muscles while others are more compound (you improve the strength of more than one muscle in a given exercise like squats).   I have created a list of my top 3 all time favorites for glute strength and shape with additional variations of the exercises.

         Okay, so here we go.  My first favorite exercise comes from a category of movements that are considered HINGE movements and variations (hinging from your hips with maximum hip movement and minimal knee bend which is different from a squat which is involves maximal knee and hip flexion).



Favorite Bikini Booty Exercise #3 - BARBELL SUMO DEADLIFT

          With the barbell sumo deadlift you not only strengthen your glutes but also your hamstrings, back, and core.  So since you are using more than one muscle group and joint to perform the exercise, this is considered to be a compound movement.  I love to start with barbell sumo deadlifts and go heavy resting 1-2 minutes between sets.

  Set up: Load a bar with plates (rubber is ideal so the bar sits higher) step your feet apart wider than shoulder width.  Line the bar up with your shins (like they should touch the bar), deeply hinge from your hips, and place your grip about shoulder width between your legs.   Make sure your back is neutral and abs are tight. As you stand up with the bar make sure you do not bend at the waist (at all) and stand up tall aligning your whole body at the top with an open chest. Lower the weight, reset your position, and repeat.  This will strengthen your booty and give it an awesome full shape.

  Other variations of hinge movements are kettlebell swings (1 arm and 2) and double kettlebell swings.  Swings are more ballistic and you should learn how to properly hip hinge with just body weight, progress to deadlifts, then finally start swinging.  I also recommend RDLs (Romanian deadlifts). RDLs with single or both legs are great but will put slightly more emphasis on the hamstring than the glutes.

  My next favorite glute exercise come from the BRIDGE category of movement.


Favorite Bikini Booty Exercise #2 - BARBELL HIP THRUSTS

          So these look really funny from a spectator's perspective but they are one of the best glute- shapers out there!  They also help to improve hip power (great for working on heavy kettlebell swings and snatches or other Olympic lifts with a bar) and when not going as heavy its a great drill to help develop glute strength and awareness of how to contract and connect to the target muscles.

 Set up- Load a bar with weight.  Lean against a bench and roll the bar over your hips.  Place your arms onto the bench (like the letter "T") and then lift hips. As soon as you lift hips off the floor place your hands on the bar to balance the weight.   Lower the hips towards the floor and then lift back up squeezing the glutes. Keep the tension in the glutes and do not over extend your hips at the top.  Think about a swing...if you over extend your hips at the top of the swing you put too much stress on the lumbar spine...no bueno.

 Other variations of bridge movements are bodyweight floor bridges single leg and both legs,  single leg glute bridges with back on one bench and foot on another bench (this isolates the glutes and is amazing!!!)

          My *most favorite* glute building exercise comes from the LUNGE movement category and is a variation of the traditional lunge.


Favorite Bikini Booty Exercise #1 - BARBELL STEP UPS

          Weighted barbell step ups really put your glutes to work. When you step up onto the box you initiate the exercise by pushing off of the heel foot on the box to bring the other leg up. This technique will help properly load and deeply engage the glutes. I prefer using a barbell but you can also use dumbbells and kettlebells too. With the barbell you do not worry about fatiguing your grip or the dumbbells swinging around so you can go heavier.

  Set up: Load a bar with appropriate weight. Start with your feet close to the step. Place one foot onto the box (make sure your heel is completely on the box). Tighten your abdominals and then look forward as you shift weight into that foot and bring the other foot up (ideally knee to chest). Lower the opposite foot back to the floor and repeat and then switch to the other leg. *Make sure that you do not spring off the foot on the floor...you are only cheating yourself and that booty that you want.

 Other variations of lunge movements are step back lunges, stationary lunges, split lunge jumps, walking lunges, side lunges, diagonal lunges, Turkish get ups etc. The list goes on and on. You may feel some quad work as well in the lunge movements which is why I like the barbell step up lunges because it targets more glutes than any other lunge variation.

          So those are my 3 favorite movement patterns and exercises specifically used to build up my booty on a glute focused day.  You can always throw in additional exercises such as cable kick backs, glute raises on the glute machine,  squats and all the variations of squats, and sprinting, especially up hill!  

           I like to start my glute or leg focused workout with some light sets of sprints or prowler pushes (pictured below) to get my whole system primed for a great workout.  These type of exercises make great finishers as well. :)

           Remember, start with your heaviest, strength building (compound) exercise and work down to more isolated movements over the course of your workout for maximum benefit.

        Good luck and feel free to comment below with  YOUR favorite glute exercises or your preference out of my three favs :)

XOXO,

Abby

Want more? Check out these workouts:

"For Girls Who Want Gorgeous Glutes (Video)"

"Chest Workout For Ladies" 

"Shape and Strengthen Your Legs With This Workout"

"Effective Conditioning For a Stellar Bikini Body (Video)"

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