Glute Exercises for the Gym: Enhancing Your Workout Routine | Chuze Fitness

Whether you’re gearing up for another leg day or dedicating your session to simply shaping your buttocks, one thing’s for sure: You’ll want to keep some tried-and-true glute exercises on hand to strengthen and shape your rear. Whereas Enhancing your athletic performance.

So, what exercises should you include on glute day — and what else should you consider when adding glute exercises to your workout routine?

From squats to glute kickbacks, we’re sharing all our favorite glute exercises and giving some tips and tricks to help you at every step of your fitness journey.

Essential Glute Exercises

There are a few essential exercises in most gym-goers’ lower-body workout routines: the squat, the lunge, and the hip thrust. These basic but integral movements play a fundamental role in strengthening your glutes (and other muscles in your lower body, such as your hamstrings and quadriceps).

With such a wide range of exercises, it’s important to master the basic actions of each movement. This ensures you’re effectively targeting the intended muscle groups and setting yourself up for success when incorporating other variations of the squat and lunge into your routine.

It must be said that with proper practice the risk of injury is greatly reduced.

Below, we’re sharing a quick and concise guide to essential glute exercises – the gym edition:

#1 Squats

As an infant, you have to learn to walk before you can run, and the same applies to babies. Definitely The same can be said for squats. It’s important to master bodyweight squats before incorporating any gym equipment.

So, if you’re new to the squat or have been away from it for a while and need to re-learn it, here are the fundamentals to mastering the bodyweight squat:

• step 1 – Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes turned slightly outward.

• step 2 – Activate your core muscles before bending into a squat. If you’re unsure about your form, imagine a large dog is about to pounce on your stomach. This should make your abs feel tight as you brace yourself. And don’t forget to keep a steady breath while tightening your abdominal muscles.

• step 3 – Lower your body into a squat by bending your knees. As you descend, focus on keeping your chest up and your back straight. Stop the movement when your thighs are parallel to the ground or slightly below. If you’re not sure of your form, look at your knees. They should be in line with your toes (not in front of them).

• step 4 – Push through your heels to bring yourself back to the starting position, contracting your buttocks as you reach the start of the movement.

#2 Lunges

There are a variety of lunge variations to try, including (but not limited to) stationary, walking, reverse, and curtsy lunges, and they all focus on different parts of your lower body. So, which one should you start with?

If you’re relatively new to this exercise, we recommend starting with the forward bend so you can get a good understanding of how to perform this movement correctly. The forward bend is a team player when it comes to targeting all of the primary muscles in your lower body, including your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.

For a glute-focused lunge, the reverse lunge is the perfect move. So, with feet shoulder-width apart and your core engaged, follow these steps to master the reverse lunge trick:

• step 1 – Step back about two to three feet with one foot, depending on the length of your legs.

• step 2 – Lower your body, bending both knees until they are at a 90 degree angle. (This is the perfect opportunity to check if your knee is aligned with your ankle.) If they are aligned, your form is great.

• step 3 – Use the heel of your front foot to push yourself up, activating your glutes as you return to the starting position. As you come up, bring your back foot forward to meet your front foot.

• step 4 – Repeat steps one to three on the other leg as well.

#3 Hip Thrust

This fundamental lower body exercise is an excellent way to activate your glutes at the beginning of your workout routine (especially if you incorporate resistance bands into this activity).

We’ll start with the basics of the body weight hip thrust, and then explain a few different hip thrust variations to help you maximize your glute benefits:

• step 1 – Gently place your upper back on an elevated surface, such as a weight bench or exercise ball.

• step 2 – Find the proper position for your legs by lifting your hips up. When your shins are parallel to the floor, you have found the right position to place your feet and bend your knees.

• step 3 – Begin the glute thrust by activating your core and pushing through your ankles. Activate your glutes while lifting your lower body until your thighs are parallel to the floor and your legs are at a 90-degree angle.

• step 4 – Squeeze your buttocks at the top of the movement for one to two seconds before slowly returning to the starting position.

Once you’re comfortable with the bodyweight hip thrust, there are several variations to try, including:

• Adding weight to the movement with dumbbells or a barbell on your hips
• Incorporate a resistance band above your knees for extra glute activation
• Perform single-leg hip thrusts by lifting one leg off the ground as you complete your repetitions

Incorporating progressive overload with glutes exercises

Before you know it, you’ll be a pro at performing beginner variations of these and other glute exercises. But eventually, you may feel like you’ve reached a plateau with your progress. When this happens, you can continue to challenge and develop your glutes through a method known as Progressive surcharge,

This training principle involves gradually increasing the intensity of the exercise to further increase muscle strength and size. There are several overload techniques that you can easily incorporate into any of your glute exercises, including:

• weight gain
• Adding more iterations
• Display of additional sets
• reducing the amount of time between rest periods

While the idea of ​​incorporating all four strategies may sound appealing, remember that slow and steady progress is the key. That being said, aim for small, gradual increases to your current weights, sets, or repetitions. For example, if you want to increase the number of repetitions in an exercise, consider adding three more repetitions to your current set rather than a larger number like eight.

Selecting Equipment Based on Fitness Level

Increasing the strength of your glutes is a marathon, not a sprint, and which exercises you include in your workouts will depend on your current fitness level. You’ll know you’re ready to move on to more challenging glute exercises (with new and exciting equipment) when you notice a lack of progress in muscle size, muscle strength or workout intensity.

Are you not sure what kind of equipment to incorporate into your glute workout? Here are some suggestions based on your fitness level:

• initial – If you’re just starting out, we recommend starting with bodyweight glute exercises such as squats, lunges, donkey kicks, and hip thrusts. Additionally, resistance bands are a great tool for activating your glutes.

• intermediate – After you’ve mastered bodyweight exercises, you can use dumbbells in a variety of exercises, from goblet squats to dumbbell lunges. Barbells are also a valuable addition to glute-focused exercises like hip thrusts, barbell squats, and deadlifts.

• advanced – While some gym machines may initially seem intimidating, they are easy to learn and can effectively target specific muscle groups, such as your glutes. The Smith machine is particularly useful for lifting heavy weights during hip thrusts and various other lower-body exercises. And with the cable machine, you can easily adjust the tension and resistance for exercises like glute kickbacks and hip abductions.

Nutrition Tips: The Key to Supporting Muscle Growth and Recovery

Many people believe that exercise is the main component in increasing their muscle size. What they often don’t realize is that their diet also plays an important role in their body’s ability to increase strength, repair muscle tears, and build new muscle fibers.

The best way to support your glutes (and all muscles) while recovering and growing from each workout is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This means:

• Prioritizing Protein Although everyone’s dietary needs are different, aim to eat a source of protein at every meal, such as fish, eggs, dairy and low-fat meat.

• Schedule your meals – Eat a balanced meal containing protein and complex carbohydrates an hour or two before your workout. Carbohydrates will provide your body with the fuel it needs to function at maximum capacity.

• Include healthy fats – Don’t be fooled by misconceptions about fats. Healthy fats such as those in nuts, seeds and avocados are beneficial for the production of hormones responsible for muscle growth, repair and overall metabolism.

Strategies to Stay Motivated

Even the most dedicated fitness enthusiasts sometimes hit dead ends along the way. If you need ways to keep yourself motivated on your glute-growth journey, look no further:

• Track your progress – Use an app or log your workouts in the notes section of your phone, including which exercises you did, how many sets of each, and how much weight you used. Seeing your improvement is a surprisingly strong motivator to push yourself.

• Change your daily routine – Adopting a progressive overload strategy is a surefire way to stay engaged in your workouts. Another way to keep yourself active is to do some exercises that are new to you. This can prevent boredom and burnout And Balance your muscle development.

• Exercise with a friend – A workout partner can provide accountability, support, and motivation. What more could you want?

Up your glute fitness game with Choose Fitness

Incorporating glute exercises into your routine can be a game changer not just for your physical health but also for your mental state. When you feel better, you radiate positivity, approaching challenges (inside and outside the gym) with newfound confidence.

No matter what stage of your fitness journey you are at, Choose Fitness welcomes you with open arms. Whether you want Group fitness classes Or are you ready to jump in and tackle free weights right away or Turf FieldWe meet your every need to power up your entire body, from your glutes to your mindset.

Find a Chuze Fitness near you and start building your glutes today.

Source:

NASM. Progressive Overload Explained: Increase Muscle and Strength Today. https://blog.nasm.org/progressive-overload-explained

Cleveland Clinic. The best ways to energy your workout may surprise you. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-best-ways-to-fuel-your-workouts-might-surprise-you

Chemical & Engineering News. Hormones expose the secret life of fat cells. https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/biochemistry/Hormones-reveal-secret-life-fat/96/i40

Annie is the Vice President of Fitness at Choose Fitness and oversees the group fitness and team training departments. She has had a 25+ year career in club management, personal training, group exercise, and instructor training. Annie lives in San Diego, CA with her husband and son and loves hot yoga, snowboarding, and all things wellness.