Strength and good posture
The glutes are the largest muscles in the human body and are capable of developing a lot of strength. If you observe the movements performed by sprinters, skaters and other elite athletes who specialize in explosive sports, you will discover that to propel themselves they perform movements that allow them to obtain most of the power that comes from the glutes.
In addition, the combination of strong glutes, hamstrings and back muscles, allows you to naturally maintain a correct body posture. The more developed these three muscle groups are, the better posture you will maintain in your daily life. Is your job sedentary? Well, then you already have another reason to train these three "postural muscles", since, when sitting for a long time, these muscles weaken. So don't think twice and put your glutes to work!
There are two exercises that are typically part of any glute workout: squats and deadlifts.
Squats
How to do them:
- Stand upright with your feet apart, slightly wider than shoulder width.
- Find a fixed point to look at during the exercise and focus your gaze on it.
- Slowly bend your hips and knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor, as if you wanted to sit on an imaginary chair.
- Stay in this position, sitting on your imaginary chair for a few seconds and then get up again to get back into the starting position.
To make it more difficult, you can squat with a barbell on your shoulders or hold a kettlebell with your arms stretched out in front of your chest. The further you spread your legs, the more difficult the exercise will become, as your quads and glutes will have to work more.
Deadlift
This is a very technical exercise that must be done correctly to get good results and avoid injury. With this exercise your hamstrings and glutes will work hard.
How to do it:
- Grab some barbell weights and place them on the floor in front of you.
- Place your feet hip-width apart and grasp the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Make sure your arms are straight with your thumbs pointing inwards.
- While keeping your arms straight, raise the bar above the center of your feet.
It’s important that you do not use your arms or back to lift the bar, you should only use your buttocks and legs.
In addition to these basic exercises, you can also vary with other exercises, such as lunges, frog jumps or lateral leg raises (standing or lying down). These exercises are usually performed without weights, but you can also increase the difficulty by adding ankle weights or elastic straps.
Gluteal GXR class
Do you want to make sure you do the right exercises to get a perfect butt? Then our collective GXR "Booty" class is made for you! One of our instructors puts you to work for 20 minutes to the rhythm of the music. You can follow this lesson in any of our clubs, but also from home, through the Basic-Fit application!
Go for it!
This blog is written by one of our Personal Trainers, Angelina Hammond.
