Spectacular Booty Workout

A spectacular booty doesn’t just happen: you’ve got to work for it. With enough hard work, commitment and perseverance, you’ll build a booty worthy of its’ own monument – and we’ve got just the workout to help you get there!

Wake up, sleepy glutes!

We’ve talked about this before: many people are walking around with glutes that are fast asleep, which is kind of surprising when you consider that they’re one of the major muscle groups of the body. If you’re wondering why your glutes are asleep then this article by Bret Contreras (a.k.a. The Glute Guy) is a good read.

The problem with sleepy glutes (gluteal inhibition) is that they just don’t fire when you do exercises which are designed to target them, instead other muscles step in (like your quads, hamstrings and lower back) and do the work your glutes should be doing. The result is that you don’t maximize your booty-building potential even when you’re doing exercises designed to target your butt.

Even tight hip flexors, and sitting on your butt too long day in, day out can contribute to sleepy glutes. It really is a case of use it, or lose it!

So what can you do to wake those glutes up?

1. Stretch your hip flexors daily.

   There’s a lot to gain from stretching tight hip flexors. Having a daily stretching routine is a great idea, especially if you spend all day sitting at your desk (not necessarily a direct cause of hip flexor tightness, but can certainly contribute to it).

   Just on the topic of sitting: being seated for a long duration can reduce the nerve impulses to your lower body down to a trickle, which could mean, you guessed it – glute shutdown!

2. Activate your glutes.

   You already know why activation exercises are important, but you may not know that your glutes are likely to be especially inhibited and therefore will benefit tremendously from activation exercises designed to wake them up and get that mind-muscle connection firmly re-established.

   You don’t need to restrict activation exercises just to when you workout; indeed, like stretching, you can see great results if you do them every day.

What about the underbutt?

Is any booty workout complete without a consideration of the much-desired, peachy, underbutt area – we think not! This area, also known as the glute-ham tie-in (or gluteal fold) is simply the area where your hamstrings meet your gluteus.

We’d be lying if we said we didn’t want that sexy curve of a great gluteal fold, and luckily it’s yours if you’re willing to put in the work… But before you jump out of your seat, ready to hit it hard, we want to remind you about fitness myth #1 – you can’t spot reduce fat.

In other words: lifting and tightening this area so that it’s nice and peachy is going to be a combination of eating clean (and lower calorie intake for fat loss) and cardio combined with some awesome glute and hamstring exercises.

Perfect butt-building cardio.

If you want a truly spectacular booty, it’s probably going to require some fat loss – unless you’re already at your ideal healthy weight. Since cardio is great for burning calories, you’ll want to make sure you include those cardio sessions.

You probably already know that we love high-intensity interval training – so we got to thinking: “Wouldn’t it be a great if you could combine cardio and booty-building together?”

Well you can, if you do the right kind of cardio (henceforth known as booty-building cardio)! Here are some ideas:

• Hill sprints / Treadmill with high incline
• Running stairs / Stair machine
• Jump rope with high knees
• Jump rope with standing ninja tuck jumps
• Mountain climbing (actual mountains, not an exercise, love that fresh air!)
• Ninja tuck jumps
• Windsurfing

Those are just a few ideas, there are probably a ton more, so keep thinking! Finally, before we get to the workout…

Two Butt-Sculpting Tips

1. Squeeze those glutes

Basically, just squeeze those glutes wherever you can, every day – turn it into a mini-workout through the day: 3 sets, 15 reps – you get the picture. The great thing about this is that you can work your glutes and increase that mind-muscle connection without anyone even knowing: at your desk, in the elevator, when you’re preparing your food, walking down the street, etc.

2. Pick up some weights

You don’t need any equipment to do this workout, but remember your glutes are one of the most powerful muscles in your body, which means they can usually handle a lot more than just your bodyweight. In other words you want to really build some serious booty then try adding some free weights into the mix; muscle is what gives you those curves.

Of course, you need to build your way up to this, so beginners will probably get enough of a workout just using bodyweight. Once you get to the point where 3 – 4 sets of bodyweight squats are like nothing, it’s probably time to hit the weights.

Now that’s enough talking, here’s the workout (scroll down for printable version and exercise videos):

Exercise Videos

Warm-Up & Activation

Frog Legs

Fire Hydrant In-Outs

Kneeling Rear Leg Raise

Side Plank Leg Lift

Walking Lunge

Dynamic Stretches

Dynamic Hip Flexor Stretching Drill

Workout

Donkey Kicks

Donkey Kicks (Resistance)

Kneeling Rear Leg Raise

Curtsy Lunge

Curtsy Lunge (Resistance)

Lateral Lunge

Lateral Lunge (Resistance)

Single Leg Deadlift

Single Leg Deadlift (Resistance)

Split Squat

Split Squat (Resistance)

Glute Bridge (Feet Elevated)

Glute Bridge (Resistance)

Wide Squat

Wide Squat (Resistance)

Finishers

Marching Bridge

x-Jumps

Power In and Out Squats

Plank with Glute Squeeze

Burpees

Cool Down & Stretches

Static Stretches For Hip Flexors – will take you to a new page.

Enjoyed this workout? Let us know in the comments section below!

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