Did you know that there are a few glute exercises that are not nearly as effective? It is better not to do these 4 if you want to achieve real results.
Do you put your glute bridges on the floor and really want to see the effect. Then it might seem logical to do them at a brisk pace and do some quick pulses. But in this case, speed actually ensures that you achieve less results. There is a good chance that you will use the momentum of the movement of your legs, instead of the glutes you want to train.
Read also :'Why it is sometimes better not to train intensively'
What you can do :Do your glute bridges slowly and focus on your posture and the intensity at which you are doing them. Try not to focus on the number of reps (for example, don't exceed 10) and focus on continuing to contract your glutes throughout the exercise. If the variant without extra weight is too easy, you can, for example, put a resistance band around your thighs or put a weight on your hips.
How to do it:
1. Lie on your back on a mat with your feet hip-width apart and your toes turned slightly out. Keep your shoulders to the floor—as if they were glued together—and your spine neutral. Relax your arms at your sides.
2. Push your heels into the floor and slowly lift your hips off the floor. Tighten your glutes while doing this. Hold this pose at your peak with your glutes contracted.
3. Lower your hips, relax your buttocks and relax for a second before starting to lift your hips and tighten your buttocks again.
Lunges have long been known as good leg exercises. They are also often done to grow glutes, but they are actually not very effective for that. To ensure that your glutes grow, you have to do exercises that isolate exactly those muscles. And that doesn't happen with a lunge.
What you can do :Try a single leg deadlift. These focus more on one side of your body, causing your glutes to burn to keep you stable. Try them first with only your own body weight, then you can hold dumbbells in your hands during this exercise.
This is how you do it †
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Lean forward from your hips and shift your weight onto one leg. Extend your other leg behind you and keep it tense.
3. Let your arms hang down to form a T-shape with your body. Return to your starting position and switch legs.
The donkey kicks are well-known exercises for training your glutes, but they can also be completely ineffective if you don't perform them properly. And that unfortunately happens quite often… With this exercise it often happens that you move your back to move your legs, but not those glutes that you want to train. If you do the exercise from your back instead of your hips, you're actually doing it for nothing.
What you can do :Have you ever done a step-up exercise? You can do these exercises with or without weights, it just depends on what you like. As with the single leg deadlift, it focuses on one side of your body and creates a temporary imbalance, forcing your glutes to work harder to keep you stable.
This is how you do it †
1. Stand in front of a plyobox or a scooter with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
2. Put one foot on the box or step and push off with the other foot. Transfer your weight to your front foot and place your other foot on the box or step.
3. Pause at the top, then slowly step back with one foot. Then place the other foot next to it on the floor and keep repeating these movements.
Like donkey kicks, standing kickbacks are often used to train glutes, but they have the same problem when not performed properly. Especially if you're not holding on to the wall or anything stable, chances are you'll bend your back when you move one leg. You'll probably feel a burn in your butt, but you're more likely to put tension on your back muscles. And that is of course not the intention…
What you can do :Try a goblet squat. The traditional squats can also help, but if you do the goblet variant, you will have to tighten both your buttocks and your abs more. So win-win!
This is how you do it †
1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and turn your toes out slightly.
2. Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell in front of the center of your chest with both hands. Tilt your hips back and lower into a squat. Continue to move your tailbone toward the floor, keeping your chest up.
3. Push both feet completely into the floor and push yourself back up from there to a standing position.
