3 Great wheys to get your glutes working!

This week we have James Potter telling us his tricks of the trade and how to get toned glutes in a matter of just 3 exercises!

Follow James’ guide step by step and we’re sure you’ll have a figure like Beyonce in no time!

1. Squat

Squat is the daddy of all leg exercises and should be a staple in any leg routine. It works the quads, glutes and hamstrings as well as requiring a strong core, good flexibility and good whole body movement patterns. Foot, knee position and stance width as well as squat depth will determine which muscle groups become the primary target. To maximise Glute recruitment we want to:

a) take a wide stance with feet outside shoulder width
b) Turn the toes out slightly
c) Put your weight mid-foot
d) ‘Screw’ your feet into the floor
e) Squat below parallel so that the hips drop lower than the knees
f) Squeeze the glutes and really drive the hips forward as you stand up

2. BB Lunges

The lunge is another staple exercise in a good leg routine and again a few tweaks in technique will drastically alter which muscle groups are targeted. I recommend using a barbell version as it allows you to overload the muscle more than a dumbbell version, which is also limited by grip strength. Key technique points are:

a) Begin with the feet slightly apart and step off center to give you a bigger center of gravity and make balance easier
b) Step with a good distance stride
c) Ensure the knee doesn’t travel excessively over the toe
d) Drop into a deep lunge with the back knee almost touching the floor
e) Brace your core and keep the torso upright throughout
f) Push hard off the front front back to the start position.
This last point is very important! Pushing straight back hard from the front foot is key to maximally recruiting the glutes and not relying on the quads too much. Commonly people make the mistake of dragging the front foot back or pushing up and then back.

3. Glute Bridge

The Glute bridge is a great exercise to really develop a mind-muscle connection with the glutes. It involves placing resistance across the hips and maximally contracting the glutes to drive the hips upwards. As the range of movement is relatively small you can use a decent amount of weight to really overload the muscle and force adaptation.
Key technique points include:

a) Position your upper back on the edge of a bench, just under the shoulder blades
b) Position the feet in squat position, toes slightly turned out
c) Use a towel across your lap so the bar isn’t too uncomfortable
d) Drop the hips as low as you can
e) Focus on squeezing the glutes as hard as possible and hold the contraction in the top position for 2-3 seconds before lowering

There you have it, a guide to get some fantastic glutes! Let us know how you got on and give us a tweet @wheyheyofficial
Make sure you get your tub of wheyhey in after… it’s all about those gains!

 

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