Take your standard glute exercises up a notch with these advanced variations.
- Reverse lunges with rotation
- Bent knee single leg deadlift
- Straight leg clamshells
- Single leg squat with leg reach
Reverse Lunge with Rotation: Start standing with both feet together. Step one leg back and bend both knees to 90 degrees. Extend arms straight out in front and rotate towards the front knee. Bring the back leg forward to meet the front leg as you rotate your torso back to center.
Bent Knee Single Leg Deadlift: Start by standing on one leg. Take a medium-sized bend in your standing leg. Hinging forward at the hips with a flat back, engage your abdominal muscles and reach towards the ground with both hands. Use your abdominal muscles to come back up to a standing position.
Straight Leg Clamshells: Lie on your side with your hips stacked and abdominals engaged. Bend both legs towards your chest at 90 degrees. Extend your top leg out in front of you, keeping it inline with the bottom knee. Turn your foot so that your heel points up and your toes are pointed toward the ground. Lift your straight top leg up about 4 inches, then return it to the starting point.
Single Leg Squat with Leg Reach: Start by standing on one leg. Bend the standing knee to perform a single leg squat. As you do this, extend the resting leg out to the side of your body with a straight leg. Tap your toes on the ground. Press through the heel on the standing leg to come back up to a fully upright, standing position.
Include all of these exercise in your next strength training workout or incorporate one or two of them. Each exercise (except the clamshells) will not only strengthen your glutes, but will also challenge your stability by firing up all those little stabilizer muscles in your feet and ankles.
Wow! These are great exercises! I love to tone my glutes!
Hey Jess,
Loving the workout, short, sharp, to the point, and yet challenging.
Personally, I’m always on the lookout for great glute exercises, and not the “traditional” ones I usually perform with barbells.
I love the feel of bodyweight glute exercises, the increased rep range, and often the requirement for additional stability (something which 3 of the above exercise require).
I must admit I’ve never tried the straight-leg version of the clamshell, and in truth I never really feel it how I hope I would with the connventional bent-leg method.
So, I’m intrigued to give this a go and see how it feels.
Thanks very much for the inspiration Jess.
Partha