I’m turning up the heat today on those glutes and giving you a challenge that only involves 2 exercises.  But, they are a doozy!

Elevated Frog Pump:

I love this exercise!  It is almost impossible to not feel your glutes while doing this one, and by elevating the feet it increases the glute activity even more!  On a separate note, when is Apple finally going to make it so that glute doesn’t automatically autocorrect to flute?  I digress……..Here are a few keys to this exercise:

• Set up with the bottom of your feet touching and the hips opened to a comfortable position.
• Begin by pushing the bottom of the feet together focusing on the heel.  When you feel the glutes engage, you are good to go!
• Lift the hips to a range of motion that works for you, pause for a moment and then lower back down controlled.
• I also like to focus on engaging the lower abs while doing this one to ensure that the lower back doesn’t initiate this motion at all.

Band Assisted Hip Thruster

This exercise is getting a lot of attention this year, mostly by people who are loading hundreds of pounds on a barbell and going to town.  It’s pretty impressive to see those videos, but remember that you can still do this awesome exercise without loading it.

• Begin with the head and shoulders resting on a bench or something similar.
• Feet need to be hip width apart and the knees at a 90 degree angle.
• Place a band just above the knees to help assist in engaging the glutes and also guiding the knees to their proper alignment.
• Let the hips drip towards the ground hinging from the hips and allowing the head to come off the bench.
• Push through the heals and squeeze the glutes as you thrust the hips back up to the starting position.
• Push out slightly against the band for some extra help.
• Make sure to stay very aware of what muscles you are feeling with this one, we need all glutes!!

Do 20 reps of each exercise and repeat this 5 times to get your 200 Glutes accomplished!

These exercises are also enhanced with some Destiny’s Child Bootylicious blasting in the background!

Go get em!

-S