6 EXERCISES FOR A STRONG,

HEALTHY BUTT
Build Your Glutes, Save Your Lower Back
by Dr John Rusin | 03/03/17

Tags: 
 Glutes
 Bodybuilding
 Powerlifting & Strength

Is Direct Glute Training Dangerous?

There's been some talk lately about how certain glute exercises are
dangerous for the lower back, but I'm calling BS. My clients have been
doing the barbell hip thrust and its variations with great success for
almost 10 years. Those clients include elite athletes, fitness
enthusiasts, and even physical therapy patients.

Anything done with bad form or too much weight is risky. Which
means that hip thrusts, done properly, are no more dangerous than
bicep curls, done properly. Bottom line? If you want strong glutes, or
just better looking ones, you need to train them directly and
intelligently. Here's how to target your glutes and build them up
without trashing your lower back.

1 – Basic Banded Glute Bridge

Never underestimate the power of a seemingly simple movement like

the basic glute bridge. You can find this exercise in many half-assed
therapy programs, and my problem isn't with the exercise, but rather
the setup and execution.

Many people set up the glute bridge haphazardly. And as a result,

they shift the tension away from the glutes and onto the hamstrings or
lower back, which defeats the purpose of a butt exercise.

It's called the "glute bridge" for a reason. And it's up to us to get our
bodies into the position that'll allow for hard active contraction of the
gluteal complex first, with the hamstrings and lower back (to some
extent) kicking in as secondary extensors.
Take your unique hip and pelvic structure into account. By altering the
distance between your feet to place the ball and socket joint of the hip
as centrated as possible, you'll create a stronger gluteal contraction.
Manipulate the position of your knees in relation to your hips. Most of
the time it's far wider than people think. Get that position right and you
can recruit the glute muscles and get them to do their primary jobs.

Finally, if you're having trouble positioning yourself and gaining torque

and tension through the hips and glutes as you bridge, add a band
that acts as a "reactive neuromuscular stabilizer." This will cause the
glutes to kick in more.

Watch the video above to put these tips together and improve this
staple movement. Then use it for dynamic warm ups, activation drills,
and more.

2 – Banded Dumbbell Frog Pump + RKC Plank Finisher

The next step is to train this movement pattern with more intensity to
generate the greatest muscular training effect possible while sparing
the spine.

People forget they can load the bodyweight glute bridge by simply
adding a plate or dumbbell to the lap. This variation is written off since
it's not super likely you'll be pulling a 200-pound dumbbell onto your
lap for max effort glute bridges. But don't write it off.

By positioning your hips further into an externally rotated and

abducted position, you can isolate the glutes more while minimizing
recruitment of the hams and lower back. This is called the "frog"
position and is one hell of a way to increase neural activation of the
glutes while making smaller loads placed on the front of the hips more
effective for pain-free loading. Like the glute bridge, you can also add
a band around the knees to create a greater activation.

Remember, the gluteal complex consists of the gluteus maximus,

medius, and minimus. They're largely tonic postural stabilizing
muscles that act on the both hip and pelvis to create static and
dynamic stability. That means this group of muscles will respond best
to hypertrophy-work, endurance, and set/rep schemes that increase
metabolic stress. It also means they may respond less favorably to
heavy power and pure strength-based schemes of lower reps.

But as the load increases and relative intensity increases, the

likelihood for injury and form falling to shit is also increased, which is
never a good thing. So isolating the glutes should be more about time
under tension with moderate weight than it is about throwing your
back out for one second of glory using too much weight.
This is one reason I love the banded-frog pump exercise. You get a
strong mind-muscle connection with a relatively light dumbbell placed
on the lap. You increase the time under tension using a higher rep
scheme (between 15-30 reps). It's a metabolic stress based
movement combined with an isolation hold of the glutes.