It’s butt lifting timeee! But first, let’s talk about why that’s important :D.
Being 21st century people, most of us live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Sure, we do our best to work out daily, but the majority of us are still sitting a lot during the rest of the day. We’re usually at a desk for school or work and then come home sit to eat, and sit to read or watch tv or whatever it may be!
When we sit, it puts our glutes in a stretched position and our hip flexors in a shortened position. This leads to tight hips and ‘turned off’ glutes. We don’t want either of those! (if you want some lower body stretches look here) Today we’re going to focus on getting those glutes going again so that other muscles don’t have to compensate and pick up the slack!
So ideally we would all sit less during the day and move more but sometimes it’s just not possible! Adding in exercises like these can help to wake up those glutes and get them activated again.
Exercises like these are great to target the glutes and create a mind body connection. Really focus on the area that you want to work and feel it working! This will help you later in other lower body exercises that work the glutes. You’ll be able to better recruit them in things like squats.
Before getting into the workout, these exercises (in a much lower rep range) are a great part of a pre lower body warm up. That’s going to be a time that you really want those glutes to be awake and active. Otherwise a lot of your lower body exercises intended to work the glutes may end up having other muscles compensate when your glutes aren’t firing like we want! 10 reps of each of these or other glute specific exercises like these can make a big difference in your workout!
14 Minute Butt Lifter
32 seconds work : 8 seconds transition x 3 rounds
Make sure the band is not placed around the knee! All of these can be done without a band. The first exercise however isn’t ideal without one! You can also use anything available to balance (chair, wall, table) or nothing at all (you’ll just need to be a little more controlled this way, especially as you get tired).
Abs engaged in all of these! 🙂
Press Outs – Standing on your tip toes, knees together & core engaged, press your knees apart against the band.
Arches R&L – All of your weight is in one foot, the other starts slightly in front of your body, with toes pointed. Draw an arch up and back with your toes, pressing against the band. Do the same up and forward.
Side Taps R&L – All of your weight is in one leg, it’s bent slightly, almost like a half squat. Press the lifted leg out to the side, against the resistance of the band.
Kick Backs R&L – All of your weight is in one slightly bent leg. Torso is bent slightly forward over that leg. If you have a chair or table your hands or hand can rest on it. Kick the other leg back against the band, lifting it up into a straightened position.
Another quick note, these types of exercises are an important part of a well rounded lower body plan! I like to finish off my Get Fit Guide lower body day and one of the total body days with something like this. Ideally these aren’t your only lower body work! Things like squat, lunge
Let me know if you enjoyed it! 😀
Sweat, Smile, Repeat!
xxNiki
