The three best exercises to strengthen, build and lift that booty.
Your “posterior chain” muscles are among the most important muscles on your body for long term health. The posterior chain is the name for the large muscles on the back of the body, the lower back, butt, hamstrings and calves. The best butt exercises hit all of these. I hear from a lot of you that you’re interested in perking up your booty, so these exercises are definitely “win, wins.”
This is not just for the girls. The health and aesthetic aspects of a strong butt apply to men too. You want to have an “engine,” dudes. Solve that problem by using these three best posterior chain exercises, which can be done with no equipment other than your bodyweight.
But why focus so much on the posterior chain? This muscle group everyone is so interested in for looking better is also one of the best ways to improve how your back feels, your stability and balance, and power. Those three are BIG healthspan issues. Back pain is rampant. Stability, balance and power reduce the risk of falls. Falls are a huge longevity issue as when people fall and break a hip, the likelihood of death with in a year is high.
Maintaining and improving stability, balance and power should be a part of your program well before you have a problem. I have three favorite exercises to build your booty, all of which can be easily scaled down if you’re just getting started, or scaled up if you’re already pretty strong.
Your butt muscles are gluteus maximus, medius and minimus, which together we call “glutes” (pronounced “gloots”). I’ll be using the word glutes a lot in the rest of this post.
What your poterior chain
can do for you:
- Help your back feel better: All that sitting, including driving, literally “turns off” your glutes. This causes a lot of other issues, most notably discomfort in the lumbar spine area
- Improve stability and balance: One of the biggest risks in later life is falls, caused by loss of balance compounded by lack of strength and power to save yourself when you start to fall.
- Help reduce blood sugar variability: Insufficient muscle mass can lead to insufficient ability to dispose of glucose. As one of the larger muscle groups on your body, your glutes can operate as what’s called a “glucose sink.” When your body thinks you may use those muscles, it directs glucose to the muscles for storage, which helps maintain blood sugar stability.
- Look better and younger: Whether you’re male or female, a healthy, strong butt is a sign of health and vigor. We are naturally attracted to this. It can also help your clothes fit better. A lot of clients complain that their pants don’t stay up well, which is because they have a flat butt.
The Exercises:
With these bodyweight exercises, you don’t need any gym equipment to really make a difference in that posterior chain.
#1 Step Ups:
Step ups are likely the best butt building and strengthening exercise. This study , an analysis of compares 24 leg exercises and concludes the step up is best for the glutes.
How to: Stand with your feet hip width apart in front of a step or box. Place one foot on the step or box, ideally creating three 90 degree angles at your ankle, knee and hip. Have your weight balanced more over your heel of the active leg, as this will help target the glutes and hamstrings. It’s OK if you are weighted more over your midfoot, but don’t have more weight on the ball of your foot or toes. Step up onto and down from the box, bringing your other foot to the surface of the step next to the foot of the active leg. Step down and repeat. Make sure you lower slowly and in control. The lowering is part of the exercise so don’t just plop down. Keep your core engaged through the entire exercise.
Cautions: Be sure your knee does not come far in front of your ankle, and be aware if your knee is collapsing inward. Your knee should track directly over your ankle. If you have any balance issues, be sure you have something you can hold onto or something you are certain you can grab to stabilize yourself. No ego here, back down to whatever size step you can handle in stable, excellent form.
Dial it up or down: You can do sets of 3, 5, or 10, sticking with each leg and then switching or alternating legs. Once you are confident and your form and stability are solid, you can add more sets, add repetitions (reps) to your sets, and even experiment with adding load, either by holding weights or using a weighted vest or rucksack. Another option to add a lot of intensity is to lower very slowly, for example taking 3-5 seconds to lower down.
#2 Walking Lunges
Walking lunges are similar to basic lunges (where you stay in place and lunge forward then step backward to where you started.) However, the walking lunge targets the glutes better, whereas the basic lunge targets the quads (front of the thigh) more. You will use up some ground here as you actually walk forward doing this exercise. So, if you can, pick a spot where you have some room, like getting outdoors if possible.
How to: Start by standing with your feet hip width apart. Step forward, keeping the heel of the front leg on the ground. Then, lower your body until the back knee touches the ground, keeping your front shin as close to vertical as possible. Step out far enough so your knee doesn’t go forward beyond your ankle, but not so far that you end up arching your back. Both extremes can cause problems. Keep your torso as close to vertical as you can, not leaning forward or back. Your thigh bone should become close to parallel to the ground. Then, step forward and bring the back foot to the front and stand up straight (coming to full hip extension.) The next step starts with the opposite foot, “walking” forward. Keep your core engaged through the entire exercise.
Cautions: This is essentially a single leg movement and has the bonus of helping train balance. That said, you may find the balance challenging at first. Ideally, your arms aren’t really involved, with your hands near your hips. It is fine to use your arms to help you balance if you need to, and this is common. Be sure you are in a safe area if you could lose your balance. Go as slowly as you need to.
Dial it up or down: If you need to start with a basic lunge, that’s totally fine, you can build strength and balance with that until you are ready for the walking lunge. Although ideally the back knee lightly touches the ground, at first you may not feel comfortable going that low. That’s also OK. Start wherever you are! I also find sometimes my knees get a little beat up on this one, so I tend to wear something that comes down over my knee. Call me a snowflake, fine. Again, the stronger you get, you can add repetitions, hand weights or even twist your torso at the bottom of the lunge.
#3 Bridge / Hip Thrust:
Bridges, also known as hip thrusts, have always been a favorite of mine. This study compared the hip thrust and deadllift, and found the the hip thrust provided the highest gluteus maximus activation.
How to: Lie on your back with your feet hip width apart and knees bent. Your feet should be directly under your knees. Tighten your abdominal and back muscles. In this position it can help to be sure your lower back is touching the ground and take a “belly breath” in to help brace your core. Lift your hips until you’ve created a straight line from your shoulders to your hips, keeping your core stable. Hold here for a few seconds. This “lockout” at the top is where the real magic happens for your glutes. Lower back down with control.
Cautions: Don’t raise your hips too high for you, as this can put too much stress on your lower back. Keep in mind this is also a core stabilization exercise, so pay attention to your form, hips level, smooth, controlled movements.
Dial it up or down: There are tons of variations with this exercise. If you can’t get your hips all the way up at first, that’s fine, just go as far as you can go while keeping your core braced. It sometimes helps to do some practice breathing exercises before you start. For example, do 5 belly breaths keeping your lower back touching the floor. As you get stronger, you can increase the amount of time you hold the lockout at the top, the number of repetitions, do a single leg bridge with one leg raised in the air, ankle above that hip, or raise your shoulders onto a box or bench and add weight across your hips. It is important that you only increase intensity if you can keep really good form.
#4 (Bonus) Squats:
OK, I said 3 and I really can count! I add this bonus fourth exercise for you in case you need it. Maybe you’re just getting started, you don’t have anything to step up to, you don’t have space to do walking lunges or a clean place to lie down for the bridge exercise or, aren’t comfortable doing single leg exercises due to balance challenges. In those cases, you might want to substitute this great body weight exercise. I do a lot of squats in airport boarding areas or anyplace I’m stuck waiting, since I don’t want to be touching the floor in those areas.
How to: Stand with your feet wider than hip width apart. Your squat stance is individual to you and depends on hip and ankle flexibility. Your toes can point slightly outward. Lower your upper body down, bending your knees so your knees stay behind your ankle and your booty moves backward. It should feel like you’re thinking about sitting on a chair or step. At full depth, your hip joint should be slightly below your knee joint. Then, extend the legs and come to full hip extension (standing up) and that’s the end of the exercise. At the bottom of the squat, I prefer the torso to be inclined forward a bit. If your torso remains vertical, you will target the quads more than the glutes and hamstrings.
Cautions: When you’re just starting out, if you are worried you may not have the strength to get back up, or if you are worried about your balance, you should hold onto a counter or other sturdy object. You can also actually lower to a chair and stand up, a good place to start if you’ve never done a squat exercise before. Be aware if your lower back rounds at the bottom of the squat. This “butt wink” tells you you’ve gone to deep for your level of strength, and you should back off a bit for your safety. If you can’t tell, video yourself to check your form.
Dial it up or down: Again, there are a ton of variations here that can make you more comfortable or add challenge. As noted above, you can start with a chair if you need to. You can also use the box or chair to make sure you’re going as low as you want to go. I use a low box when I’m doing back squats with a barbell to be sure I don’t “cheat.” This is because I want to be sure to get my hip joint below my knee joint. You can add weight with a backpack, a rucksack or of course a barbell. When doing body weight squats, if you have a PVC pipe, you can hold it like a barbell across your back to train yourself to hold your shoulders open and lock down your lats.
Protect your knees!
Watch that your knees don’t collapse in toward each other during these exercises. This is called “valgus knee fault” and can result in knee pain. When this happens, you aren’t properly using your glutes and are relying on other muscles to do the work. This defeats the purpose of these exercises. I like starting out with the warm up options below, to help activate your glutes and minimize any tendency toward valgus knee fault.
Activation and Warm up:
The above posterior chain exercises are even more effective if you do some “activation” exercises as a warm up in advance. You need to activate those muscles, especially if you’ve been sitting. Also note that these two exercises are great for before running or walking as exercise. In total, you only need to spend about 5 minutes on these two activation exercises.
Clamshell:
Lie on your side with your knees bent to about 90 degrees, and your heels in a straight line with your hips and shoulders, and feet stacked one atop the other. Open and close your top leg, by raising your top knee to as close to vertical as is comfortable. Try to keep your hips stacked vertically and as stable as possible. Sets of ten each leg is a good start. If this is too easy, you can use a band just above the knee to provide some resistance, or do multiple sets.
Monster walks:
Start standing with your feet below your hips, in a “quarter squat” position. A quarter squat is similar to a “ready” position in tennis except in this case you are not on your toes. Take small steps sideways leading first with the right leg. Next, the left foot “catches up” and gets back to the start position near the right, then go the opposite way, leading with the left leg. Start with ten steps each side. Be sure not to allow your knees to collapse inward, resulting in the valgus knee fault (see above), which negates the whole point of the activation exercise. Keep your feet aligned fairly straight forward, not pointing out. When your toes turn out, the hip flexors do more of the work than your gluteus medius, reducing the effectiveness of the exercise. You can add a band above or below the knee to add resistance once you get stronger. Putting outward pressure on the band by holding your knees apart helps cue you to avoid allowing your knees to collapse inward. You can also vary this exercise many ways including adding forward and backward components.
These posterior chain exercises should help you build and maintain a strong, happy booty. As usual, if you have questions, you can hit me up on Instagram or Twitter.
Want to learn more about how to game plan your long-term health? Schedule a Free Anti Aging Assessment with me by clicking the button below.
Neither Deb Stewart nor any employee of Custom Healthspan LLC is a physician, psychologist, registered or licensed dietitian, certified nutritionist, physical therapist, or other healthcare professional and the scope of his or her consultation services does not include diagnosis, treatment, or cure of any psychological or physical condition, nor do the services replace the necessary services of licensed healthcare providers. None of the content presented constitutes medical or psychiatric advice, nor is it a substitute for treatment. The content on this website is for educational and informational purposes only. Clients should use their own judgement before applying any information herein to their own personal situation. Custom Healthspan LLC disclaims all liability as stated in the Terms and Conditions of Use and Service of this website. Visitors are encouraged to consult a physician before engaging in any Custom Healthspan LLC program or any constituent activity, especially if you suffer or believe you may suffer from a serious psychological or physiological condition or illness.
Copyright 2020 Custom Healthspan LLC
Recent Comments