Glutes (buttock) The Best Exercise for Women

Glutes (buttock) The Best Exercise for Women

The best exercise for men and women the glutes is the hip thrusts or hip bridging. Most of us have "gluteal amnesia," where the glutes do not turn on. This one is tricky to do without activating the hamstrings. Lie flat on your back with your palms down and arms out to the side on the floor. Keep your natural lordotic curve in the spine. Brace or stiffen the core. Squeeze your gluteal fold as if there is a coin between your butt cheeks. Externally rotate your knees. Raise your toes off of the ground to get rid of the dominant hamstrings if they are activated - else you can keep them flat. You can also palpate the quadriceps (have a friend do it for you) and have the hamstrings relaxed. Your friend can touch them to see if they're switched off - they'll wiggle if they are off and become stiff if they're turned on. Next, you rise from the hips and hold for a 10 count and repeat. When you get more advanced you can go off of one leg - but that takes weeks of conditioning.

Stretching the hip flexors:

• You can do a psoas stretch and palpate the psoas to feel it activate. You stand in a staggered stance and opposite of lead leg - that arm is up and back. The arm closest to lead leg reaches over and palpates the psoas. Hard to describe with words - pictures do it justice.
• Another stretch for the hip flexors is going down on one knee and having the opposite arm to lead leg lift upwards and stretch out the psoas. This targets the psoas from the iliacus during hip flexor stretching. Hip extensor patterns are simultaneously trained on the opposite side of the body. You can also perform this exercise in walking steps - or walking lunges. But keep that opposite hand held up high