I’ve never been a fan of the whole squat for a better butt thing. I think squats are honestly overrated as a glute move, but that’s a video for another day.
And while I do think you need a diversity of movements to really get the best results for any muscle group, I wanted to share one of my favorite dumbbell glute exercises that I think is often forgotten about and overlooked.
It’s the Dumbbell Skier Swing.
The kettlebell swing is an amazing hip hinge exercise to work on that explosive glute power or even your strength endurance based on how you implement it.
It’s not only a great move to improve your conditioning but also your strength.
But if we don’t have a kettlebell, we often then don’t think about utilizing this amazing move.
That’s why I wanted to share a great way to use dumbbells to perform a swing and include this great move in your routine!
However I do just want to mention, before breaking down this movement, how key it is we learn to hip hinge correctly first.
Often swings are blamed for lower back pain. And while swings are NOT bad for your back, they do require core control and proper recruitment patterns during hip hinging to make sure they don’t result in overload or injury.
Because of the fact that they are a more explosive, faster paced movement, you do want to make sure you can properly load those glutes and hamstrings and brace your abs during hip hinging before you included this exercise.
Remember that when you are performing a hip hinge, you are NOT simply leaning forward.
The hinge should be initiated by sitting your butt back as if reaching your butt back toward a wall behind you.
And then, while your knees may soften, you aren’t focused on active knee flexion. You do not want to turn this into a squat.
Feel those glutes and hamstrings load and avoid arching your lower back in an attempt to keep your chest up. Brace your abs and think a nice neutral back.
Focus on this hip hinge as you introduce the swing and do not let your arms try to take over or the speed cause you to shift your weight forward so you aren’t properly loading your posterior chain.
How Do You Do The Dumbbell Skier Swing?
To do Dumbbell Skier Swings, stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand down by your sides.
Start by slightly swinging your arms back toward the wall behind you. As you do, hinge over in response to help balance and build up that spring to propel the weights forward as you stand up.
You will lean forward as you push your butt back to swing the weights up outside your hips. You are leaning forward only in response to help counterbalance your weight.
As you hinge over, your knees should be soft. Focus on pushing your butt back, but not on squatting down.
Then drive the ground away as you squeeze your glutes to explosively come back up to standing, propelling the weights forward and up.
Focus on that exhale as you propel the weights up to further help you brace your abs.
Straighten your legs as you stand tall at the top, squeezing your glutes to extend your hips. Watch your urge to lean back at the top as this can load your lower back.
Let the weights swing up propelled by your legs. Do not try to pull them up higher with your arms. They may come to shoulder height or slightly below but do not focus on the height.
To protect your back and control the move, be patient and wait for the weights to come back down and force you to hinge back over and sit your butt back.
You do not want to hinge over before the weights truly lower down as this can cause overload of your lower back.
As you hinge back over with the weights swinging back outside your hips, your torso will lean forward to counterbalance.
Think about being explosive with each drive back up to standing to propel those weights up as you are patient with the hinge back over to reload. You aren’t slowing the weights down with your arms, you just are only hinging over in response to the weights.
If you’re struggling with the explosive hip hinge and controlling both weights, you may start with a single dumbbell even held between your legs in both hands. This will more closely mimic the basic kettlebell swing.
Using two dumbbells in this skier style swing can be a great way to go heavier though if limited by the weights you have especially.
If you find you struggle with loading your glutes and the weights get too far away from your body causing your lower back to become overloaded as you hinge, you can also start with a Band Hip Hinge.
This move is a great way to learn how to explosively perform the hip hinge while really targeting those glutes.
The pull of the band backward will also help you control that hip hinge to load your glutes while teaching you to truly sit back!
SUMMARY:
If you’ve been looking for a great strength and conditioning move to target those glutes, and even your hamstrings, but don’t have a kettlebell, give this Dumbbell Skier Swing a try!
Just remember to focus on what you feel working so you get the full benefit of every exercise you include!
Learn to train according to YOUR needs and goals.
Book a call to learn how Redefining Strength can help you dial in your workouts and your nutrition for better results faster…
It’s awkward. Uncomfortable. You can’t lift as heavy. And it takes coordination and balance…
I’m talking about one of the most underutilized but oh so important deadlift variations out there…
The Single Leg Deadlift.
All too often we avoid moves that challenge our balance because they make us feel uncomfortable in a way we don’t like and uncoordinated.
We may even dislike them because we feel we have to regress the movement instead of being able to beast mode out heavy loads like we can with other bilateral deadlift variations.
But for the exact reasons we often don’t like unilateral balance moves, like the single leg deadlift, we need to include them MORE.
They are super key to helping us stay strong as we get older!
Unilateral balance moves are a great way to correct any imbalances between both sides. They help us strengthen our weaker side without our stronger side compensating.
They help us avoid perpetuating the imbalance, which we can often do when lifting heavy with a bilateral move because, to move the weight, we simply rely on that stronger side.
So if you do want to beast mode out heavier deadlifts, the single leg deadlift is a great accessory move to help you build up.
It will still target your glutes and hamstrings to train that hip hinge movement pattern but in a way that will help you correct underlying recruitment issues!
And it will also help you become more focused and intentional about your foots connection to the ground. So much of powering that deadlift really does come from us pushing the ground away. And this focus on our foundation will pay off in terms of improving our stability and balance even in other moves.
The Single Leg Deadlift is a key exercise to help us focus on improving our stability from the ground up while improving that mind-body connection.
We have to remember a big part of lifting heavier is the strength of our mind-body connection. Our ability to recruit muscles efficiently and effectively allows us to lift more.
It’s why we want to include moves like this to really allow us to focus in on what we feel working and strengthen those weak links!
So how can you improve your Single Leg Deadlift form to embrace and master this amazing movement?
Here’s how I cue the move to help clients dial in their form…
To do the Single Leg Deadlift, start standing tall and shift your weight to one leg with the toe of your opposite foot touching down. As you shift your weight, think about the foot of your standing leg as a tripod, two points in the ball of your foot and one in your heel all pushing down into the ground as hard as you can.
Then instead of focusing on lifting that other leg toward the wall behind you, think about pushing the glute of your standing leg back.
As you sit back, your other leg will raise toward that wall to balance out your chest hinging over.
Do not reach toward the ground.
Soften your knee as you hinge to allow you to really load that glute and hamstring. You will even feel a stretch down your hamstring.
As you hinge, you want your hands to reach back toward the instep of your foot instead of reaching out. If you use weights, you want to lower the weights back toward your instep. This helps you load that standing leg and avoid overloading your lower back.
Keep your hips square to the ground as you hinge and don’t just try to reach lower and end up bending at the waist.
After hinging over to about parallel, think about pushing the ground away to stand back up. Too often we lose this focus on our foot’s connection to the ground which leads to us losing balance and even shifting our weight forward.
This shift or rock forward is also what can lead to lower back pain with deadlifts.
Drive that ground away to stand up tall and squeeze your standing glute at the top. Don’t be afraid to touch the other foot down when fully standing, but don’t use it to push back up.
While you can definitely modify this move by holding on to something if that helps you focus in more on what you feel working and your foot’s connection to the ground, I actually prefer to first try the single leg slider deadlift variation.
This is a great way to add stability to this unilateral move while allowing you to focus on the hip hinge movement.
It also teaches you to really sit back in that standing glute while worrying less about how high you lift that back leg.
With this modification, you will slide the foot back on the slider only as far as needed to counterbalance the hinge. Do not turn this into a lunge.
You can also use the variation as a progression for the single leg deadlift because sometimes the same but different can be the variety we need to move forward.
You can add loads to this single leg slider deadlift to make it just as challenging in a different way!
If you want to even create more of a challenge for yourself using the single leg deadlift, instead of adding loads, try different loading placements. Try a unilaterally loaded deadlift or even a front loaded one.
These may not create progression through heavier weights but they do by changing the activation of the muscles of your core and the instability created.
SUMMARY:
As uncomfortable and awkward as unilateral balance moves can be, they are key to helping us build functional strength.
Moves like the single leg deadlift will help keep you young while being a great accessory lift to improve your deadlifts not to mention your running!
I LOVE the deadlift. It is an amazing compound movement to target your posterior chain aka your entire backside.
But it is also a more complicated move than we give it credit for. And there are a ton of variations to choose from.
First let’s discuss WHY you should use the deadlift. Then we’ll review form and breakdown the conventional deadlift before explaining what variations to use and how to use them!
So Why Use The Deadlift In Your Workouts?
Deadlifts are ESSENTIAL to include because they:
Are a compound move that works numerous muscle groups at once.
Are a hip hinge exercise to train a functional movement pattern
Work your backside to reverse the constant flexion we sit in or walk in as we text all day.
Work on hip extension to strengthen our glutes to help us run faster and lift more.
Because deadlifts are a compound exercise, you work more muscles at once.
This not only helps you build functional strength because muscles have to work together to perform a movement, but it also helps you burn more calories in less time because more muscles are working at once. And compound moves that use the large muscles of our body, also allow us to lift MORE weight!
And on top of being a compound movement, the deadlift is a hip hinge exercise that works our posterior chain AKA our BACKSIDE!
What is a hip hinge?
It is a movement that loads your posterior chain when you hinge, aka flex your hips, to push your butt back then extend your hips to stand tall using your glutes. It is a functional move we need to do every day to reach down to the ground to pick things up…like a DEADLIFT!
The problem with this functional hip hinge exercise?
All too many people do incorrectly.
They simply lean forward without loading their posterior chain. Or they turn it into a squat.
Or they recruit their low back and hamstrings to do work their GLUTES should be doing.
So how do you deadlift properly to get the benefits of the deadlift and really work your backside?
How To Deadlift With Proper Form:
The most important thing you can ask someone is, “Where do you feel working?”
And with the deadlift, they can answer “upper back.” Or “glutes.” Or even “hamstring.” Actually all of the above. Especially their glutes.
However, the one place they shouldn’t feel acting as the prime mover is their low back. Which honestly too often is!
So how do you do the deadlift properly?
There are three things I think are key:
Think about pushing the ground away with your feet INSTEAD of lifting the bar off the ground.
Push your butt back to hinge over don’t just lean forward.
Squeeze your butt hard at the top!
Thinking about these 3 things, here’s how to break down the Conventional Barbell Deadlift or the traditional or main deadlift variation.
To do a Conventional Barbell Deadlift, set a barbell up in front of you. Walk up to the center of the bar with your feet parallel and about hip-width apart. Set up so your shins are right up against the bar. You do not want the bar to drift away from your legs or you risk loading your low back.
Hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back as you reach to grab the bar just outside your shins. Your knees should be soft as you push your butt back to grab the bar, keeping your back flat.
Think about engaging your lats and upper back to keep your spine flat. Traditional form will tell you to keep your head in line with your spine and look out on the ground in front of you. Powerlifting form will often tell you to look up to help you pull up. Choose the one that feels most comfortable without straining anything weird.
With your arms straight and core engaged, put tension on the bar. Then drive through your feet, pushing the ground away to lift the bar up off the ground. Exhale as you lift, “dragging” the bar up your shins to stand up.
At the top, stand tall and squeeze your glutes to fully extend your hips. Don’t lean back at the top or arch your back. Squeeze your butt, then lower back down. Keep the bar close to your body as you lower. Control the decent so you don’t drop the bar, but don’t eccentrically lower.
Once you touch the ground, you can either perform a quick rep without pausing or you can completely release at the bottom and repeat.
The key is really to keep that bar close to your shin, drive the ground away and even use your breathing to engage your core. Do NOT try to squat or simply lean or round over. Keep tension through your upper back and engage your lats. And sit your butt back, hinging at the hips.
Your knees should be soft, but your exact knee bend will be dependent on your mobility. Do NOT actively bend your knees and turn this into a squat though!
So what if you aren’t comfortable with the barbell? What if you’re a beginner? Or what if you want to target different muscles and challenge your body with a new variation?
Check out these deadlift variations below!
Deadlift Variations And When To Use Them:
There are so many great variations of the deadlift you can use to regress and progress the movement and even change up exactly what you’re working or use different tools that you may have available.
Yes, it will always be posterior chain, but you can isolate each glute, add in more adductor or even engage your hamstrings or core more.
Because the deadlift is a more technical move, there are a few ways I like to teach the deadlift and hip hinge movement WITHOUT the barbell.
Three versions of the deadlift I like to use with beginners are:
The Bodyweight Wall Hinge
The Band Hinge
The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift
I’ve found these three deadlift variations to be an easier way to teach and train the hip hinge movement so that people learn to load their glutes and posterior chain instead of just leaning forward or engaging their low backs.
Here’s how to perform each and why each can be a great training tool.
The Bodyweight Wall Hinge – When you are first learning a movement, it is key to start with your own bodyweight. If you can’t do the move without a load, you haven’t earned adding a weight. Remember you need to EARN the weight and more advanced variations. No point in doing something if it won’t be quality. Hard for hard sake won’t get you results!
So the Bodyweight Wall Hinge is great for beginners because it helps them learn the hip hinge and deadlift movement without any weight. This allows them to focus on feeling the right muscles working. And by using the wall as a guide, you can learn to load your glutes and push your butt back.
To do the Bodyweight Wall Hinge, stand in front of a wall facing away. You want to stand between 3-6 inches away from the wall so as you hinge over, you can use the wall as a guide to help you push your butt back. AKA you want to hinge over and touch your butt to the wall. This will prevent you from simply leaning forward.
Stand nice and tall facing away from the wall. Then hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. Keep your knees soft as you hinge over and your back flat. Then drive through your feel to come back up to standing tall. Squeeze your glutes at the top to extend your hips. Don’t lean or arch back though.
Then hinge back over again, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. The wall is a great training tool to teach yourself to push your butt back and load your posterior chain. I even sometimes use it as a reminder with clients as they add a load, especially with Good Mornings.
The Band Hinge – A resistance band is another great training tool to help you remember to load your glutes. And it also adds some resistance to really get those glutes burning. This variation, while a great way to regress for the beginner, is also still an important move for advanced lifters because it really activates those glutes.
It’s great for glute activation, teaching the hip hinge for deadlift and reminding people that, while the Conventional Deadlift means some knee bend, it is NOT a squat! It also teaches you to “push the ground away” to power the hip extension against the band.
To do the Band Hinge, anchor a band or loop behind you and step into the band, bringing it right up below your hips. Walk away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. The more the band tries to pull you back (aka the further out you walk), the harder the move will be.
Then hinge over, allowing the band to pull your butt back toward the anchor point. Bend your knees slightly as you push your butt back to help load your glutes and keep you from flying back with the band.
Then explosively drive your hips forward to come back up to standing. You may lean slightly forward against the band, but you want to explosively stand up and drive your hips forward against the band, contracting your glutes as you do.
Stand up tall and squeeze your glutes then quickly hinge back over before repeating. This should be a quicker move and you should really focus on loading your glutes as you hinge over and then on quickly driving your hips into extension as you stand back up, squeezing your glutes hard at the top.
Do not lean back or arch your back as you stand up. Also, make sure you don’t lock out your legs OR squat to much as you hinge over. Make sure there is tension in the band even as you hinge over.
The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift – The third deadlift variation I like to use to help teach the deadlift is the single kettlebell Conventional Deadlift. This is a great way to load down the hip hinge, but teach people to really sit their butt back instead of just squatting down.
With the barbell Conventional Deadlift, we can often struggle with keeping the bar back against our shins and legs. And this can cause us to load our low back. Because we can have a tendency to let the bar drift away, it can be a struggle to sit back and load our glutes and even drive the ground away when we are first learning.
This is why I like to often use the kettlebell instead of the barbell when someone is first starting out. The fact that you can place the kettlebell back between your legs and toward your heels can really help ingrain the proper hip hinge movement and proper loading of the glutes.(BONUS: I even find that often the height of the kettlebell can help prevent people from wanting to squat as much.)
To do the Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift, place a kettlebell in between your feet as you stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be parallel and the kettlebell should be back by your heels.
Then sit your butt back and hinge at the hips so you can reach and grab the kettlebell handle. Your knees will be soft so you can load your glutes. Engage your lats as you grab the weight and keep your back flat.
Then drive the ground away as you lift the weight up. Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. Then sit your butt back as you hinge at the hips to drop the weight back toward your heels.
Make sure you don’t reach out or lower the weight out in front of you. Really make sure to lower the kettlebell back down toward your heels. You don’t want to just lean over or let your back round. Load your glutes and sit your butt back, bending your knees to allow yourself to load your glutes. Do not lock out your legs.
Along with these three basic variations to really learn the hip hinge movement and even return to basics to make sure your foundation is strong (yes I LOVE using the Band Hinge even with my most advanced lifters), there are a variety of deadlift variations you can use to target your posterior chain in different ways and even work your core and balance.
Single Leg Deadlift – The Single Leg Deadlift is a must-do move for beginners and advanced lifters alike. It is an essential move to include because it will not only work your posterior chain and train the hip hinge, but it will also improve your core stability and balance.
It is also key because it is a unilateral exercise, which means it will work each side individually and help correct any imbalances. Aka if you have a stronger and weaker side, this allows you to make sure both sides are working and strong!
Beginners can start by doing more of a staggered stance deadlift or even a deadlift with one foot down on a slider. Once your balance improves, you’ll want to do the full Single Leg Deadlift.
To do the Single Leg Deadlift, you can use kettlebells, dumbbells or a barbell. You can even unilaterally load the move down to make it even more challenging for your core and your balance.
To do the basic move with bodyweight, start standing on both legs. Lightly touch one toe on the ground as you shift your weight onto the other leg. Begin to then hinge over, lifting your raised leg toward the wall behind you. Push your butt back and even slightly bend the knee of the standing leg to load your glutes.
You do not want to squat, but you want to soften your knee to push your butt back and load your glutes. As you hinge at the hips, don’t let your raised leg swing way open and don’t simply lean forward. Really focus on loading that standing glute as you feel your hamstring as well.
Keep your back flat and hips as square to the ground as possible. Do not worry about straightening the raised leg if it makes your hips rotate open.
Then driving through your standing foot, come back up to standing tall. You may tap your toe at the top, but do not use your other leg to help you come back up to standing. Stand tall and straighten your standing leg as you contract and squeeze your glute at the top. Really feel your hamstring and glute work to help you come back up to standing.
Then hinge back over and repeat. Make sure you don’t round toward the ground. When you add weights, you’ll want to think about dropping the weights down and back toward your standing heel to help you sit back. You’ll also need to engage your lats and upper back to support the weights.
Do not let your low back take over and make sure to brace your core. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Remember if you are starting out and balance is an issue, use a staggered stance, slider or even no weight to start.
Good Mornings and Straight Leg Deadlifts – The Deadlift is a posterior chain exercise and your glutes are definitely the prime mover, HOWEVER, you can make the deadlift focus and work different muscles to different extents. One great Deadlift Variation to really work your hamstrings, is the Straight Leg Deadlift. And when you make it a front-loaded move like the Good Morning, you force your abs and core to work even harder!
To do the Straight Leg Deadlift, you can use barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, dumbbells or even resistance bands. I even like front-loading it down for the Good Morning variation. If you front-load the movement, hold a sandbag up at your chest cradled in your arms. You’ll wrap your arms around the bag and then pull it into your chest engaging your upper back to support it. Stand tall with your feet about hip-width apart.
Then, bracing your abs, hinge over at the hips, pushing your butt back as you keep your back flat. Feel your hamstrings and glutes loading as you hinge over. You will want to very slightly bend or soften your knees to help you push your butt back, but do not turn this into a squat.
After hinging over, drive back up to standing, pushing through your feet as you squeeze your glutes at the top. Do not rock forward, but instead drive straight up. Keep your abs engaged and do not round over.
Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes, then hinge back over and repeat. Do not simply lean forward. You will want to keep your legs straighter but NOT lock out your knees.
Sumo – The Sumo Deadlift is another great variation if you want to target your legs a bit more and even get your adductors working. For some, this deadlift variation even allows them to lift heavier weights than the other variations. However, because of the wide stance, you will want to make sure to take care of your hips as the external rotation and wide stance can occasionally be hard on them.
To the Sumo Deadlift, beginners can start with a kettlebell just like they did for the Conventional Deadlift. You can also use a sandbag, dumbbells or even a barbell.
For the Barbell Sumo Deadlift, set your feet wider than shoulder-width with your toes turned out slightly and your shins against the barbell. Reach down and grab the bar between your legs about hip-width apart. Hinge at the hips as you bend your knees to sit your butt back and grab the bar. Keep your back flat and engage your lats and upper back to support the tension on the bar. Make sure your knees are in line with your ankles and hips. You do not want your knees caving in with the wide stance.
Then driving up through your heels, come back up to standing. Think more about pushing the ground away than on picking the bar up. You won’t want to lose tension in your upper body as you initiate the pull so it can help to think about pushing the ground away. This can also help you focus on using your legs and glutes.
Drive all the way up to standing tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. You do not want to lean back, but you do fully want to extend your hips. Then begin to lower the bar back down, siting your butt back as you hinge over to return it to the ground. Stay in control of the bar, but do not turn this into a slow eccentric lower down.
Make sure to keep the bar close to your body the entire time to make sure you are using your posterior chain to lift!
Unilateral Loads – With all of these great deadlift variations, you can also change how you load the move. From making the Conventional Deadlift a bit easier for beginners by using kettlebells to even making moves harder and more core intense by front loading OR even adding a unilateral load.
Unilateral loading is a great way to work on anti-rotational core strength and stability. It allows you to add weight, but make your core work even harder to stay balanced. Because you are adding weight on only one side though, make sure your core is ready for the challenge of fighting your body’s urge to compensate and rotate or you risk injury.
To unilaterally load down any variation, you can simply hold a kettlebell, sandbag or dumbbell in one hand. For the Single Leg Deadlift, you can hold it in the same or the opposite hand from your standing leg and for the conventional, you can hold it like a suitcase outside one side. Just make sure to do reps holding the weight on each side.
All of these moves can be used in your programming to work your posterior chain and strengthen those glutes. Make sure to pick variations that target your specific goals and don’t hesitate to mix things over progressions to not only challenge your body, but even focus on your weaker areas!
So you want a sexy, strong butt…because let’s face it…who doesn’t!?!
Whether you just want your butt to look firm and toned or you want to lift more, run faster or even PREVENT INJURY, glute activation is a MUST.
And it can be done quickly BEFORE you workout so you get even more out of all of those squats, lunges and deadlifts.
Because while squats, lunges and deadlifts are AMAZING compound exercises, if your glutes aren’t ALREADY activated, they won’t work properly during those moves.
Which can not only lead to injury, but also cause your quads and legs to change while your glutes stay the same.
So if you want to get the most out of your workouts, you’ve got to activate your glutes BEFORE.
(And P.S. Guys – this applies to you too. If you want to prevent low back, hip and knee pain, run faster, and lift more, you have to activate those glutes…Plus I won’t lie…Women like a nice backside. 😉 haha)
Below are 3 moves you can do before your lower body workouts to make sure your glutes are activating and firing.
These moves are all BODYWEIGHT because with bodyweight we have the ability to contract our glutes harder and establish the mind-body connection.
Too often we add weight to try to get the glutes to work, but then they stop firing. Bodyweight and light resistance for higher reps is KEY to getting them activated and pumped.
Using these 3 moves you can also unlock your hips to improve hip extension and work all 3 gluteal muscles.
It is important that your glute activation ALSO works on hip extension because tight hips can not only lead to pain and injury, but they can keep your glutes from working proper and cause that LOWER BELLY POOCH!
Use these 3 moves and get your glutes working properly before your workout for a strong and sexy butt!
3 Moves To Activate Your Glutes Before You Workout
Bench 2-Way Leg Swings:
This move works all three gluteal muscles, opens up your hips AND even helps you build core stability.
It is the perfect move if you can literally only do one thing that day to activate your glutes and core. This move alone will get you ready to feel your glutes during your workout!
To do the Bench 2-Way Leg Swings, place one knee and both hands on a bench with your knee under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Your other leg will be off to the side of the bench hanging straight down to the ground.
Keeping your arms straight, brace your core and then lift the leg off the bench straight up to the side. Keep the leg straight as you lift and don’t bend your elbows or lean away to try to lift higher. Squeeze your glute to lift the leg up and out to the side. Try to get it as straight out to the side as possible. Feel the outside of your hip working.
Lower back down and then lift the same leg straight back toward the wall behind your. Again, squeeze your glute to lift your leg straight out behind you and extend your hip. Keep your core engaged and do not hyperextend your low back or rotate your hips open just to kick the leg up higher as you lift it back behind you.
Lower back down and repeat the lifts on the same side. Do not bend your arms or really rock away to get the leg up higher. You want to move from the hip and use your glute.
Do not just swing the leg, but focus on FEELING your glute working. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Move quickly between the two lifts.
Side Balance Leg Raise:
This is the perfect way to activate your hip stabilizers aka your gluteus medius and minimus to prevent pain and injury AND even make sure your gluteus maximus engages during your workout! PLUS, this move will work your core and even your shoulders!
To do the Side Balance Leg Raise, start on one knee with your other leg out straight to the side. Then place your hand down on the outside of your knee so you are in a side balance position. Your hand should be under your shoulder while your knee will be just slightly below your hip. You want to keep your chest open and not rotate toward the ground.
Then lift your top straight leg up toward the ceiling. Lift the leg as close to parallel to the ground as you can and then lower back down. Do not swing your entire body to lift the leg. Keep your core tight and do not let your body rotate toward the ground or open toward the ceiling as you lift. Make sure your toe doesn’t rotate open as you lift.
Feel the outside of your glute and hip working to lift the leg. Complete all reps on one side before switching.
Feet-Raised Hip Thruster:
Take the basic glute bridge and amplify the pump with the Feet-Raised Hip Thruster. This move will work on hip extension and get those glutes burning and engaged! It is the perfect way to unlock your hips as you activate your glutes.
To Feet-Raised Hip Thruster, place a box and a bench close enough together that your back can be on the bench and your feet up on the box. You just don’t want your legs to be out too far. If your legs are out too straight, you will use more hamstrings than glutes.
Then with your feet and back both up on boxes or benches, bridge up, driving up through your heels and your upper back. Make sure to engage your abs and even do a pelvic tilt if you struggle to keep your low back from taking over.
Drive your hips up and squeeze your glutes. Lift your hips to full extension and hold for a second and then lower back down. Make sure you don’t drive yourself backward over the bench. You want to bridge straight up and feel like you are driving your knees forward over your toes.
Lower back down, making sure to drop your butt below the height of the box and repeat. You do not have to touch the ground each time, but you do want to do a bigger range of motion than you could if performing a bridge from the ground.
So if you’ve read or watched any of my videos on pain and injury prevention, you’ve probably heard me talk about how we spend way too much time in flexion. We spend way to much time rounded and hunched over. We spend long hours seated at a desk, in a car, watching TV with our hips, elbows, spine, knees, wrists…even our fingers…bent in flexion.
Even if you don’t have a desk job, you’re probably spending way too much time hunched over driving in your car, watching TV or texting on your phone.
We can’t seem to avoid it even though we all know that the constant forward flexion is bad.
