Squats, Split Squats, Step Ups.... the list is endless when it comes to people wanting to put together a home glute workout
But what is the best home workout to grow and shape your bum?
In order for you to fully understand the process of working your glutes you must look in to muscle activation and which exercise cause the greatest affect
In 2011, a small study looked at bodyweight and certain movements such as planks with rotation and single leg movements to gain knowledge on which caused the greatest activation in the glutes
The study was started to enable them to learn which muscle caused the greatest activation in the glutes in order for them to recommend specific exercises for people to do to help stablise the pelvis and stop hip adduction and internal rotation
If you look online for glute exercises a lot of posts are regarding working the upper part of the glutes (glute medius)
I am not sure why this is heavily promoted, maybe it is because it is the upper part people may feel it gives their bum a 'lift'
But like with most exercises, if you want to focus on a specific muscle then (unless you have weaknesses) you need to focus on the muscle as a whole
The is a fantastic study that is more relevant to gym based work as it was focused around strength where 1963 articles we looked initially
From these articles they worked with 110 people
In the study they again, looked at glute activation in certain exercises and compared them to other strength based work
What You Must Know For A Home Glute Workout
The exercise that causes the greatest activation in muscle fibres for the glutes is a Hip Thrust movement
Here is a video direct from YouTube from the channel 'Yoga By Candace' where she takes you through how to perform the Hip Thrust movement
Advancing The Hip Thrust
With the hip thrust movement giving the most activation on your glutes it is important that you progress with this exercise to keep developing
You can add weights to the hip thrust in the form of barbells or by resting a dumbbell across your pelvis
Some people will add bands around their knees (like the photo to this post) with the idea of this that it forces you to open your knees out during the movement which puts more stress through the glute medius
What You Must Do
Whichever you choose to progress you must always look to add weights to the exercise to force your muscles to work harder and in turn force them to grow
You do not get results by sitting comfortably...
And in all programs you must look to a strength based program (like Reb3l Strength) where you can increase the load on the muscle and follow a detailed strength based program
Constant banded walks (monster walks) and hip circles are not going to build your glute muscles long-term
There has to be a weight loaded to them
If you are struggling and want to follow something specific then apply for our 6-Week Transformation Program below where strength work is included in the plan
Comments