Cable Kickback: Attach ankle straps and face the cable machine. Hinge forward from hips so that your back is parallel to the floor. Kick working leg up as high as you can—don’t be afraid to use power!
High-cable Kickback Pulse: From cable kickbacks, kick working leg up straight back and slightly to the outside, then lower a few inches. Do small up-down pulses.
Reverse Hack Squat: Face opposite way in a standing hack squat machine. Instead of squatting down, bend forward (similar to a stiff-leg deadlift), keeping knees slightly bent; you’ll feel this on the sides of your glutes.
Single-leg Press: Place one leg on the center of leg press machine platform. Press up with heel, then slowly lower.
WHY THEY WORK:
“With these exercises I have more control of the movement and can better isolate the targeted muscles. I can angle my legs or change my position and still hit my glutes without other body parts getting most of the workout.”
Vertical Leg Press: On Smith machine (15, 12, 10, 8 reps; increase weight with each set).
Superset with: Deep Kettlebell Swing: 4 sets, 30 reps.
Banded Fire Hydrant: 3 sets, 30 reps per leg.
Superset with:Sumo Squat: Standing with feet on two platforms, do 20, 15, 10 reps, increasing weight with each set, then on the final set go to burnout by dropping weight in half and repping out to exhaustion.
Glute Kick-up: On hamstring curl machine (3 sets, 15 reps per leg; increase weight with each set).
WHY THEY WORK:
“I always like to mix up my training. That way my mind and body never get bored! I’m always switching things up to constantly challenge my body. I like to do a lot of dropsets and burnout sets to finish off an exercise and add an extra challenge. I will often add a pre-exhaust set to my workout, like doing donkey kicks with a small dumbbell tucked inside the knee for 50 reps per leg to really get the blood flowing for an optimal pump!”
