Gluts.  The booty. Everyone wants to do exercises for them.  But in my over 2 decade career and practice in this field, I am finding the gluts essentially need to train in “load” phase.  What is load?  Load is the active stretch of muscles, just before they contract for power.  Think about a bow (load/stretch) and arrow (contraction/power).  Stretch is the moment as the arrow is pulled back on the string, creating a tension.  Tension equals load.  And when that arrow releases, it flies with power.  That power is your muscles contracting.  The more load you have, the better contraction you can create.  So in our analogy, if you can pull the string back more, the arrow can go farther. That concept is also correct training for all of your muscles. This first variation is part of three that works the hips multi-planar.  That is a fancy word for working in 3 dimensions: sagittal, frontal, and transverse.   This video mainly includes the sagittal plane, which is hip flexion and extension, but also works in the transverse (rotational) plane here too.

Video

This series is great for hip mobility and strength!  You will also work the feet. Beginning level (with a chair) or intermediate level (I am demonstrating with a block) in this video.  An advanced version would be without a prop.  I am also showing 5 reps of 5 seconds each.  Of course, once you have the movement, you can do more and hold longer!  I do recommend starting with a prop and really working on your alignment of the hips and pelvis.  You never want the working hip to be too far forward, skewing the pelvis.  The further the hip joint of the working leg actively goes back into the socket, the more the muscles will react.  Joints act, muscles react.

5 movements: 

1. Lunge - Square hips and upright pelvis.  Bend back knee to help achieve that if necessary.  Pull inner thighs together so you don’t sink into your hips.

2. Hinge - From your hip joints, move the belly button closer to the front leg.  Feel a line from your back heel, out through your head.  Make sure your head doesn’t drop - lift the nape of your neck.  Pull front leg hip into socket!

3. Rotate towards front leg and pull hip into socket.  The further back it goes, the more stretch and load you will achieve.

4. Warrior 3 - Standing leg is soft knee and you really wrap the hip back to opposite sit bone and down to the floor.  That hip stretches in flexion, but the other leg is contracting in extension.  Keep hips and pelvis parallel to the floor and really use your glut and hamstring to lift that back leg without pelvic rotation.

5. Roll up  Or for more advanced, from warrior 3, stand up while back leg bends and travels in front of you, trying not to touch the floor to challenge balance. 

I have 2 more in this series, but for now, try these and let me know what you think!