As someone who works at a desk for eight hours a day with my glutes just sat chilling, I regularly struggle to get them fired up during a workout, especially my glute medius (the small muscle that sits at the top of your bum). It doesn’t matter how many compound exercises I do, like a deadlift, or even isolation exercises, like glute bridges, nothing gets that tiny muscle going, which is essential for that ‘perky’ butt-lift look. That’s until my previous coach introduced me to this resistance band exercise and it’s the only thing that’s helped perk the top of my booty up.
The exercise I speak of isn’t anything revolutionary, quite the opposite in fact – it’s a banded step out. Now, you may be thinking ‘that’s one of the most common glute exercises in the book’, you’re right, but whereas this exercise is often performed with a small ‘booty band’ I was made to do it with a long resistance band and it made a world of difference. Even my sister, who at first was criticising the move saying it just looked like we were doing a weird step out dance, struggled with the last few reps.
The reason why performing the exercise this way has been more effective for me is because the glutes are engaged throughout the entire movement. While the resistance is there when you step out with a small booty band, this often disappears as soon as you bring your foot back in, because people don’t control it or struggle with mind-muscle connection. With a long resistance band the exercise is performed in the opposite way (you bring your foot in then out, not out then in). This not only places tension on the glutes as you step your foot in, but you’re also having to fight the resistance when stepping your foot out.
I did two sets of 25 reps on each side and afterwards the top of my glutes were on fire! If you struggle to feel tension in your glutes doing a regular step out with a small band, I highly recommend giving these a go. At first I was sceptical, now they have a firm place in my workout routine.
Banded step out with long resistance band
- Loop your long resistance band around something stable (this could be a squat rack if you're at the gym, or if you're at home the foot of a sofa, table or a fence)
- Place the foot that's closest to the band inside the loop and have this around your ankle
- Take a few steps out to the side to stretch the band and create some resistance (you don't want it too stiff, but make sure it's stretched enough so it's not floppy)
- With a soft bend in the knees and your hands on your hips, step your banded foot to your opposite foot
- Hold for a second, then slowly step it back out to starting position — this is one rep
- Do this for 25 reps, then repeat on the other side
