Elite fitness expert shares exercise to strengthen glutes with everyday household item

All you need is a tea towel – no, really!

Man doing a bodyweight glute bridge
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Here at T3 we always share plenty of glute building exercises, like this six-move workout to sculpt your booty at home and this resistance band only glute exercise. After all, your glutes are the largest muscle group in your body, so it's important to incorporate strength exercises into our workouts, whether that's with a pair of dumbbells, resistance bands or just our bodyweight. If you’re looking for a new bodyweight booty burner though you’re in luck, as an elite fitness expert has shared an easy at-home exercise you can do right now, all you’re going to need is a tea towel. 

When we say anyone can do this exercise, we really mean it.  As well as strengthening your glutes, this exercise also targets the hamstrings too, which helps to stabilise your knee joint and reduce the likelihood of injury to this area.

The exercise that Jeff Cavaliere has shared is what he refers to as a ‘reverse mountain climber’. If you don’t like regular mountain climbers, don’t panic, this is nothing like it. If anything, it’s more of an advanced glute bridge. As well as a towel to put your feet underneath, you also need a slippery floor surface (no carpet). Here’s how you do it: 

  • Lie on your back and get yourself into a glute bridge position (bend your knees with your feet flat on the floor and hip width apart)
  • Pop your towel under your feet
  • Lift your hips towards the ceiling, pushing through the glutes (your knees, hips and shoulders should be in a straight line)
  • Keeping your hips high, slide one foot outwards, then as you bring it back slide out the opposite foot
  • Keep doing this interchangeably for 10 to 15 reps
  • Your sliding leg shouldn’t slide out straight, there will still be a bend in your knee, otherwise your hips will drop

Add this onto the end of your next lower day workout. Aim for 10 to 15 reps and try and complete three rounds in total — your glutes and hamstrings may be feeling sore afterwards, but they'll thank you for it later. Looking for more lower body workouts? Give this low-impact thigh and glute workout a go. If you're finding that you're struggling to grow your glutes in general though, check you're not making this mistake.

Bryony Firth-Bernard
Staff Writer, Active

Bryony’s T3’s official ‘gym-bunny’ and Active Staff Writer, covering all things fitness. In her spare time, you will find her in her natural habitat - the gym - where her style of training is a hybrid of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Bryony loves writing about accessible workouts, nutrition and testing innovative fitness products that help you reach your fitness goals and take your training to the next level.