When was the last time you trained your glutes? We’re not talking about just chucking one exercise onto the end of your leg day, we’re talking proper, hardcore, going in ham for your glutes. If you've been neglecting yours, then you’re missing a serious trick, and this eight-move circuit will sort them out. All you’ll need is a pair of medium dumbbells and some good workout shoes on your feet.
For a strong foundation, you need strong glutes. The glute maximus (one of our three glute muscles) is the largest muscle in the human body and it’s what helps us make every lower body and lower back movement. Stronger glutes lead to better posture, studies have shown they help you run faster and it’ll give you more power to crush heavy lifts (like deadlifts and squats. Not to mention, it can help alleviate lower back pain, so if you haven’t been making them a priority, now’s the time.
The workout
This HIIT circuit from AloMoves Instructor, Louis Chandler, will smoke your backside. You've got two circuits to work through; each one contains four exercises and you're going to each circuit three times, for 40 seconds of work with a 20 second rest. Not only will the short rest periods increase time under tension, helping muscle growth, but it'll keep your heart rate high too and improve your aerobic fitness. Here's your workout:
Circuit 1
- Dumbbell squats into a reverse lunge (go into a lunge on each leg)
- Kickbacks with rotation right leg (get on all-fours, kick your leg backwards, swing it out to the side, bring it back to the starting position and repeat)
- Kickbacks with rotation left leg
- Skater hops
Circuit 2
- Dumbbell reverse lunges
- Dumbbell single leg glute bridges right leg
- Dumbbell single leg glute bridges left leg
- Jumping lunges
Now that you've worked your glutes (and other muscles in the lower body), how about a more quad/calve focused workout? Give this five-move dumbbell workout a go then call it a day for your lower body! For an upper body focus later in the week, this 30 minute, five-move workout is perfect, it'll hit your chest, back, biceps, triceps and shoulders.
