Exercises and Workouts – Put the Spotlight on Butt Lifts!

If you want to shape your butt muscles, butt lifts are the way to go. Isolation exercises for this muscle group are overlooked by many people because they focus on movements like squats, lunges, and deadlifts. And while there’s nothing wrong with those moves, the problem is that the hamstrings and quads will come into play primarily, taking much of the emphasis off of the gluteal muscles.

However, the good news is that with butt lifts you can change that. It’s important to focus on glute lifts because more and more of us lead sedentary lifestyles, this muscle begins to get weaker and weaker. As this weakness continues, it can lead to problems such as lower back pain and knee problems.

Let’s look at glute lifts: how to do them correctly and the variations you could do…

1. Buttock lift. To do this lift, you’ll want to position yourself directly in front of a flat bench so you can support your upper back against the bench. Then your feet should be placed on the floor, knees bent.

Once in this position, lean back and place your arms on either side of the bench and then begin to squeeze your glutes as you push up through the exercise until your hips are parallel with the rest of your body.

Pause here, then lower back down to complete the rep.

2. Variations on the butt lift. Once this basic variation of the glute raise becomes too comfortable, you can add advanced versions to the mix…

• try a single-leg glute raise. This time, she lifts one leg and crosses it over the other. Now press up, squeezing your glutes as you lift to complete the movement.
• Alternatively, if you want to involve some weight, you can now place a barbell on your hips and do your lifts that way, or you can simply place a weight plate in the same position, pressing up as you execute the movement pattern.

3. Add gluteal augmentation to your training program. Since these lifts will completely fatigue your glutes, it’s best to do them toward the end of your training program. Do them after you’ve done your heavy sets of squats, deadlifts, or any other major lower-body compound exercise you need to do.

Your glutes will act as stabilizers for those exercises, so the last thing you want to do is prematurely fatigue them.

The next time you’re in the gym, be sure to consider including these isolation exercises in the picture.