Summary

– The glute-ham raise trains the hamstrings‘ two key functions simultaneously.

– Sets of 5–8 reps may be appropriate to start; later, the glute-ham raise can be trained with low-, moderate-, and high-rep ranges.

– The glute-ham raise movement can be approximated with the Nordic hamstring curl, and other variations that don’t require a glute-ham bench.

What Is the Glute-Ham Raise?

(See 00:23 in the video above.)

The glute-ham raise is a posterior-chain exercise. That is, it trains the muscles on the back side of the body that work together in unison. The hamstrings, however, get hit the hardest. The glute-ham raise is unique in that it works the hamstrings’ two functions—bending the knees and extending the hips—in one fluid movement, and through a full range of motion. We’ll explain in detail how to perform it below, but to get a sense of how the glute-ham raise is done, picture starting off with your torso parallel to the floor, and using the back of your legs to lift your entire body up until it’s perpendicular to the floor. (If that sounds hard to do, well… it is!)

There are only a handful of exercises that mimic the glute-ham raise movement (we’ll show you how to do some of them below, if you don’t have a glute-ham bench). Without them, you would need to perform multiple different exercises to achieve complete hamstring development. For instance, leg curls to work the knee flexion component, and Romanian deadlifts or kettlebell swings to train hip extension. So, glute-ham raises maximize efficiency. They also train the hamstrings in a very functional way that’s perfectly suited to faster running and overall lower-body explosiveness.

Think of how your foot strikes the ground during a sprint. Your hamstrings help to pull it underneath and behind your hips, and bend the knee, to propel your body forward. Powerlifters and weightlifters—guys and gals who need strong posterior muscles to lift the heaviest weights—also flock to the glute-ham bench. Glute-ham raises are a powerful assistance exercise for building up your numbers on the squat, deadlift, and clean.

And that’s why they were originally created. Glute-ham raises were first implemented by weightlifters in the U.S.S.R. sometime in the 20^th century. Soviet athletes dominated the world stage in many different sports for decades. In the 1970s, when American weightlifter Bud Charniga was studying up on Soviet training methods, he discovered the glute-ham raise, and brought it to the States. Unable to find a bench that would allow him to perform it, Charniga mocked up his own using a pommel horse and a car seat. Specially-designed glute-ham benches have since become staples in serious strength and conditioning facilities, and are used by different kinds of athletes of all levels.

How to Properly Execute A Glute-Ham Raise

(See 01:05 in the video.)

We asked Clifton Harski, Director of Education for the Pain-Free Performance Specialist (PPSC) certification, to explain how to do a perfect rep.

Step 1. Glute-ham benches have a foot plate that is adjustable, and many have adjustable ankle pads as well. The foot plate can slide closer to and further away from the big pad that your hips rest on, and the ankle pads can be elevated or lowered. You’ll have to take a few minutes to experiment with setups until you find one that’s comfortable.

Ultimately, you want the foot plate far enough away from the pad so that, when you climb onto the bench, your knees can hang below the pad. The height of the ankle pads should be set so that your shins are angled slightly upward when your feet touch the plate and your torso is vertical (the top of the movement).

When you slide your feet between the ankle pads, your toes should touch the foot plate. Make sure these pads are secure, as they’re about to support your bodyweight. Try to get your feet to point straight down at hip-width distance, but you may find that you need to turn your toes out a few degrees to perform the exercise. Use your hands on the big pad to push your body up until it’s vertical. Draw your ribs down, take a deep breath into your belly, and tuck your pelvis slightly so it’s perpendicular to your spine. Brace your core.

Step 2. From this tall kneeling position, slowly extend your knees to lower your body. When your torso is parallel to the floor, bend your hips slightly so that it dips a few inches below parallel. You want to use as big a range of motion as you can, but without taking tension off your hamstrings. For that reason, don’t bend so much that your head points toward the floor. And whatever you do, don’t let your lower back round. Stay rigid.

Step 3. Extend your hips and drive the balls of your feet into the foot plate, allowing your heels to rise off the plate. Push through the big pad and bend your knees to pull your body back to vertical. This should look similar to how your leg works when it’s running. (You drive off the ball of the foot while the hamstrings are extending the hips and curling the leg.)

You can cut the range of motion a little short, stopping slightly before vertical, if you like. This is a good technique for targeting pure muscle gain, as the tension won’t subside at either end of the range of motion.

The glute-ham raise is relatively simple to perform, but because it’s foreign to most people, it’s liable to pose some problems at first. If you notice your calves cramping up, it’s a sign that you’re setting up with your upper body too far in front of the pad. This is making your calves work harder than they should to pull you back up. Move the foot plate more rearward, and check to see that your knees are pointing out below the bottom of the pad at the top of the exercise. If your bench doesn’t adjust to the right position for you, fold a towel over the hip pad, or drape a rubber mat over it, to add a little more mass to the pad and position your body further back. An inch or two can make a big difference.

Another common mistake is lowering your body until your torso is perfectly parallel to the floor. This shortens the range of motion a little bit, but it’s also the hardest position in the range, and it puts you at the greatest leverage disadvantage. When you’re just starting out on glute-ham raises, it pays to lower your body a little deeper so your hips flex; then you can use a bit of stretch reflex to come out of the bottom position. This makes the lift safer and will allow you to get more reps.

Finally, avoid hyperextending your spine on the way up. As your hamstrings tire out, you’ll have a tendency to want to finish the lift by arching your back hard. This can cause injury, so remember to keep your ribs down and your core tight.

“The glute-ham raise can provide such a large overload directly to the glutes and hammies—without a substantial lower-back strength demand—that it can serve as the big strength move for those muscles for most people,” says Harski. “It can actually replace the deadlift for a period of time. It is important to train the posterior chain aggressively and often, but to do so while minimizing loading of the spine, specifically the lower vertebrae.” In other words, the glute-ham raise can play a key role in strengthening your lower body without risking injury to the lower back in the way heavy deadlifts and back squats can. While it’s a simple bodyweight movement, the glute-ham raise packs a similar punch to big barbell exercises.

Once you’re experienced with it, the glute-ham raise can be trained through several different rep ranges. You may need to use sets of 5–8 reps at first, because the exercise is so challenging, but within a few weeks, you will likely be able to do it for 8–12 reps, treating it like you would most other assistance exercises that are done with moderate weight for moderate reps. If you’re pretty strong on glute-hams, or want them to serve as a substitute for a big barbell lift such as the deadlift, you can add resistance by holding a weight plate to your chest or wrapping a band around the feet of the bench and the back of your neck, allowing you to train in the 5–8 rep range again.

As your own bodyweight becomes easier to manage, you can do glute-ham raises for sets of 20 or more reps, which can serve as a brutal finisher for your leg day.

What Muscles Do Glute-Ham Raises Work?

(See 03:28 in the video.)

The glute-ham raise focuses on the hamstrings, but the tension it creates on the back side of the body irradiates all the way up the chain. That means that the glutes get involved as well (as the name of the exercise would imply), along with the spinal erectors, which run from the pelvis all the way up to the neck. The ab muscles also have to work with your erectors to brace your spine, so it doesn’t flop over while you perform the raise. And don’t be surprised if you wake up with some calf soreness the day after doing glute-ham raises the first time, since the gastrocnemius activates to assist the hamstrings in flexing the knee.

If you really want to nerd out, tell your friends that you’re training your semimembranosus, semitendonosis, and biceps femoris, aka, the leg biceps. (These are the three hamstring muscles, from the medial side of the leg to the lateral side.) All three muscles originate on the lower portion of the pelvis and insert below the knee, which gives them a unique ability to bend the knee and extend the hips at the same time. Imagine doing a machine leg curl but without the machine to support your hips. You’d have to keep them from bending while you flexed your knees. In the glute-ham raise, you have to do this against the resistance of your bodyweight—which is far more than what you can load on a leg curl machine. Now you see why glute-hams are such a ruthless move for the hamstrings.

Can I Do the Glute-Ham Raise Without A Machine?

A glute-ham bench is the best option for performing the glute-ham raise movement safely, but if you don’t have access to one, you can mimic it with other equipment. The Nordic hamstring curl, typically done with a barbell or regular utility bench, is a challenging but suitable substitute exercise. That said, it is even HARDER than the glute-ham raise, and definitely not for beginners. However, if you’ve been training a while and are confident in the strength of your hamstrings, give it a go.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

Step 1. Load a barbell on the floor and wrap a pad or towel around it to protect your ankles. Place a pad or mat on the floor to save your knees. Kneel on the pad and secure your ankles under the bar. (You can also use a bench that’s secured to the floor, or the spotter bar in a power rack, or have a partner hold your ankles down).

Step 2. Tuck your pelvis so it’s perpendicular to your spine. Take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core. Have your hands ready at your sides so that you can catch yourself if you lose control on the descent. Bend your hips back so your torso leans forward a little—maintain this hip position throughout the set.

Step 3. Begin extending your knees, lowering your body toward the floor under control. When you feel you can’t maintain tension in your hamstrings anymore, let your body fall and break your fall with your hands. The range of motion won’t be great, but the extreme tension you create in your hamstrings will still make the exercise effective.

Step 4. Push off the floor and try to perform a glute-ham raise to return to the starting position.

You will probably only be able to manage a few negative reps at first (just the lowering portion of the movement). Build up to where you can perform full reps, and gradually increase your range of motion from there. (That is, aim to use less assistance from your hands over time.)

Harski says you can try using a physioball as well—the big inflatable ball most people use for situps and other ab exercises.

“Place the ball under your thighs and anchor your feet under a stable bench,” says Harski. Make sure the bench is secured to the ground—you may have to weight its feet down. The movement is done the same as the glute-ham raise and Nordic curl.

Yet another option is to use a Bosu ball, which looks like half a physioball (dome on one side, flat on the other). Kneel on the edge of the inflated dome side and press your feet against a wall, driving primarily through the balls of your feet. Perform the Nordic curl movement, using your hands on the floor to push yourself back up if you can’t make it through the full range motion.

Great GHR Alternatives

(See 03:57 in the “Perfect Your Glute-Ham Raise” video at the top.)

If you don’t have a glute-ham bench, and you aren’t inclined to build a DIY one, you can still work your hamstrings and glutes hard with exercises that train these muscles in a similar fashion and are doable at home.

Slider Hamstring Curl

(See 04:35 in the video.)

Sure, you’ve done hamstring curls, and they’re nowhere near as powerful as the glute-ham raise, but they can be with a small tweak. What we miss in an isolated hamstring curl is the hip extension we get in a glute-ham raise. One easy way to bring both knee flexion and hip extension together is to do a leg curl motion with furniture sliders, which allow you to drive your feet into the floor to raise your hips first, followed by sliding your feet toward your butt for knee flexion.

Sliders can be bought in any hardware store. They’re cheap, effective, easy to store and carry in a gym bag, and have a myriad of uses. The only catch is that you need to be on a smooth waxed floor, turf, or carpet to use them. Rubber flooring can cause too much friction and make the move overly difficult or even impossible.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor and place the sliders under your feet. Bend your knees and slide the sliders in close to your butt. Tuck your pelvis slightly so that it’s perpendicular to the floor and take a deep breath into your belly. Brace your core. Drive the back of your arms into the floor at a 45-degree angle to your torso to add stability.

Step 2. Push through your heels to raise your hips up to full extension. Keep your core tight so you avoid arching your lower back.

Step 3. Slowly extend your knees, sliding your feet out in front of you as you lower your hips. Stop just short of where your butt would touch the floor. When your legs are extended, reverse the motion, curling your legs as you bridge your hips again.

Banded Rolling Hamstring Curl

(See 05:35 in the video.)

One way around the stickiness of sliders is to use a glute-ham roller or glider. It works the same as sliders but offers a platform to rest your feet on and wheels that roll it, making it usable on any flooring.

With any sliding leg curl variation you do, start by adding reps to progress the challenge. When you can do several sets of 10 or more, you’ll need to add resistance, which you can easily do by adding an elastic exercise band around your ankles. The band will amplify the concentric portion of the exercise (pulling the heels back), and make you work to stabilize yourself on the eccentric (extending your legs).

Step 1. Attach a light band to a sturdy object and wrap the open end around the back of your heels. Lie on your back on the floor and rest your heels on the roller.

Step 2. Perform the movement as you would the sliding curl described above.

Note: There are still more options that will allow you to perform the same sliding/rolling hamstring curl movement. A suspension trainer and a physioball can also be used.

Leg-Banded Ab Rollout

You’re probably familiar with rollouts done on an ab wheel. By adding a band around your feet, you can make a standard rollout into a posterior-chain exercise that nearly replicates the glute-ham raise while you train your core at the same time. The band forces you to maintain hip extension while you flex the lower leg, just as a glute-ham raise does.

Step 1. Anchor a band to a sturdy object and place a towel, mat, or pad on the floor to protect your knees. Kneel on the pad and hook the band around the back of your ankles. Curl your heels toward you to 90 degrees, so that there’s tension on the band, and you feel your hamstrings engage. Hold an ab wheel on the floor directly under your shoulders (or use a barbell loaded with light plates so it can roll, as shown above). Your body should form a straight line from your head to your knees, with your core braced.

Step 2. Roll the wheel forward, extending your hips while maintaining a tight core and alignment between your spine and your pelvis. Maintain the isometric hold in your legs. From the end position, draw the wheel back into the floor and return to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Back Extension and Leg Curl

If you don’t have the equipment to address both knee flexion and hip extension in one solid move, performing each of the movements separately is enough to ensure that you at least don’t skip training one of the hamstrings’ key functions. Though its name is something of a misnomer, the back extension exercise done on a 45-degree back extension bench trains hip extension. Do a few sets followed by leg curls—seated, standing, or prone—and you’re giving the hamstrings the one-two punch they need to grow and strengthen to their potential.

Back Extension

Step 1. Adjust the pad of a back extension bench so that it fits in the crease of your hips when you mount the bench. Get on the bench, and secure your feet under the ankle pads. Tuck your pelvis so it’s perpendicular to your spine, and brace your core. Your body should form a long, straight line.

Step 2. Bend only at the hips to lower your torso toward the floor. Stop before you feel your lower back is about to round forward. Squeeze your glutes as you extend your hips and return to the starting position.

Need more exercises for hamstrings? See our article with 8 exercises and 4 hamstring workouts.

The post How To Properly Do Glute-Ham Raises appeared first on Onnit Academy.

and suddenly he collapses, as if picked off by a sniper at long range, clutching the back of his thigh. The crowd goes quiet. The announcers turn somber. It’s another hamstring tear.

What Are Hamstrings And How To Train Them?

The hamstrings—a collection of three muscles extending from your sit bones to the backs of your knees—are among the most frequently injured muscles in sports. A study on NFL players reported 1,716 hamstring injuries over a 10-year period, which breaks down to roughly five or six injuries per team, per season. The numbers are similar in pro soccer, basketball, and among regular people in recreational sports (1, 2).

If you’re a desk jockey who spends most of his/her day sitting at a computer, you may be even worse off, especially if you’re planning to get in shape or be more active again. A 2017 study of college students found that 82% of the subjects had tight hamstrings due to prolonged sitting—and these were young adults with a mean age of 20.

Finally, if you’re a gym rat who’s long made the mistake of focusing your leg training on the fronts of your thighs—hitting the hammies as an afterthought—you’ve already lit the fuse that can lead to a hamstring blowout. A study in Isokinetics and Exercise Science showed that imbalances in quad and hamstring strength were associated with non-contact leg injuries.

The problem lies in the hamstrings’ design; they’re much more complex than most other muscles. They cross two major joints—the hip and the knee—and shorten at both ends. At the top end, the hamstrings work with your glute muscles to extend your hip (picture the movement of standing up out of a chair). At the lower end—near the back of your knee—the hammies bend your knee joint, pulling your heel up and back. When you use the hamstrings’ two functions at once, such as when you’re sprinting and you drive one leg behind you, they do double duty: the two ends of the muscles pull toward one another, like the ends of a stretched-out exercise band. That’s a lot of tension passing through a single muscle group, and one reason the hamstrings cramp and tear with relative frequency.

The remedy: train both major hamstring functions—hip extension and knee flexion—with good form and appropriate loads. Workouts for hamstrings make these muscles less susceptible to injury, and more capable of producing force and power, so you’ll end up a better lifter and athlete, and less likely to become a statistic.

The 8 Best Hamstring Exercises

A hamstring exercise will require you to either extend your hips or bend your knees—and some of the most effective movements will actually combine both actions, training the glutes as well as the hammies. The following are the best hamstring builders, organized by their primary function.

HIP EXTENSION

In these movements, the hamstrings work with the glutes to push your thigh bones from a flexed position (knee pulled up in front of you) to an extended one (knees moving away from your body). The movement is known as a hinge, and it helps you run faster, jump higher, and maintain a pain-free back. “Most of us can’t get enough hinging,” says Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., owner of Core Fitness in Brookline, MA.  

1) Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Target: hamstrings, glutes, adductors

You should feel a deep stretch in the back of your thighs from your butt to your knees

Step 1: Set a barbell on a rack at about hip level (if you’re very mobile, you can start with the bar on the floor). Grasp the bar with a shoulder-width grip and take it off the rack. Step back and plant your feet hip-width apart. Draw your shoulders back together and downward (think: “proud chest”).

Step 2: Take a deep breath, draw your ribs down, and brace your core. Push your hips backward and, maintaining a long spine from your head to your pelvis, lower your body until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Allow your knees to bend only slightly.

Step 3: Squeeze your glutes as you extend your hips and come back up.

The stiff-legged deadlift can also be performed with dumbbells/kettlebells.

2) Back Extension

Target: hamstrings, glutes

You should feel tension in the center of the back of your thighs

Step 1: Adjust the pad on the back extension bench so that when you lie on it the top edge lines up with the crease in your hips. Using the handles for support, set up on the bench so your hips rest on the pad and your ankles are braced by the ankle pads and your feet rest against the foot plate about hip-width apart.

Step 2: Turn your toes outward slightly. Interlace your fingers behind your head, spread your elbows wide, and keep them there throughout the movement. Bend at the hips to lower your torso toward the floor, stopping before your lower back rounds. Your head, spine, and pelvis should form a straight line.

Step 3: Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core. Now squeeze your glutes and hamstrings and extend your hips to raise your torso up until your body forms a straight line from your head to your feet.

If bodyweight alone is too easy for you, add resistance by holding a dumbbell (as shown above).

3) Kettlebell Swing

Target: hamstrings, glutes, quads, adductors, core

You should feel a stretch in the back of your thighs as you swing the weight back between your legs.

Step 1: Place a kettlebell on the floor and stand about two feet behind it with feet shoulder-width apart.

Step 2: Draw your shoulder blades together and downward (think: “proud chest”). Draw your ribs down and tuck your tailbone slightly to make your pelvis level with the floor. Brace your abs.

Step 3: Bend your hips backward to lower your torso and grasp the handle of the kettlebell with both hands, overhand.

Step 4: Keeping a long line from your head to your pelvis, and your shoulder blades pressing downward toward your back pockets, shift your weight to your heels. Bend your knees slightly and lift the kettlebell off the floor and hike it back between your legs.

Step 5: When your arms make contact with your inner thighs, forcefully contract your hamstrings and glutes and thrust your hips forward, coming into a standing position and swinging the kettlebell forward and up to about eye level. Allow the kettlebell to swing back between your legs, folding at the hips and bending your knees slightly as the kettlebell swings down and back to begin the next rep.

Do not lift the kettlebell with your upper body, as if performing a front raise shoulder exercise. The swing is an explosive movement and the glutes and hamstrings must perform almost all of the work.

4) Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

Target: hamstrings, glutes, adductors

You should feel a deep stretch in the back of your thigh and butt.

Step 1: Hold a dumbbell in one hand and stand on the opposite leg with your foot facing straight forward.

Step 2: Bend the knee of the working leg slightly. Keeping a long spine and your core braced, drive your hips backward as far as you can, so that your torso lowers toward the floor. Stop when you feel your hamstrings are fully stretched and you can’t go any lower without losing your lower back position (it should be straight).

Step 3. Squeeze your glutes to come back up. If you have trouble keeping your balance, you can rest the non-working leg on the floor with your heel raised. Place the toes of that foot right behind the heel of your working foot. Your feet should be hip-width apart. This is called a B-stance Romanian deadlift, and it will provide stability so you can better isolate the hamstrings and glutes.

KNEE FLEXION

These moves (virtually all variations of a machine leg curl) minimize the action at the hip joint while dialing it up at the knee. “I prefer knee flexion isolation moves for beginners and those coming off injury,” says Gentilcore. “There’s more external support so it’s easier to perform and less intimidating.” Isolating a muscle can also help you feel its action more precisely—an essential skill for the novice lifter or athlete.

5) Machine Lying Leg Curl

Target: hamstrings

You should feel tension in the center of the back of your thighs

Leg curl exercises require machines, making them moves to include in any hamstring workout at the gym. If you don’t train in a public gym, we’ll show you some approximations you can do at home further down.

Step 1: Adjust the ankle pad of the machine so that when you lie down on the support pad your knees will line up with the lever arm’s axis of rotation. Lie facedown on the machine with the backs of your ankles against the ankle pad. If your machine has a support pad that bends upward, position yourself so that your hip joints rest directly over that point.

Step 2: Firmly grasp the machine’s handgrips, lengthening your spine and contracting your lats (the muscles on the sides of your torso). Set your feet so they are parallel and about six inches apart, and flex them hard at the ankles (bend your feet back so your toes are closer to your shins).

Step 3: Keeping your neck and torso long, your hips pressed down into the bench, and your feet parallel throughout the movement, squeeze your hamstrings and slowly bend your knees, drawing the lever arm as close as possible toward your butt.

Step 4: Hold the contracted position for a one-count, squeezing your hamstrings as hard as possible. Slowly reverse the movement, fully straightening your legs at the knees.

6) Machine Seated Leg Curl

Target: hamstrings

You should feel tension in the center of the back of your thighs

Step 1. Sit in a seated hamstring curl machine and line your knees up with the axis of rotation. Extend your knees and rest your lower legs on the ankle pad just above your ankles. Secure the knee pad at the bottom of your thighs.

Step 2. Hold the handles for stability and bend your knees, driving your heels back behind you until your hamstrings are fully flexed. Slowly extend your legs again under control.

If you can, try to hinge your hips and bend forward a bit and hold this position throughout the exercise (while keeping your back flat). This will help you put a greater stretch on the hamstrings and activate more muscle.

HYBRID HIP EXTENSION/KNEE FLEXION

These moves combine the hamstrings’ two functions, making them somewhat more complex than the exercises in the other categories. “Multifaceted movements are great for athletic populations,” says Gentilcore. “They emulate sport and real life to a high degree.” But that doesn’t mean you should skip the other types of hamstring moves, he says, no matter what your goals. “All three categories serve a purpose, and when trained in concert, will likely lead to the best results and more bulletproof hammies.”

7) Glute-Ham Raise

Target: hamstrings

You should feel tension all throughout the back of your thighs

Step 1: Adjust the foot plate of the glute-ham bench back far enough so that when you lie on it the top edge of the pad will line up with the crease in your hips.

Step 2: Using the handles for support, set up on the bench and place your feet on the foot plate, bracing the backs of your ankles against the ankle pads.

Step 3: Set your feet so they are parallel and about hip-width apart. Once your lower body is locked in place, release the handles and extend your hips until your torso is perpendicular to the floor and your knees are bent 90 degrees. This is your starting position.

Step 4: Draw your ribs down and tuck your tailbone under slightly so your pelvis is level. Brace your core. Now lower your body toward the floor under control until it forms a straight line, from head to feet. Your heels will come off the foot plate, and that’s OK. Drive your toes down hard. If that’s too difficult, you can bend slightly at the hips, or use a stick for support (see the Elite Hamstring Workout below).

Step 5: Push your toes into the foot plate and contract your glutes, hamstrings, and calves to pull your body back up to vertical (again, if you need an easier version, keep the bend in your hips). Pause for a moment, and then slowly begin the next rep.

8) Swiss-Ball Leg Curl

Target: hamstrings and glutes

You should feel tension in the center of the back of your thighs and glutes

Step 1: Lie on your back on the floor with your heels elevated on a medium-sized Swiss ball. Your feet should be about six inches apart and your hands placed beside you on the floor, palms down.

Step 2: Flex your feet, brace your core, and drive your heels into the ball to raise your hips off the floor. Try to keep your neck relaxed, but squeeze your glutes and hamstrings as you bridge up.

Step 3: Bend your knees as in a machine leg curl, rolling the ball toward you. Be sure to keep your core braced so you don’t hyperextend your lower back.

Step 4: Hold the contracted position, squeezing your glutes and hamstrings as hard as possible for a two-count. Then slowly reverse the movement, extending your legs and returning to the starting position.

Best Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises That Can Be Done at Home or On The Road

If you don’t have a gym membership or are limited to only the most basic equipment (and a little imagination), you can get a great hamstring-focused workout with these exercises.

1) Slider Leg Curl

(See 00:41 in the video above)

Target: hamstrings, glutes

Sets: 2  Reps: 6–12

You should feel tension in the center of the back of your thighs and glutes

This lift is a variation on the Swiss-ball leg curl and uses exercise sliders, but furniture sliders from a hardware store work too, and even paper plates can suffice—if you can train on a waxed or hardwood floor. Ideally, you can perform this move on a smooth surface that won’t create too much friction for the sliders.

Step 1: Lie on your back on the floor. Rest your heels on a pair of sliders and place your hands beside you on the floor, palms down. Set your feet parallel and about six inches apart. Now bend your knees, sliding your feet back close to your butt.

Step 2: Tuck your tailbone under slightly, draw your ribs down, and take a deep breath into your belly. Brace your core. Contract your glutes and hamstrings and press your heels into the sliders, elevating your hips and lower back to full extension. In other words, bridge your hips up. Be sure to keep your core braced to prevent hyperextending your lower back. This is your starting position.

Step 3: Slowly extend your legs, sliding your heels away from you until your butt and legs are just above the floor. When they’re straight, bend your knees and curl the sliders back toward your butt.

If that’s too tough, start by performing only the negative portion of the movement, lowering your body slowly from the bridge position. Take five seconds to straighten your legs, and then rest your butt on the floor if you need to when you reset your legs.

2) Bulgarian Split Squat

(See 01:37 in the video)

Target: quads, glutes, adductors

Sets: 1  Reps: 8–12

You should feel your thighs and butt, especially at the bottom of each rep

Step 1: Stand lunge length in front of a bench, step, or box that’s six to 12 inches high.

Step 2: Step your left foot back and rest the top of your left foot on the bench so that your knee is bent 90 degrees. Your right foot should point straight forward.

Step 3: Hinge your hips back a bit so you feel like you’re leaning forward, but keep your spine straight and tall. Slowly bend your right leg until your left knee is just above the floor. Your front leg should be bent about 90 degrees. Pause, and reverse the movement, squeezing your glutes as you come up.

You can perform the movement with your bodyweight, dumbbells/kettlebells, or a barbell.

3) Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift

(See 02:34 in the video)

Target: hamstrings, glutes, adductors

You should feel a deep stretch in the back of your thighs from your butt

Sets: 2  Reps: 8–12

Step 1: Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides and stand with feet hip-width apart, toes pointing forward. Draw your shoulders back together and downward (think: “proud chest”).

Step 2: Take a deep breath, draw your ribs down, and brace your core. Now push your hips backward and, maintaining a long spine from your head to your pelvis, lower your body until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Try to keep your knees nearly straight, but not locked. Your range of motion may not be great, and that’s OK. Go for the stretch, but be safe, and don’t go lower than you feel you have the mobility for. Keep your lower back flat the whole time, and actively pull the weights back to keep them close to your body.

Step 3: Extend your hips and come back up and stand tall.

At first glance, this routine may not seem like enough work, but consider how you should be performing it. Take each set to within one rep of failure—that is, the point at which your form is about to break down. So if you get 8 reps for an exercise and it’s very hard, to the point where you felt yourself slow down, and you don’t think you can get a ninth rep with good form, STOP the set there. Done in this fashion, the Bulgarian split squats are very challenging (even at only one set apiece).

Complete Hamstring Workouts

Find the workout that suits your experience level and goals.

Beginner Hamstring Workout

(See 00:55 in the video above)

Just starting out on your quest for unbreakable hamstrings? This is step one: three moves that will blitz the muscles from both ends. Take it easy your first few times in this workout. The moves are entry-level—but if you’re not used to working your hamstrings, they can cramp up when you do too much work too soon. Perform this workout twice a week on nonconsecutive days, either in the same workout that you train your quads and calves, or tacked onto an upper-body day.

1) Back Extension

(See 01:15 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 15–20

2) Machine Leg Curl or Banded Leg Curl

(See 01:54 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 12–15

If you don’t have access to a lying leg curl machine, use a band around your ankles while you lie on a bench, as shown in the video.

3) Swiss-Ball Leg Curl

(See 02:30 in the video)

Sets: 1–2  Reps: As many as possible with good form

Intermediate Hamstring Workout

(See 03:14 in the video)

Been working out for a while? Below is a leg workout that will give your hamstrings—and the rest of your lower body—a going-over that you might need a few days to recover from. Perform it once or twice a week (do not do any other leg training).

Alternate sets of the paired exercises (marked A and B). So in Superset 1, for example, you’ll perform a set of Bulgarian split squats (one leg and then the other), rest 60–90 seconds, and then a set of slider leg curls. Rest 60–90 seconds, return to the first move, and continue alternating the two moves until you’ve completed three or four sets of each exercise. Then perform the exercises in Superset 2 in the same fashion (do exercise 3 as normal straight sets after you’ve finished all sets for 2A and 2B).

Superset 1:

1A) Bulgarian Split Squat

(See 03:38 in the video)

Sets: 3–4  Reps: 8–12 (each leg)

1B) Slider Leg Curl

(See 04:00 in the video)

Sets: 3–4  Reps: As many reps as possible with good form

Superset 2:

2A) Walking Lunge

(See 04:35 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 20–30 (each leg)

2B) Stiff-Legged Deadlift

(See 04:54 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 8–10

3) Swiss-Ball Leg Curl

(See 05:37 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: As many as possible with good form

Elite Hamstring Workout

(See 05:44 in the video)

Feel like your hammies are lagging behind your quads and want to add a little extra work to your leg program? The two mini-workouts below work well as end-of-workout hamstring finishers that you can do after a full-body workout, cardio session, or an upper-body day. You could also add them in on an off day. As in the intermediate workout, alternate sets of each exercise.

Hamstring Finisher Superset #1:

1A) Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

(See 06:10 in the video)

Sets: 2–3 sets  Reps: 8–12 (each leg)

1B) Slider Leg Curl

(See 06:50 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: As many reps as possible with good form

Hamstring Finisher Superset #2:

2A) Glute-Ham Raise

(See 07:34 in the video)

Sets: 2–3  Reps: 12–15

2B) Kettlebell Swing

(See 08:38 in the video)

Sets: 2–3 sets  Reps: 15–20

Pre-Workout Hamstring Stretches

Warm up your hips and hamstrings before any lower-body workout with the following moves, courtesy of Onnit-certified Durability Coach Cristian Plascencia (@cristiangplascencia on Instagram).

Lying L Sit

Step 1: Lie on your back on the floor. Bend your knees and rest your feet close to your butt. Extend your arms by your sides and press your palms into the floor.

Step 2: Tuck your tailbone under slightly so that your pelvis is perpendicular to the floor and your lower back flattens into the floor. Take a deep breath and brace your core.

Step 3: Extend your legs overhead and pull your toes back toward your face. You’ll feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings. Continue to actively pull your toes down and fight to keep your legs straight for 30 seconds. Don’t let your lower back break off the floor. Repeat for 3 total rounds.

Kneeling Half-Mountain Climber Bow Draw

Step 1: Get on all fours with your knees directly under your hips and your hands underneath your shoulders.

Step 2: Step your left foot forward so it lands just outside your left hand. Drive your knee in toward your left arm while pushing your arms apart (left arm toward the left knee, so the two press against each other).

Step 3: Draw your shoulder blades back together and downward. Think: “proud chest.” Tilt your butt up to the ceiling, flattening out your lower back as much as you can, and brace your core. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your tailbone.

Step 4: Begin extending your left knee, pushing your pelvis back toward your right heel. Fight to keep your spine extended and your proud chest position the whole time. Push your foot into the floor so your heel and toes don’t rise up. Finally, bend the knee slowly to come back, and repeat on the opposite side. Perform 5 reps on each side, and repeat for 3 rounds.

Lying Warrior

Step 1: Sit on the floor and spread your legs.

Step 2: Lock out your left leg and twist your torso to the left. Plant your left hand behind your hips and use it to help pull you deeper into the twist. Reach your right arm past your left foot. Allow your right leg to roll inward as it follows you and turn the hip into the ground as much as you can.

Step 3: Plant both your hands on the floor behind your hips and extend your spine, drawing your shoulder blades together and downward—think: “proud chest.”

Step 4: Reverse the movement and repeat on the opposite side. As you repeat for reps, try to twist a little deeper, and even bend forward at the hips and rest on your forearms if you can. Perform 5 reps on each side, and repeat for 3 rounds.

FAQs

How can I target my hamstrings effectively?

Include exercises that flex the knee and extend the hip in your program. Knee flexion exercises—seated leg curls or lying leg curls—are a good idea to start your lower-body workouts, as they pump blood into the legs and prepare them for more complex and riskier exercises that follow, such as squats and deadlifts. Training them first also makes the hamstrings a priority, so you’ll be able to hit them hard with your full effort and focus, and that will lead to better gains.

Do stiff-legged deadlifts or RDLs later in your workout when you’re fully warmed up. These muscles put the hamstrings under a big stretch, so it’s safer to do them when you’re warm and ready. Perform both exercises for a variety of rep ranges, but sets of 5–10 are good to start. Add weight and reps as you’re able.

Are hamstrings important to train?

The hamstrings perform hip extension and knee flexion, meaning that they draw your leg underneath and behind you and bend the knee. Think about it… it’s exactly the motion you perform when running, bounding, jumping, or doing any other explosive, athletic movement that begins with the lower body. Many people focus on their quads and train squats, leg presses, and leg extensions hard, but that’s only because you can see those muscles in the mirror. The hamstrings are often an afterthought, but you’ll never reach your full potential for strength or athleticism until you bring them up.

Do squats effectively train the hamstrings?

No. As you descend in a squat, the origin point of the hamstring muscles (the hips) gets stretched, but the insertion point (the back of the knees) shortens as the knee bends. As you come up, the reverse happens. What this means is that the hamstrings are never really lengthened under load, so they don’t experience sufficient tension or receive much of a growth stimulus from squatting. Compare the squat to a movement like the stiff-legged deadlift or lying leg curl, where the hamstrings are lengthened fully and then shortened fully against resistance, and you can see that they must work much harder. The squat is a great exercise for the quads and adductors and, depending on how it’s performed, can also recruit the glutes heavily as well, but it does not constitute a hamstring workout on its own.

How can I strengthen my hamstrings at home?

Exercises like the slider leg curl and Swiss-ball leg curl can be done at home and train the hamstrings’ two functions—hip extension and knee flexion—simultaneously. All you need is a pair of furniture sliders or a Swiss ball, and even a set of paper plates can work if you have a smooth, waxed floor to train on. If you have dumbbells, you can do deadlift variations like the RDL and stiff-legged deadlift as well.

How often should I train my hamstrings each week?

Aim to train your hamstrings twice in a seven-day period, or as many as three times if you consider them a major weak point. You can train them on Monday and then again on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, depending on your split, or train them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if following a full-body routine. (If you’re doing full-body, limit yourself to one hamstring exercise each session and one to three hard work sets, to allow for recovery).

Will bigger hamstrings make my glutes look bigger?

The hamstrings share a job with the glutes—hip extension—and there aren’t many exercises that work the hams and won’t train the glutes to a degree at the same time, so focusing on your hamstrings may allow you to add some size to your glutes as well. However, because they’re separate muscles, you’ll see better results training them with exercises that are more targeted for each muscle. So, if you want bigger glutes, emphasize glutes in your training.

What exercises specifically target the hamstrings?

Leg curls done both lying down and seated along with stiff-leg deadlifts, slider leg curls, and glute-ham raises are all very good choices.

What are the benefits of strong hamstrings?

Strong hamstrings help you run faster, jump higher, and generally perform more explosively in athletics. They’ll also help you lift heavier weights on deadlifts and other weightlifting exercises.

If you’re interested in more leg workouts you can do with your bodyweight alone, check out The Best Bodyweight Leg Exercises & Workouts for Strength.

The post Strengthen Your Hamstrings With These 8 Exercises and 4 Workouts appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Key Takeaways

1. The dead bug strengthens the core while your limbs are moving. This helps teach you to breathe while in motion.

2. To do the dead bug properly, you must keep your lower back against the floor.

3. You can progress the dead bug to harder variations where you tap your hands and feet against the floor, and extend your arms and legs.

4. The dead bug trains the deep core muscles, as well as the rectus abdominis, obliques, lower back, diaphragm, pelvic floor, and hip flexors.

What Is The Dead Bug and What Are Its Benefits?

(See 00:22 in the video above.)

The dead bug exercise has you lying on the floor and holding your arms and legs above your body, eventually progressing to where you move your limbs while you maintain a stable, neutral pelvis. (Yes, it kind of makes you look like a beetle that’s in its death throes, belly up on the floor.) As you raise an arm, or leg, or both, your lower back wants to peel off the floor. If you can keep it locked down, you’ll maintain a healthy spine and pelvic position—the same kind you ideally want when you’re running, lifting, playing, etc.

Dead bugs strengthen your core muscles, prehabbing the lower back to help prevent injury. They also teach you to breathe while maintaining a core brace, which is essential for staying stable and performing well in lifting and sports.

How To Do The Dead Bug Exercise Correctly

(See 01:26 in the video.)

The term “dead bug” can apply to several variations of the same basic exercise. We’ll walk you through all of them so you can find the level that’s appropriate for you and aim to progress to the next one accordingly.

Basic Dead Bug

The simplest type of dead bug has you just learning to keep your core braced with the pelvis in neutral (perpendicular to your spine). All you have to do is lie still on your back with your knees elevated and your elbows over your shoulders… but don’t underestimate the challenge here. If your lower back buckles from the floor or your knees drift above your hips, you’re breaking form.

Practice holding this position with your full attention.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor and bend your knees so your feet lie flat. Tuck your chin so your head is neutral. Flatten out your lower back against the floor by tucking your tailbone under. You’ll feel your core muscles activate and your pelvis will be neutral—90 degrees to your spine. Place your hands flat on the floor so you have extra stability.

Step 2. Brace your core and raise one foot off the floor at a time so your hips and knees are bent 90 degrees. (Your knees should end up directly over your hips.) Now raise your arms off the floor, so they’re directly over your shoulders, and bend your elbows 90 degrees. Try to hold this position for 30 seconds, or as long as you can.

“People usually start to hold their breath when they’re being challenged in this position,” says Shane Heins, Onnit’s Director of Fitness Education, “but you should be able to stay in this position while being able to breathe and talk and stay mostly relaxed. Think ’relaxed but activated.’”

Alternatives to the Dead Bug

(See 04:47 in the video)

When you’ve got the dead bug hold down, you can begin to integrate movement at the legs and arms. It may look a little like you’re running on your back (or crawling upside down), and that isn’t far from the truth. If you can keep your pelvis and spine neutral while your arms and legs move, you’ll be a more efficient mover in general.

Dead Bug Progression 1 (Dead Bug With Heel and Finger Tap)

(See 05:12 in the video.)

Step 1. Start in the basic dead bug position explained above (on your back, arms and legs bent).

Step 2. Keeping your low back on the floor, slowly reach one arm behind your head while you bring the opposite side leg toward the floor. Keep the bend in both your elbow and the knee, and gently tap the floor with your hand and foot.

Step 3. Return to the starting position, and repeat on the opposite sides. That’s one rep.

“Be careful not to crunch your abs at the top,” says Heins. “You’re just tapping and coming back to center with your elbows over your shoulders and your knees over your hips.” Do the movement slowly to start, but as you get more comfortable, you can speed up the tempo. This will create a little more instability for you to control.

Dead Bug Progression 2 (Dead Bug With Reach)

(See 06:48 in the video.)

The next level up is to lengthen the levers you’re working with—i.e. extend your arm and leg so that you have to control them at their full lengths. This will be challenging for almost anybody, including experienced athletes, so take it slow.

Step 1. Begin extending your arm and opposite leg straight. Don’t let them rest on the floor, but get both limbs straight enough so that they just hover above the floor. DON’T LOSE YOUR LOW BACK POSITION! If you feel like your back wants to arch, stop the range of motion before it does and work in the range you have only. As you get stronger you’ll be able to extend your limbs straighter.

“Be very mindful of your breathing here,” says Heins, as it will get more difficult to keep your core activated while breathing under the duress of this challenging movement. Teach yourself to “breathe behind the brace,” expanding your abdomen on the inhale but without losing the tension in your abs.

Dead Bug Progression 3 (Dead Bug With Arm and Leg Extended)

(See 07:56 in the video.)

Now you can try keeping your arm and leg straight the whole time.

Step 1. Start with your arms and legs extended over your shoulders and hips, respectively. Your knees don’t have to be locked out, but they should be nearly straight. Begin extending your limbs.

“Just holding your arms and legs straight can be tiring,” says Heins, “and, this time, you won’t have a gradual extension of the limbs.” There’s little room for error here, so take it slow and strict. “Keep a long spine and don’t forget to breathe.”

If you have any trouble with any of the variations, says Heins, work on moving just one limb at a time. That is, get used to your arm tapping behind your head, and then your foot, before working the two together; do a few reps of reaching the arm back before you extend the leg, and so on. Another trick: “rest one foot on the floor for stability,” says Heins.

What Muscles Does The Dead Bug Work?

(See 00:52 in the video.)

The dead bug involves all the ab muscles, including the rectus abdominis (the muscle that shows up as a six pack if you’re lean enough), the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your abs that are primarily responsible for twisting your torso), and the transversus abdominis (a deep core muscle that protects the spine). The spinal erectors on the back side of your abdomen will work, too, to stabilize you.

Because it also trains breathing mechanics, the dead bug recruits numerous other muscles you can’t see from the outside and therefore may not think about, such as the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and hip flexors. It’s not a movement that will have a direct impact on how your physique looks shirtless, but it will improve your ability to train an endless variety of other movements that do make you look muscular and lean, so think of the dead bug as a wise investment.

If you’re interested, here’s an ab workout that will contribute to the way your abs appear on the outside.

How To Stretch Before Doing Dead Bug Exercises

(See 10:55 in the video.)

Perform the following movements to prepare your hips and spine for effective dead bugging, courtesy of Heins. Perform 3 rounds of 5–10 reps for each movement.

1. Kneeling Child’s Pose to Updog

(See 11:17 in the video)

Step 1. Get on all fours and push your body back so you’re practically sitting on your heels with your arms extended overhead (a child’s pose from yoga).

Step 2. Pull yourself forward again, pushing your pelvis forward and extending your spine to come up into an updog pose. Drive your shoulders down away from your ears. That’s one rep.

2. Mountain Climber With Twist

(See 12:19 in the video)

Step 1. Get on all fours and then take your knees further behind your hips, as if you were going to do a pushup on your knees.

Step 2. Step your left leg forward and plant it outside your left arm. Extend your spine as much as you can so your chest faces forward and your back is relatively flat.

Step 3. Now press your right arm into the floor as you twist your torso to the left and reach your left arm overhead. You can use your left hand on your left knee for assistance if needed.

Repeat on the other side. That’s one rep.

3. Pelvic Clock

(See 14:28 in the video)

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor, bend your knees, and rest your feet flat and in line with your hips. Place your hands on top of your lower belly and the upper edge of your pubic bone.

Step 2. Keeping your butt on the floor, tilt your pelvis under and back down again. Use your hands for feedback, feeling your pelvis move and your core muscles contract.

Step 3. Move your pelvis side to side, raising your right hip bone and then tilting it back down to raise the left. Drive through your knees to move the hips. This will also help prevent unwanted movement at the legs.

Step 4. Now combine all four motions so you’re moving your pelvis in a smooth, circular motion like hands around a clock. Think about getting it to touch 3, 6, 9, and 12 on a clock face. Make one full revolution, and then repeat in the opposite direction. That’s one rep.

Try another core warmup, this one from Coach Francheska Martinez, before a full-body workout.

How To Fit The Dead Bug Into Your Workout

(See 17:35 in the video.)

The dead bug can be used before, during, or after your normal workouts, or really at any other time of the day. Heins suggests using it as an activation drill, doing the variation that’s appropriate for you after you’ve done some warmup/mobility work. “The dead bug can help warm up and ready your core muscles for the harder training to come in your session,” he says. Heins suggests doing 3 sets of 30 seconds (holds or reps).

You can also do the dead bug between sets of your lighter, less stressful exercises—rows, pushups, and lunges, for instance. Do a set, then knock out a set of dead bugs for some extra core work, and repeat. Heins cautions not to do dead bugs between sets of very core-intensive exercises, however, because you don’t want to fatigue your ab muscles for lifts that rely on them strongly. In other words, don’t do dead bugs between sets of heavy overhead presses, deadlifts, or back squats. You may find that you can’t train them as heavy or get as many reps if your core is pooped.

If you want to start your day with some core work, either to get it out of the way or to increase your overall volume, dead bugs are safe to do first thing in the morning. By the same token, you can do them at night before bed too. “Do reps for 15–30 seconds and three to five rounds,” says Heins.

Master another core-training exercise with our guide to the kettlebell around the world exercise.

The post How To Do The Dead Bug Exercise Like An Expert appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Key Takeaways

1. The glutes are the most important muscles for full-body power, and a strong set will make you more athletic.

2. Warm up for a bodyweight glute workout by stretching your hip flexors and performing lateral band walks.

3. The hip thrust is a powerful glute-max exercise. Be careful not to hyperextend your lower back as you lock out your hips.

4. Kickbacks can work the glute max or the glute medius, the muscle on the side of your posterior.

5. The hip thrust and glute bridge are similar exercises that both work the glute max, but the bridge uses a shorter range of motion while offering more isolation.

4 Great Glute Exercises For Building Your Butt

(See 02:54 in the video above.)

The following bodyweight glute exercises come highly recommended by Juan Leija, an Onnit-certified coach and co-founder of Onnit Gym in Austin, TX (@juannit247).

1. Bodyweight Hip Thrust

Sets: 3–5  Reps: 8–12

(See 02:58 in the video.)

Step 1. Lie against a bench perpendicularly, so your shoulder blades are supported on the edge. Place your feet on the floor so that they’re in line with your hips. Your hips and knees should be bent about 90 degrees. Tuck your tailbone slightly so that your pelvis is perpendicular to your spine, and brace your core like you were about to get punched in the gut. Tuck your chin to your chest and drive your elbows into the bench for extra stability.

Step 2. Drive through your heels to raise your hips until they’re locked out. Be careful not to go so high that your lower back arches—stop when your hips and torso are level with the floor.

If 8–12 reps isn’t challenging enough with your bodyweight alone, you can increase the rep number to as high as 25. “Four sets of 25, or 100 total reps, would give you a killer glute workout,” says Leija. Another way to make the hip thrust more challenging with bodyweight alone is to do it one leg at a time. See our guide to the B-stance hip thrust.

The hip thrust, popularized by Bret Contreras, author of Glute Lab, works hip extension, the glutes’ primary function. While its mechanics are similar to that of a squat or deadlift, the hip thrust better isolates the glutes (although the quads and hamstrings are still involved to a degree).

2. Banded Glute Bridge

Sets: 3–5  Reps: 12–15

(See 04:39 in the video.)

Step 1. Place a circular resistance band just above your knees and lie on the floor with your hips and knees bent about 90 degrees. Place your feet in line with the hips or slightly wider so there’s tension on the band. Tuck your tailbone under and brace your core.

Step 2. Drive your legs apart to put more tension on the band. Now extend your hips to lockout as you did in the hip thrust.

The banded glute bridge trains two of the glutes’ functions simultaneously: moving the legs out to the sides and hip extension. “Be careful with your foot position,” says Leija. “The advantage of a glute bridge is the way it isolates the glutes. If your feet are placed too far forward, you’ll bring more of the hamstrings into it. If your heels are too far back toward you, you’ll use more quads,” and that defeats the purpose.

As with the hip thrust, if 12–15 reps doesn’t fatigue your glutes, take the reps up as high as 25. You can also do the glute bridge without a band and using one leg at a time, as we explain in our article guide to the single-leg glute bridge.

3. Banded Kickback

Sets: 3–5  Reps: 12–25 (each leg)

(See 06:51 in the video.)

Step 1. Loop a circular resistance band around your feet and slide it to just above your knees. Stagger your stance so one leg is in front of the other. Grasp onto a bench or other sturdy object for balance, and bend your hips back about 30 degrees while keeping a long spine. Bend your front knee slightly. Brace your core.

Step 2. Kick your rear leg straight back until your glute is fully contracted, and control it on the way down. Keep tension on the band at all times.

The kickback trains the glutes in hip extension just as the hip thrust does, but one side at a time. This allows you to get a little extra range of motion for more muscle recruitment. You can also aim your leg 30–45 degrees from your side as you kick back to put more emphasis on the glute medius muscle (the side of the butt cheek).

4. Sumo Pulsing Squat

Sets: 3–5  Reps: 10–20

(See 08:16 in the video.)

Step 1. Stand with feet outside shoulder width and your toes turned out about 30 degrees.

Step 2. Bend your hips back and squat as low as you can without your pelvis tucking under. Drive your knees out as you descend, and keep your torso as upright as possible (people should be able to see the logo on your T-shirt).

Step 3. Come back up about three quarters, and lower your body back down. Finish by coming back up to standing. That’s one rep.

“The glutes lose tension toward the top of a squat,” says Leija, “so spending more time in the bottom half of the movement keeps the glutes working where they work hardest.”

How To Stretch Your Glutes

(See 00:26 in the video.)

Warming up your hips on the front and sides will help reduce the risk of injury in your workout and may help you to feel your glutes better when you train them. Research has shown that being able to mentally connect to the muscles you’re working during an exercise may help to promote muscle recruitment and boost the results you see.

Leija recommends these two drills.

1. Hip Flexor Mobilization

(See 00:31 in the video.)

Step 1. Kneel on the floor with one knee. Both hips and knees should be bent 90 degrees. Now tuck your tailbone under so your pelvis is level with the floor. Brace your core.

Step 2. Shift your weight forward, moving your front knee past your toe, until you feel a stretch in the front of the hip on the back leg. Keep your hips and shoulders facing forward. Your front foot must also stay flat on the floor. Rock your weight back to the starting position and repeat for 2–3 sets of 5–10 reps on each side.

“Avoid leaning back and arching your back,” says Leija. “Keep your core engaged. Otherwise you’ll get the range of motion from your back and not your hip, which is the goal.”

2. Banded Lateral Walk

(See 01:41 in the video.)

Step 1. Loop a circular exercise band around your feet and pull it up to the thickest part of your calves—but if you feel more glute activation with it at your ankles or knees, try it there instead. Place your feet hip-width apart or wider, so that you put some tension on the band and feel your glutes starting to work.

Step 2. Hinge your hips back and bend your knees so you’re in an athletic stance—think: ready to catch a ball, tackle an opponent, or jump up in the air. Take a small step to your right, keeping your foot facing straight forward (don’t let your toes turn outward).

Step 3. Step your trailing foot in toward your lead foot so you’re back in a hip-width stance. Keep walking in that direction, keeping tension on the band the whole time. (If your feet come too close together, the band will go slack and your glutes will get to rest). Walk 5–10 yards each direction—that’s one set. Do 3 sets total.

Bridge Vs. Hip Thrust

(See 10:44 in the video.)

Many people use the terms “bridge” and “hip thrust” interchangeably when discussing glute training, but this isn’t accurate. Leija points out that while a hip thrust is intended to target the glutes very directly, it also works the hamstrings and quads to a certain degree, mainly because the range of motion is large. The glute bridge, on the other hand, uses a short range of motion (your back is on the floor, so you don’t have as far to extend your hips versus when you’re supported on the bench). As a result, the bridge won’t challenge all your glute muscle fibers, but it takes the hamstrings and quads out almost completely, better isolating the glute fibers it does hit. So the glute bridge is, arguably, a better option for mucle gain/physique transformation. Meanwhile, “the hip thrust is better for training hip explosion,” says Leija, making it the smarter choice for athletic applications (i.e., if you’re an athlete, you should probably spend more time thrusting than bridging).

Ultimately, both are solid exercises and build muscle and strength in the glutes, so use them in combination.

Benefits of Working Out Your Glutes

(See 00:15 in the video.)

The glutes are the most powerful muscles in your whole body. They’re also the biggest (the glutes are dense, so they may not look as broad as your quads or lats, but if you could flatten them out on the floor you’d see they’re huge). In day- to-day life, the glutes allow you to stand up, walk upstairs, and pull things up off the floor, so strengthening them is key for keeping quality of life as you get older. If you’re an athlete, “strong glutes help you run faster, jump higher, and lift more weight,” says Leija.

Since you’re reading this article, you’re probably also aware that the glutes are very aesthetic, sexy muscles, and that training them is one of the biggest trends in fitness. Unless you descend from the same gene pool as Jennifer Lopez or Kim Kardashian, the only way you’ll be able to get a rear that looks half as fine will be to build it with exercise—hence the reason we put this article together.

Master another great glute-building exercise with the B-stance RDL.

The post Bodyweight Glute Exercises & Stretches To Build A Bigger Butt appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Key Takeaways 

– The sissy squat is the only squat exercise that can train the rectus femoris muscle in a lengthened position.

– The sissy squat requires stability and should be learned by holding onto a sturdy object for support.

– Start with 2–3 sets of 5–10 reps.

– The sissy squat works the vastus medialis (the “tear-drop muscle” on the inner side of the quad), vastus lateralis (outer quad), vastus intermedius (underneath the other quads), and the rectus femoris.

– Do the sissy squat toward the end of a leg workout when your legs (and knees) are warmed up and full of blood.

What Is The Sissy Squat and What Are Its Benefits? 

(See 00:24 in the video above.)

The sissy squat is a hell of a leg exercise if you can just get past its funny name. From a standing position, you bend your knees as deeply as you can while keeping your hips locked out. This will cause you to rise up onto the balls of your feet, so, one might argue that the sissy squat makes you look like a ballet dancer, or someone doing a goofy exercise that a meathead might consider a little effeminate—hence the “sissy” name. But the fact is, sissy squats were a favorite of hardcore bodybuilders for decades, and have recently come back into style thanks to social media.

While sissy squats look strange, they really isolate your quads like no other movement, particularly the rectus femoris muscle. Here’s a quick anatomy lesson: Your other quad muscles only work to extend the knee, but your rectus femoris straightens the knee as well as raises your leg in front of you. 

Other squatting movements cause you to bend your hips as you bend your knees, so the rectus femoris never really gets trained in a lengthened position. But when you do sissy squats, you keep your hips straight, and that puts a stretch on the rectus femoris, delivering a stimulus it can’t get from front squats, back squats, leg presses, and so on.

This is especially good news because research is mounting that shows muscles may get a better growth stimulus when they’re trained in lengthened positions. In other words, when they’re stretched a bit. Two trials (1, 2) specifically indicated that exercises that trained muscles at longer muscle lengths led to greater muscle gains versus exercises that worked the areas at shorter muscle lengths, though the reasons why are still in dispute.

How To Do The Sissy Squat Correctly 

(See 02:00 in the video.)

The sissy squat can be performed without any support, but most people are going to need to hold onto something in order to keep their balance, and that’s how we recommend you learn it. 

Step 1. Hold onto the support beam of a power rack or any other sturdy object and stand with your feet between hip and shoulder-width apart. Turn your toes out between 10 and 30 degrees. 

Step 2. Brace your abs as if you were about to take a punch to the stomach, and squeeze your glutes. Now begin to slowly bend your knees while leaning your torso back. Allow your heels to come off the floor so you’re balancing on the balls of your feet. Keeping your hips locked out, go as low as you can without discomfort or losing control of the movement. Ideally, you’ll get down to where your knees are fully flexed, with your hamstrings touching your calves. 

Step 3. Extend your knees to come back up to standing. Be sure to keep your hips straight as you do so. 

What Muscles Does The Sissy Squat Work?

(See 03:00 in the video.)

“The sissy squat works the quads with only minimal assistance from the glutes,” says Jonny Catanzano, an IFBB pro bodybuilder and trainer (@jonnyelgato_ifbbpro), “so it’s a great movement for isolating the quads and strengthening them in an extreme range of motion that really couldn’t be trained any other way.” Specifically, the sissy squat works the vastus medialis (the “tear-drop muscle” on the inner side of the quad), vastus lateralis (outer quad), vastus intermedius (underneath the other quads), and, of course, the rectus femoris, which you’ll remember we said bends the hip as well as extends the knee (it starts below your hip flexors and runs down the middle of your quads).

How Do Sissy Squats Vary From Other Squats?

As we said above, the sissy squat is the only exercise that can work the rectus femoris muscle in a lengthened position, which may prove extra beneficial for muscle growth. Other types of squats require you to bend at the hips as well as the knee, but the sissy squat has you keep your hips straight. The result is a movement that stretches out the rectus femoris while putting all the quad muscles under tension.

How To Stretch Before Doing Sissy Squats 

(See 03:51 in the video.)

“Sissy squats take your quads through a full range of motion and into a very big stretch,” says Catanzano, “so make sure you’re very warmed up before you do them.” Here are three exercises he recommends to warm up and stretch out before you do a leg workout that features sissy squats.

1. Hip CARS

(See 04:00 in the video.)

Step 1. Hold onto an inclined bench or other sturdy surface and raise one knee up in front of you. Now move your knee away from your body, trying to get to 90 degrees or as far as you can, but don’t allow your hips to turn in that direction—keep them facing forward.

Step 2. Turn your thigh bone in its socket, so you raise your foot up while you point your knee downward as far as you can. Then kick your leg straight back behind you, feeling your glute engage. Touch your foot back to the floor.

Step 3. Reverse the movement, raising your leg behind you, and then bringing the knee around to the front again. That’s one rep. Do 2–3 sets of 5 reps on each leg to start, working up to 3 sets of 8 reps.

To increase the challenge, place an object on the floor so you have something to raise your leg over and hover above.

2. Knee Lift With Leg Extension

(See 05:20 in the video.)

Step 1. Set up as you did for the hip CARS and raise your knee in front of you. From there, extend your knee fully as if you were kicking.

Step 2. Keep the knee extended as you lower your leg back down. “Try not to bend over as you’re raising the leg, or use momentum to complete the reps,” says Catanzano. Do 3 sets of 5 reps on each leg.

Sissy Squat Alternatives

(See 06:07 in the video.)

The sissy squat is a challenging exercise and can be very awkward when you’re first trying it out. Some people may also find that it bothers their knees. Therefore, you may want to try a couple of other exercises that are a little more user-friendly, but target the quads in a similar way.

Reverse Nordic Leg Extension

(See 06:11 in the video.)

This movement reduces the sissy squat’s range of motion, and allows you to use the floor for extra stability.

Step 1. Place a medicine ball or other object on the floor—you’ll use it to gauge your range of motion. Attach an exercise band to a rack or other sturdy object in front of you (a pullup bar that’s screwed into place works fine too).

Step 2. Get on your knees (you may need to lay a towel down on the floor for comfort) and roll the ball into place about a foot behind you. Grasp the band with both hands. Extend your hips and brace your core—hold this position throughout the exercise.

Step 3. Allow your body to fall back slowly, driving your legs into the floor to resist it, until your back touches the ball. (The band will help control your descent so you don’t crash backward.) You should feel a deep stretch in your quads. Use the band to help you extend your knees to come back up.

“As you get stronger and more mobile on these,” says Catanzano, “slide the ball back a bit further,” until you don’t need the ball and you can touch your hamstrings to your calves. You can also progress the exercise by changing to a lighter band that will provide less assistance.

Catanzano recommends 2 sets of 8–10 reps.

Banded Sissy Squat

(See 08:35 in the video.)

“This move teaches you how to effectively lock out your hips,” says Catanzano. “When you try to learn that on a regular sissy squat, it can be difficult. This is a great way to ease your way into doing a standing sissy squat, especially if you have problems with mobility.”

Step 1. Attach two exercise bands to a sturdy object, like a power rack’s support beam. They should be pretty thick bands, an inch or an inch and a half wide, as they’ll need to be able to support your bodyweight. (We like the selection offered at elitefts.com.) Wrap one band around the bottom of the rack and place a foot through each loop. Slide the band up so it hugs the top of each calf, just below the knee. Now wrap the other band around the rack at roughly shoulder level and grasp an end in each hand.

Step 2. Lean back, using the band in your hands for assistance and the one at your knees for support. Squat as low as you can while keeping your hips extended.

Do 2 sets of 8 reps. As you improve, you can progress to 3–4 sets of 8–12 reps.

How To Fit Sissy Squats Into Your Workout 

(See 11:10 in the video.)

Do the sissy squat later in your leg day when you’re very warmed up and have a lot of blood in the quads. Start with 2–3 sets of lower reps—5 or whatever you can manage—and gradually increase reps as you get stronger. When you find you’re able to do more than 10 reps, you can experiment with holding a dumbbell on your chest for extra resistance, or wearing a weighted vest. You can also try the sissy squat unassisted—that is, do it without holding onto something—which will challenge your ability to keep your balance as well as strengthen your quads.

See another challenging squat exercise with our guide to the Zercher squat.

The post What Is The Sissy Squat and Why Your Workout Needs It  appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Is The SI Joint & Why Does It Hurt?

(See 00:24 in the video above)

The SI joints connect the bony part of the lower spine that’s just above the tailbone (called the sacrum) with the top of the pelvis (the ilium). They work to support the weight of the upper body when you’re standing and walking. Unlike the hip and shoulders, the SI joints aren’t designed to move very much, and pain can result when we force them to move more than they should. The most common causes of SI joint pain are limb-length discrepancies (one leg is longer than the other), abnormal walking patterns, scoliosis, and carrying a child while pregnant, but strain from heavy lifting can be a culprit too.

“With regard to working out, specifically, we tend to overdo movement in the sagittal plane,” says Layne Palm, DC, a chiropractor in Austin, TX, and a nationally-ranked Olympic weightlifter (@laynepalmdc). In other words, we favor exercises that have our limbs and torso moving forward and back, such as deadlifts, bench presses, and running. “Over time, this can overload the SI joints and cause compression that leads to irritation.” For the sake of avoiding future SI joint pain, Palm recommends performing more exercises that work the body in the frontal and transverse planes—that is, moving side to side and in rotation, respectively. Strengthening the body’s different movement capacities will take pressure off the SI joints.

Why Stretch Your Sacroiliac (SI) Joint & What Does It Do?

(See 01:53 in the video)

When suffering from SI joint pain, many people’s first instinct is to try to stretch the joint. Because they feel tightness in the area, they think stretching will release it. Palm cautions against doing this, as stretching an unstable joint can only exacerbate the problem (furthermore, it’s impractical to stretch the SI joint, specifically). The right move, he says, is to stretch the musculature that acts on the SI joint. These muscles include the hip flexors (the muscles that raise your leg in front of you), glutes, lats, and spinal erectors (the ones that hold your spine upright, and stand out on your lower back). “Stretching these muscles will often release the tension that is causing extra compression and uneven pressure on the SI joints,” says Palm.

3 Stretching Exercises To Loosen Your SI Joint

(See 02:26 in the video)

Palm recommends performing the following stretches daily.

1. Hip Flexor Stretch

(See 02:30 in the video)

Step 1. Get into a lunge position on the floor. Your front leg should be bent 90 degrees with your foot flat on the floor; your back leg should also be bent 90 with the top of your foot on the floor. You can hold onto a bench or other sturdy object (such as a foam roller, shown here), to help you keep your balance.

Step 2. Tuck your tailbone under so your pelvis is parallel to the floor. Pull your ribs down, and brace your core.

Step 3. Shift your weight forward so you feel a stretch in the front of the hip on the downed leg.

The hip flexor muscles run from the lumbar spine down to the front of the hip, and when they get tight (usually from too much time spent sitting), they pull the pelvis forward, compressing the SI joints on the back of the pelvis. Palm recommends holding this stretch for 90 seconds on each side, two to three times per day—or more, if you spend a lot of your day sitting.

2. Seated Glute Stretch

(See 03:13 in the video)

Step 1. Sit on the edge of a bench and cross one leg over the other. Keeping a tall spine, gently hug your knee to your chest until you feel a stretch in the outside edge of your glutes. At the same time, turn your torso into the stretch.

Some people may find that their glutes are too tight to do the aforementioned stretch, and it’s uncomfortable as a result. In that case, start with the easier figure-four stretch: simply cross your leg over so your ankle rests just above your knee, and push down on your top knee lightly.

In the case of both stretches, hold them 60 seconds on each side, and repeat them for the same number of hours that you spend sitting at a desk. That means that if you work for eight hours at a desk in front of a computer, perform the stretch eight times a day—preferably at the top of every hour (set an alarm so you remember!).

3. Lat Stretch

(See 04:09 in the video)

Step 1. Turn your palm over so your thumb is pointing down and grasp the end of an inclined bench, or other high surface. Step back with the same side’s leg, round your torso forward, and tuck your pelvis under. You should feel a deep stretch in the lat muscle on that side.

The lats act on the pelvis, and they can pull the low back into excessive extension if they’re tight. Keeping them mobile will help to relieve as well as prevent SI troubles. Breathe slowly and deeply, and hold the stretch for 10 deep breaths on both sides. Repeat the stretch up to three times per day.

Note that if you have SI joint pain on one side only, stretching the opposite side’s lat will target it most directly, because the lat fibers run obliquely. If that’s the case, stretch the tighter lat with an additional five breaths.

3 Exercises To Strengthen Your SI Joint

(See 05:30 in the video)

In addition to stretching out the muscles that affect the SI joint, you can strengthen the muscles around the joint with a few different exercises.

1. SI Joint Reset and Isometric Adduction Contraction

(See 05:40 in the video)

This one doesn’t exactly strengthen the joint, but by applying a little resistance to your legs, you can help to re-center the joint and make it feel better.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor and bend your hips and knees 90 degrees. Place one hand on the top of that same side’s knee and the other hand on the opposite side of the other knee so you’re in position to push on one leg and pull on the other.

Step 2. Begin driving one knee up toward your chest while extending the other one away from you, but use your hands to push and pull accordingly so that you resist any movement. In other words, your legs should be trying to move but your hands will hold them in place. Hold the tension for 5 seconds, and then switch hand positions and repeat in the opposite direction. Repeat for 10 reps each side.

Step 3. Place a foam roller or other light but firm object between your knees and rest your feet on the floor. Squeeze your knees together for 5 seconds and then relax. That’s one rep. Repeat for 10 reps.

Repeat this sequence up to three times per day.

2. Dead Bug

(See 07:05 in the video)

This move strengthens the core and trains it to brace your pelvis while your legs are moving.

Step 1. Lie on your back and bring your hips and knees to 90 degrees. Flatten your lower back into the floor.

Step 2. Keeping your lower back flat and your core braced, reach your right hand back and overhead while you extend your left leg out straight. Only go as far as you can keeping your lower back position. Alternate sides. Perform 10 reps (a reach on each side equals one rep).

If that’s too difficult, eliminate the moving limbs and just hold your lower back against the floor with abs braced for 10 seconds. Repeat for 10 reps. Do 2–3 sets total for either variation, resting up to 90 seconds in between.

3. Standing Hip Abduction

(See 09:10 in the video)

Building stability in your hips with frontal plane movements will help fortify the SI joints.

Step 1. Hold onto a foam roller or other sturdy object for balance, and raise one leg out to your side as high as you can without twisting your hips. Do 20–30 reps on each side, and repeat for 2–3 sets, resting up to 90 seconds between each. As you get stronger, you can add resistance by looping an exercise band around your ankles or your legs just above the knee.

Best Sleeping Position For Sacroiliac Joint Pain

(See 10:18 in the video)

Sleeping on your stomach or side may cause your affected SI joint to move out of alignment for several hours, and that can exacerbate the pain. Palm recommends sleeping on your back, but with a pillow or two underneath your knees to elevate your legs a bit (a long body pillow is perfect). That will reduce the amount of extension in your lower back, and keep your SI joint in a more neutral position.

What Exercises Or Activities Should I Avoid If I Have SI Pain?

(See 10:48 in the video)

No matter what kind of injury you’re dealing with, “It’s important that you don’t let pain make you sedentary,” says Palm. “Motion is lotion for our joints.” In other words, continuing to move and exercise as much as you can without directly aggravating your injury is the best way to speed healing, as you’ll encourage blood flow to the area and keep it from getting any weaker.

“Specifically, with the SI joint,” says Palm, “we want to limit any movements that put the back into hyperextension—an excessive lower back curvature.” Cobra poses, back bridges, upward facing dog (yoga), and other exercises that make your back take on a big arch should be avoided. You also may have to avoid exercises where you hinge the hips, such as deadlift variations or kettlebell swings, because they will put stress on the SI joint while it’s healing.

With all that said, injuries tend to be very specific to the movements you do, and while one type of hinge may cause you pain, a slightly different variant may feel totally normal. “I always suggest that my patients go by feel in these situations,” says Palm.

Another strategy to work around pain is to decrease your range of motion on some exercises. You may find that deadlifts from a rack, box, or mats—which reduces your range of motion—can keep you out of painful ranges while still letting you perform the basic movement pattern you want to train. In this case, Palm suggests performing the exercise with maximum control, deadlifting the weight to lockout and then slowing lowering the load—take up to five seconds to go down.

“Reduce the load, reduce the range of motion, but still continue to train,” says Palm.

Are SI Joint Belts Worth It?

(See 12:12 in the video)

Some physical therapists recommend belts that can be worn around the hips to brace and support the SI joint (they’re available on Amazon.com). Palm says this isn’t a bad idea if you’re freshly injured, as these belts can reduce pain, but it isn’t a long-term solution, unlike the stretches and exercises he gave you above. “SI joint belts are fine in the short-term, but you don’t want to rely on them.” Doing your rehab and being patient is the best way to come back from SI joint injury.

Is your shoulder bothering you too? Check out our guide to rehabbing shoulder impingement.

The post 3 SI Joint Stretches & Exercises To Relieve Pain appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What Are B-Stance Hip Thrusts and What Are Their Benefits?

(See 00:46 in the video above)

The B-stance hip thrust is sometimes called a “hip thrust with a kickstand,” or a “staggered-stance hip thrust,” because you use one leg for balance while the other one thrusts. Like the conventional bilateral hip thrust, you lie back on a bench (your body perpendicular to it), and raise your hips up to lockout, but in the B-stance thrust, you push with one foot while the heel of the other one stays grounded for extra support.

You see, most people start out with the regular bilateral hip thrust, where you work both glutes at the same time. Later, they try to progress to the single-leg hip thrust, which has you holding one leg up in the air while you thrust with the other one. The problem is, going from two-legged hip thrusts to single-leg thrusts is too big a leap for most people. It can be very hard to stabilize your hips and avoid twisting to one side when you’re doing true single-leg hip thrusts, and many people find that even their bodyweight alone is too difficult to control for more than a few reps.

That’s where the B-stance hip thrust comes in. It’s a nice intermediate exercise that’s more challenging than the basic two-legged hip thrust, but more stable than the single-leg hip thrust, so you can work one side at a time and build your balance without having to work too hard to keep your body aligned and on the bench.

In addition, because it’s a unilateral exercise, it allows you to isolate one glute at a time, which helps correct any imbalances you have between sides. Also, focusing on one muscle area at a time recruits more muscle in that area, which can help you add muscle size more easily. So, if you want a big, round butt, the single-leg hip thrust is a very good exercise choice.

Lastly, if you have lower-back pain, and you find that two-legged hip thrusts hurt to perform—maybe because you hyperextend your back at the top of the movement—you may find that the B-stance hip thrust is more comfortable to do. Because you’re essentially working one leg at a time, you can’t thrust as hard or as high, so it’s harder to overextend your range of motion. The single-leg hip thrust keeps the force where you want it—in your glutes—and out of your lower back.

How To Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts

(See 03:00 in the video)

The B-stance hip thrust builds off the conventional two-legged thrust. Once you’ve found a comfortable position for bilateral thrusts, it’s an easy transition to B-stance thrusts.

Step 1. Secure a bench against a wall or rack so it doesn’t slide; you can also weight it down with heavy dumbbells. Lie back on the bench, perpendicular to its length, so that the edge of the bench supports your body right under your shoulder blades.

If you’ve tried hip thrusts in the past and felt them too much in your lower back, you can try sliding your body up a little higher so the bench supports your mid-back rather than the bottom of your shoulder blades. 

Now extend your hips to get into the top position of the double-leg hip thrust, so your shoulders, hips, and knees are aligned. Adjust your feet so that they’re directly below your knees. Now when you lower your hips down, your stance should be set so that you can thrust with the greatest range of motion and good form.

Feel free to play around with your foot position, angle, and spacing a little more, and do a few practice reps, until you find a setup that’s the most comfortable and lets you feel your glutes working more than any other muscle. This will be your normal bilateral hip thrust setup.

Step 2. Now you’ll transition from the bilateral hip thrust to the B-stance. Extend one leg forward so the heel lines up with the toes on the planted foot. This partially-extended leg is called your kickstand leg. Keep the toes on your kickstand leg elevated so the weight of your leg is resting on that heel.

Step 3. Tuck your chin to your chest, and make fists with each hand, driving the back of your arms into the bench for stability. Tuck your tailbone under, and brace your core. Now drive through the foot of your planted leg to extend your hips until they’re locked out and parallel to the floor. Push both knees out a bit as you extend your hips, and keep your ribs pulled down so you don’t bend at the spine.

Your shoulders, hips, and knees should form a straight line in the top position.

According to Bret Contreras, PhD, author of Glute Lab and arguably the world’s foremost expert on glute training, the kickstand leg should only apply about 30% of the force in your B-stance thrust. Most of the work should be done by the leg that’s closest to your body. Remember, the kickstand leg is only supposed to provide some stability, so make your other leg’s glutes do the majority of the work.

Use your bodyweight alone until you’ve mastered the B-stance hip thrust technique. But when you think you’ve got it down, you can add a barbell to your lap for resistance, just as you do with the normal two-legged hip thrust. However: “I suspect that as you lift more weight,” Contreras writes in his book, “you will inevitably use your extended leg more to counterbalance the weight, which defeats the purpose of trying to load mostly one leg. So, as with the single-leg hip thrust, it’s better to keep the load light.” If you get to the point where B-stance hip thrusts for higher reps (north of, say, 10) don’t challenge you much anymore, it’s probably time to progress to the true single-leg hip thrust (with the non-working leg up in the air), which we explain in the B-Stance Hip Thrust Alternatives section below.

What Muscles Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Work?

(See 05:40 in the video)

The B-stance hip thrust really works the gluteus maximus, which is your main butt cheek muscle, responsible for extending your hips. But it also trains the gluteus medius, which is on the side of your butt cheek, and the glute minimus, which lies under the glute medius. Both the medius and minimus work to stabilize the pelvis, so they will get trained by any variation of the hip thrust too.

While all variations of the hip thrust are fairly new exercises in the fitness world, research on them is mounting, and pointing to positive benefits both in terms of athleticism and glute muscle gains. A 2019 trial found that hip thrusting with a barbell improved subjects’ sprint performance. Meanwhile, in a landmark 2023 study, subjects were divided into two groups, with one team training the hip thrust and the other doing the barbell back squat—no other lower-body work was performed. After nine weeks, glute growth in both groups was roughly the same, indicating that the hip thrust is at least as good a glute exercise as the much beloved, age old, and tried-and-true squat.

Perhaps even more impressive, however, was another 2023 study that had two groups perform a full-body workout. One group did leg presses and stiff-legged deadlifts for their lower body in the session, while the other group did those two movements and then two sets of hip thrusts at the very end of the workout. Both groups saw gains. The non-thrusting group enjoyed a six percent increase in glute growth, but the ones who ended their workouts with thrusting grew their glutes by more than nine percent.

This gives us a little to think about. On the one hand, the subjects who hip thrusted did end up performing more work for their glutes than the other group did, which may account for their extra gains. However, you have to factor in that their hip thrusts were done dead last in the session, after they had trained both upper and lower body and accumulated a lot of fatigue. The body’s ability to recruit muscle fibers is greatly diminished for exercises that are done late in a workout—i.e., exercises done at the end of your workouts will never be as effective as those that are done at the beginning—so this suggests that the hip thrust may have outperformed the other glute exercises in the session (the leg press and stiff-legged dead), regardless of fatigue.

Note that all of the above research was done on the TWO-legged hip thrust, NOT the B-stance exercise, so it’s hard to say how B-stance thrusting compares to back squats, single-leg squats, leg presses, deadlifts, or anything else. But, until further research emerges, it’s a good bet that any hip thrust variation is going to be a solid choice for building the glutes.

How Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Compare To Other Hip Thrusts?

The B-stance hip thrust is essentially the middle man between the bilateral thrust and the single-leg hip thrust, helping you progress from the former to the latter. It won’t allow you to train as heavy as the more stable, two-legged thrust will, but the B-stance will help you to better isolate the glutes on one leg at a time, while providing enough stability for you to train hard and safely. It’s also likely safer for the lower back than the bilateral thrust, because it lessens the risk of hyperextending the spine when you lock your hips out.

How to Stretch Before Doing B-Stance Hip Thrusts

(See 07:45 in the video)

Warm up and stretch out your glutes and hips prior to a B-stance hip thrust session with these moves, courtesy of Onnit-certified coach Eric Leija (@primal.swoledier). Do 2–4 sets each.

Pelvic Hip Circle

Reps: 3–5 reps

Stagger-Stance Hip Hinge

Reps: 5–10

Hinge Jump

Reps: 3–5

B-Stance Hip Thrust Alternatives

(See 06:12 in the video)

When you think you’ve got the B-stance hip thrust down, you can move up to the single-leg hip thrust, where you raise one leg in the air and work the other one without any support.

Single-leg Hip Thrust

Step 1. Set up as you did for the B-stance hip thrust but raise one leg off the floor entirely and bend that knee, bringing it toward your chest.

Step 2. Push your working foot into the floor and raise your hips until they’re roughly in line with your working knee and your shoulders. Remember to keep your ribs down and core braced.

Single-Leg Glute Bridge

If you want to isolate the glutes a little bit more, you can do a single-leg hip thrust motion on the floor, without a bench. This is known as a glute bridge. Bridging your hips up from the floor will decrease the range of motion some, but it will ensure that only your glutes do the work to move your hips (as opposed to the hamstrings, which do contribute a little bit to the hip thrust, while the quads kick in a little as well to extend the knee).

Luckily, we have a whole video tutorial on how to do the single-leg glute bridge in a separate article.

The post How To Do B-Stance Hip Thrusts Like An Expert appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What’s the whole truth, bottom line, and final answer on abs? We’re about to clear up all the misconceptions. Consider the following your tome on ab training.

What Muscles Make Up The Abs?

The term “abs” can refer to all the muscles of the midsection, ranging from the deep core muscles that stabilize your spine to the obliques on the side of your torso that help you twist your shoulders and hips and bend to each side. But when most people say abs, they mean the rectus abdominis, more popularly known as the six-pack muscle.

The rectus abdominis originates on the pubic bone and stretches up to the xiphoid process (the bottom of the sternum), as well as the cartilage between the fifth, sixth, and seventh ribs. It works to bend the lumbar spine forward (spinal flexion), pull the rib cage down, and help stabilize the pelvis when you’re walking. When an individual is very lean with well-developed musculature, the rectus abdominis can appear to be six distinct muscles, but it’s only one. The six-pack look is due to a web of connective tissue that compartmentalizes the muscle. Whether someone has a six pack or an eight pack comes down to genetics alone—it’s the way nature shaped their abs—and has nothing to do with training or diet. (For all his gargantuan muscles, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s abs were always comparatively less impressive; he famously sported only a four pack!)

How Is Working Your Lower Abs Different From Upper Abs?

(See 00:30 in the video above.)

Bodybuilders have long believed that exercises that bring the ribs toward the pelvis (crunch variations, for example) work the upper portion of the rectus abdominis, while movements that do the reverse—lifting the pelvis toward the ribs—train the lower portion. Scientists and some trainers, however, have disputed this, arguing that, since there’s only one rectus abdominis muscle and its function is pretty simple, any movement that brings the ribs and pelvis closer together is going to work the whole muscle.

So who’s right?

A study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research measured rectus abdominis activation across six different ab exercises, concluding that, while some of the moves worked the muscle more than others, none showed much of a difference in which part of the abs (upper or lower) was activated. Still, other research has shown the opposite. One trial found that the old-school curlup worked the upper portion of the muscle to a greater degree, and the posterior pelvic tilt (basically a reverse crunch, in which the tailbone is tucked under, lifting the pelvis toward the upper body) favored the lower abs—just as the bodybuilders have claimed for years.

So far, the correct answer seems to be a little from Column A and a little from Column B. In his 2021 book, Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy, Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, CSCS, the world’s foremost muscle-growth researcher, concludes that while the entire rectus abdominis will be worked during exercises that target it, it is also possible to emphasize recruitment of the upper abs over the lower abs, and vice versa.

He writes: “Although somewhat speculative, there is a sound rationale for performing traditional crunch variations to target the upper abdominal region and performing reverse crunch variations to develop the lower aspect of the muscle… Not only do the tendinous intersections [of the rectus abdominis] suggest some degree of functional independence of the muscle, but its upper and lower aspects are segmentally innervated by the ventral rami of the lower six or seven thoracic nerves, providing a further mechanism for selective activation.”

Schoenfeld goes on to cite pro tennis players whose abs are bigger on their non-dominant side, which he says indicates that people can, to some degree, recruit not only the upper and lower abs selectively, but also the sides of the muscle.

Long story short: you can target different areas of the abs to shape them according to your goals, but you’ll never be able to isolate any one area of the muscle completely while turning off another one.

What’s The Difference Between Situps and Crunches?

Before we go any further, we should clarify some terms. If ab training really comes down to situp and crunch-type movements, let’s define what these are.

For many years, the situp was the primary ab exercise. You lie on your back with knees bent, and raise your upper body off the floor and up to your knees. This works the entire abdominal area, but it also recruits the legs and hip flexors, and it can be hard on the lower back (as we’ll examine in the next section). In the past few decades, trainers began recommending crunches in place of the situp—a more isolated movement for the rectus abdominis that requires you only lift your head and shoulders off the floor. It’s the safer, more targeted ab workout option between the two, but crunching alone won’t get you a six pack. These days, it seems best to favor crunches over situps, but perform them with different tools—such as a cable machine, stability ball, or inclined bench—to get more muscle activation without sacrificing safety.

Is It Safe To Do Situps and Crunches?

Whether you’re trying to work upper abs, lower abs, or both, the standard prescription is to perform some kind of spinal flexion exercise—i.e. situps or crunches—because bending the spine is a major function of the rectus abdominis.

In recent years, however, some athletes and trainers have contended that repeatedly bending the spine over time can lead to lower-back injury, including disc prolapse or herniation. The idea is that bending the spine pinches the intervertebral discs, gradually pushing them backward until they bulge out and press against a nerve, causing pain. While situp and crunch exercises may not cause back problems entirely on their own, they could throw gas on a fire that’s already burning in many athletes and recreational lifters. If you’ve been following a program that includes regular back squats and deadlifts, which compress the spine, and your lifestyle includes a lot of sitting and slouching (spinal flexion), you can understand how the concern arose. 

For these reasons, some experts recommend developing the abs using only variations of the plank exercise, where the ribs and pelvis are held still and the rectus abdominis, along with the other core muscles, contracts isometrically. Schoenfeld agrees that well-chosen plank exercises can effectively train both the upper and lower abs, but argues that there’s nothing inherently dangerous with spinal flexion exercises either, assuming you’re not already contending with a back issue. In a review he co-authored, Schoenfeld determined that, if an individual has no pre-existing back problems, spinal flexion exercises are not only safe when done as normally prescribed, but probably necessary for maximizing development of the rectus abdominis. If you have aspirations of competing in a physique show, where your opponents will surely have well-defined abs, you’ll probably have to do some spinal flexion exercises to get the ab development needed to keep up with them.

For abs that look great and perform well, including having the ability to protect your back, healthy people should probably perform both planks and spinal flexion. Schoenfeld and spinal-flexion critics do agree, however, that too much spinal flexion isn’t good for anyone. If you’re old-school and think that 100 crunches or situps every day is the only way to see results, you could be setting yourself up for injury. Whatever the ab exercises you choose, they should be performed with moderate sets and reps like training any other muscle, with time off for recovery afterward. (We’ll give more specific recommendations below.)

Tips for Isolating Your Upper Abs

Just to recap, you can’t completely isolate your upper or lower abs, but you can emphasize one section over the other with different exercises and careful technique. To lock in on the upper abs, “You want exercises that are going to bring your ribcage down toward your hips,” says Jonny Catanzano, an IFBB pro bodybuilder and owner of Tailored Health Coaching, a fitness coaching service (@tailoredhealthcoaching on Instagram).

This means crunch/situp motions of all kinds, generally starting with your spine straight and finishing where it’s fully flexed at the lumbar. Yes, that means you’ll be rounded in your lower back, which is a major no-no for most loaded exercises such as squats and deadlifts, where the spine has to be kept neutral for safety’s sake. But to fully activate your abs, you have to take them through a full range of motion, and that means crunching your body into a tight ball. If you have lower-back pain, you may want to skip these kinds of exercises and do plank variations (we have a good one for you below), but otherwise, a few sets done two or three times a week shouldn’t present a problem.

Perform your crunch exercises for moderate sets and reps (2–4 sets of 6–15, generally speaking); don’t train them heavy. This will help to prevent placing unnecessary stress on the lower back.

To get the most out of your upper abs, “Squeeze your glutes to tilt your pelvis back, so your tailbone tucks under you when you begin a rep,” says Catanzano. Called a posterior pelvic tilt, this helps take your hip flexor muscles out of the exercise, so that your abs do the majority of the crunching.

What Exercises Work Your Upper Abs?

(See 00:52 in the video.)

A study by the American Council on Exercise showed that, out of 15 exercises tested, crunches done on a stability ball—as well as reverse crunches done on an inclined surface—both worked the upper abs the hardest, and nearly equally. (Incidentally, the reverse crunch on the incline also ranked highest for lower-ab activation.)

But don’t take these findings as gospel. Only 16 subjects participated, and two of them weren’t counted because they didn’t complete the study. Still, the results do suggest that you’d be smart to include crunches done on both a stability ball and an inclined bench in your program, provided you can do them safely.

In addition to those two moves, Catanzano recommends the following.

Kneeling Cable Crunch

(See 01:00 in the video.)

This exercise isolates the upper abs as much as possible, and the cable ensures that there’s tension on the muscles even when the spine is extended (where they would normally rest in a crunch done on the floor). The cable stack also makes it easy to increase the load as you get stronger. Use a V-grip to go heavier, or a rope handle for greater range of motion.

Step 1. Attach a V-grip or rope handle to the top pulley of a cable station, and grasp it with both hands. Kneel on the floor a foot or so in front of the cable so that you have to reach forward a bit with your hands to grasp the handle, and you feel a stretch on your abs. You may want to place a towel or mat under your knees for comfort.

Step 2. Squeeze your glutes and tuck your tailbone under so your lower back rounds a bit and you feel your abs engage. Crunch down, pulling the cable down behind your head as you bring your ribs to your pelvis. When your abs are fully contracted, that’s the end of the range of motion. Slowly return to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Don’t get carried away with the weight you’re using. It should never be so heavy that it pulls you up off the floor at the top of each rep.

Seated Pulley Crunch

(See 01:47 in the video.)

Performing a cable crunch on a lat pulldown machine may be a more comfortable option than the kneeling cable crunch, as it makes it easier to keep your hips stable. 

Step 1. Attach a lat-pulldown bar to the pulley of a lat-pulldown station and sit on the seat facing away from the machine. Reach overhead and grasp the bar with hands shoulder-width apart and palms facing behind you.

Step 2. Squeeze your glutes and tuck your tailbone under so your lower back rounds a bit and you feel your abs engage. Crunch down, pulling the cable down behind your head as you bring your ribs to your pelvis. When your abs are fully contracted, that’s the end of the range of motion. Slowly return to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Hanging Leg or Knee Raise

(See 02:29 in the video.)

The pelvis flexes toward the ribs on this one, so it’s a good lower-ab move too, but it will hit the upper part of the rectus abdominis as well. Doing the movement with legs extended creates a longer lever and puts more tension on the muscles, but that will be too advanced for many people. If that’s the case for you, performing the motion with knees bent (a hanging knee raise) is a good modification. In either case, Catanzano warns that you don’t just lift your legs/knees. “That just works the hip flexors,” he says. “Make sure you bring your hips all the way up,” rounding your back as you do so.

Step 1. Hang from a pullup bar with your palms facing forward or toward each other. You may want to use lifting straps to reinforce your grip, so your hands don’t tire before your abs do.

Step 2. Tuck your tailbone under and raise your legs up, keeping your knees as straight as you can until your abs are fully contracted. Control the motion as you lower your legs back down. That’s one rep.

For the hanging knee raise, perform the same movement, but keep your knees bent 90 degrees the whole time. On either exercise, be careful not to swing your legs up or let them swing behind you at the bottom. You want your abs to do the lifting, not momentum, and swinging can strain your lower back.

Crossover Crunch

(See 03:52 in the video.)

Here’s an upper-ab exercise that also hits the obliques, the muscles on your sides that help you bend and twist.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor with your arms extended 90 degrees from your sides. Raise your right leg straight overhead, and then twist your hips to the left, resting your right leg on the floor. Cup the back of your head with your right hand.

Step 2. Crunch your torso off the floor and toward your right leg. Hold the top position for a second, and then return to the floor. That’s one rep. Complete your reps, and then repeat on the opposite side.

Pushup Plank with Tailbone Tucked

(See 04:45 in the video.)

If crunching movements aggravate your lower back, try plank exercises instead. Catanzano likes the classic yoga plank done a little differently—with the tailbone tucked under and knees bent to work the rectus abdominis more.

Step 1. Get into pushup position. Squeeze your glutes and tuck your tailbone under to activate your abs. Bend your knees and arms a bit so you feel like your midsection is hollowed out—abs braced, preventing your lower back from sagging.

Step 2. Hold the position for time. Aim for 30 seconds to start.

Your upper abs may get sore just from reading all this, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that training alone will produce a six pack. Exercise builds the ab muscles, but only a healthy diet can lower your body fat levels enough to reveal them, so if your belly currently hangs over your belt line, cut calories from your meals. Catanzano says that most men aren’t able to see ab definition until their body fat is in the range of 8–12%, and women need to be 14–18%.

See this guide on how to diet for abs.

How To Stretch Before Working Your Abs

Catanzano offers the following mobility drills for preparing your midsection for a session of ab training. Perform 10–12 reps for each exercise in turn, and repeat for 2–3 total sets of each.

Walking Knee Hug

Step 1. Stand tall and take a step forward, raising one knee to your chest as high as you can. As the knee rises, grab hold of your shin with both hands and pull it into your chest for a deep glute and inner-thigh stretch. Avoid slouching or bending forward as you do. Try to keep the support leg straight as well.

Step 2. Release the leg, plant your foot, and repeat on the opposite leg, walking forward with each rep.

Bird Dog

Step 1. Get on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Tuck your tailbone so that your pelvis is perpendicular to your spine, draw your ribs down, and brace your core.

Step 2. Extend your right arm and left leg at the same time while maintaining your tight core. Don’t let your back arch. (Think about reaching forward with the arm and leg, not just raising them up.) Lower back down, and repeat on the opposite side. Each arm and leg raise is one rep.

Prone Scorpion

Step 1. Lie facedown on the floor and reach your arms out to your sides. Tuck your tailbone so that your pelvis is perpendicular to your spine, draw your ribs down, and brace your core.

Step 2. Raise your right leg up and reach it across toward your left arm. Reverse the motion and repeat on the other side. A touch on each side is one rep.

Prone Cobra

Step 1. Lie facedown on the floor with your hands on the floor at shoulder level, as in the bottom of a pushup.

Step 2. Press your hands into the floor as you extend your spine and raise your torso off the floor. Hold the top a second, and then return to the floor. That’s one rep.

Windmill Lunge

Step 1. Step forward and lower your body into a lunge. Extend your arms 90 degrees out to your sides. 

Step 2. Twist your torso away from the front leg until it’s 90 degrees, with one arm reaching in front of you and the other behind. Come back to the starting position, and then repeat on the opposite leg, twisting and reaching in the other direction. Each lunge is one rep.

The Ultimate Upper-Ab Workout

Below are two sample ab workouts, courtesy of Catanzano, that you can add at the beginning or end of your current sessions, or on an off day. Alternate between the two workouts (A and B) for no more than three total ab workouts in a week. They’ll both work the entire abdominal region, but will emphasize the upper part of the rectus abdominis.

Workout A

1. Kneeling Cable Crunch

Sets: 3  Reps: 12–15

2. Hanging Leg or Knee Raise

Sets: 3  Reps: 6–12

3. Pushup Plank with Tailbone Tucked

Sets: 3  Reps: Hold 30 seconds

Workout B

Perform exercises 2A and 2B as a superset. So you’ll do one set of 2A and then one set of 2B before resting. Rest, and repeat until all sets are completed for both exercises.

1. Crossover Crunch

Sets: 3  Reps: 12–15

2A. Hanging Knee Raise

Sets: 3  Reps: 12

2B. Pushup Plank with Tailbone Tucked

Sets: 3  Reps: Hold 30 seconds

3. Seated Pulley Crunch

Sets: 3  Reps: 12–15

For more ab training tips, see Get A Six-Pack In Your Living Room.

The post The Pro’s Guide To Upper-Ab Exercises & Workouts appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Well, not quite. Your average gymnast or wrestler does the majority of their training with bodyweight; ditto for the guys in your local park who do pullups and pushups by the hundreds. And have you ever seen a speed-cyclist’s legs? These athletes may not load up on squats, deadlifts, and leg presses, but no one’s questioning their strength and muscle mass. The fact is, done correctly, bodyweight training can be quite challenging, even humbling, and give you more than enough stimulus to grow muscle and gain power.

The following is a guide to getting bigger, stronger legs by lifting your bodyweight—and nothing else.

Can You Build Leg Muscles and Strength Without Weights?

The science is pretty clear now that the main driver of muscle growth is mechanical tension—the tension your muscle fibers experience when you take a set of an exercise to failure, or close to failure, and your rep speed slows down involuntarily. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether you’re lifting weights or using your own bodyweight for resistance, or whether you’re doing high reps or low reps. As long as you train hard enough that your muscles start to fatigue and your reps slow down near the end of your set, they’re going to experience enough tension to deliver a stimulus that allows you to gain muscle and strength.

Notice that the operative term is “tension,” not load. Lifting weights is a pretty easy way to measure, control, and progress the amount of tension you apply—for example, you know how much you’re lifting when you grab 40-pound dumbbells, and you know that when you can use the 45s, you’ve gotten stronger. But the weight of your body can create mechanical tension too. You just have to be a little more creative in how you use it. The exercises we recommend here will hit your legs in a number of ways you’re probably not at all used to, making your body feel as heavy as a loaded barbell.

When you do bodyweight exercises, you often have the opportunity to use a greater range of motion than when you lift weights, because there is no barbell or dumbbells to accommodate. This is beneficial if you’re limited in your mobility, as performing lengthened-range exercises will improve your ability to get into those deeper positions. Improved mobility, in turn, promotes joint health and athleticism.

The Most Effective Bodyweight Leg Exercises

You don’t need any weights to do the exercises that follow. Some basic equipment such as a bench, exercise mat, furniture sliders, and an elastic resistance band will help you perform them in some cases, so it’s good to have access to a home gym or garage that provides some options, but you don’t need barbells, dumbbells, or machines. 

Slider Leg Curl

Target: hamstrings

(See 01:35 in the video above.)

The slider leg curl works the hamstrings’ two functions at the same time. That is, extending the hips and flexing the knees, similar to a glute-ham raise (an excellent bodyweight hamstring exercise we’ve already written about, but one that requires a special bench that isn’t available in most gyms). All you need is a pair of furniture sliders, or, if you’re training on a smooth, waxed floor, some towels or even paper plates can work too.

Step 1. Lie on your back on the floor, and place the sliders under your heels. Position your feet right behind your butt with your knees bent. Tuck your pelvis under, take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core. Drive your heels into the floor to raise your hips to full extension.

Step 2. From there, slowly extend your legs until you feel you’re about to lose tension in your hamstrings, and then slide your heels back toward you as if doing a normal leg curl. Keep your hips extended the whole time, but be careful not to hyperextend your lower back.

Aim for 2 sets of 6–12 reps. If that feels easy, you can hook some elastic exercise bands around your heels for extra resistance.

Bodyweight Leg Extension (aka Reverse Nordic)

Target: quadriceps

(See 02:27 in the video.)

Almost all quad exercises involve hip flexion too. That means you fold at the hip when you do them, as in a squat, lunge, and even a leg extension. The bodyweight leg extension is unique in that the hips remain extended the whole time. This forces the quads into a deep stretch when you bend your knees, making them work from a lengthened position. This is an unusual range to train the quads, and makes for a nice complement to more conventional quad exercises.

Step 1. Attach an elastic exercise band to a sturdy object at about the height your head would be if you were kneeling on the floor. (The band isn’t a must have, but it will help you get more range of motion on the exercise.) Place a mat or towel on the floor and kneel on it with your shoelaces down and knees about shoulder-width apart. Grasp the free end of the band, and hold it with your arms extended in front of you. Scoot back until there’s light tension on the band.

Step 2. Extend your hips so you’re standing tall, and tuck your pelvis under slightly so it’s perpendicular to your spine. Squeeze your glutes and brace your core.

Step 3. Slowly allow your body to drift backward (your butt moves toward your heels), keeping your hips extended and driving your feet into the ground so that your quads control the descent. You’ll feel a strong stretch in your thighs.

Step 4. When you feel you can no longer control the movement backward, use your quads to extend your knees and come back to the starting position. Use the band to help you pull yourself back.

Try for 2 sets of 5–10 reps, but you may only be able to manage a few reps with these at first. Do them with control and progress gradually. As you get stronger, you can eventually ditch the band and use your bodyweight alone, unassisted.

Copenhagen Plank

Target: Adductors

(See 04:09 in the video.)

The main way people train the adductor muscles directly is with the seated adductor machine, but the Copenhagen plank allows the body to remain in a straight line, stacking the shoulders and hips over the knees just as they appear when you’re standing and moving. Since it’s also a variation of the side plank, you’ll get some core work from it too.

Step 1. Lie on one side, and place your top leg on a box or bench. The knee of the top leg should be bent enough so that your entire shin can apply pressure to the surface of the box. The bottom leg can be straight or slightly bent. Plant your bottom elbow and forearm on the floor, and brace your core.

Step 2. Drive your top shin down into the box to raise your body off the floor, and try to close the space between your two legs, sandwiching the platform you’re working on. Your body should form a nearly straight line in the top position.

Aim for 2 sets of 10–12 reps each leg, moving with a slow, controlled tempo. If performing reps is too difficult, simply get into the top position and hold it for a 15 to 30-second isometric. That’s one set.

Touchdown Squat

Target: glutes and quads

(See 05:33 in the video.)

A true one-legged, full-depth, single-leg squat (known as a pistol squat) is very challenging and is not doable for most people without a lot of practice.  Here’s a way you can work up to a pistol, doing a similar movement that challenges balance, stability, and ankle mobility while also working the quads and glutes hard.

Step 1. Set a box or some mats on the floor so that, when you stand on them, you’ll be a few inches above the floor. You can build this height up over time. Stand on the surface with one leg and raise your other leg out to the side a bit so it’s out of the way.

Step 2. Hinge your hips back so your torso bends forward and lower your body until the heel on your free leg gently taps the floor. Try to keep your working knee in line with your hip. Extend your hips and knee to come back up to standing.

Go for 2 sets of 5–10 reps.

Lateral Leg Raise

Target: abductors

(See 06:23 in the video.)

This exercise is more of a mobility move than heavy duty strength training, but it will burn like fire and strengthen the outer hip muscles and glutes. Lateral leg raises work your lower body in the frontal plane—i.e., moving side to side—which is a neglected movement pattern and very important for athletes. You can use it as part of your warmup on a leg day, or do it as a finisher.

Step 1. Hold on to a sturdy object for balance and stand with your feet hip-width apart.

Step 2. Raise one leg out to your side as high as you can without bending the knee or twisting your hips. Hold the top for a second, and then control the descent.

Perform 2–3 sets of 8–12 reps.

As you get more comfortable with the movement, progress to performing straight-legged hip circles, raising your leg in front of you, then out to the side, and finally behind you.

How to Stretch and Prepare For a Bodyweight Leg Workout

Stretching and mobility work are paramount for getting the most out of your athletic potential and avoiding injury. Done before your lower-body workout, the following three drills can warm and limber up your hips, hamstrings, knees, and quads.

Squat and Reach

(See 00:28 in the video above.)

Step 1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and turn your toes out about 20 degrees. Keep your head, spine, and pelvis in a long straight line as you squat down and wedge your elbows between your knees, using your arms to gently pry your knees apart even more. As you push the knees out, try to extend your torso to get as tall and upright as possible.

Step 2. Plant your hands down on the floor inside your knees, and twist your torso to the right, reaching one hand straight overhead. Turn your head as well so you’re watching your hand. It’s OK if your heel comes off the floor as you twist, but try to keep it down. Return your hand to the floor, and repeat on the opposite side.

Step 3. Stand back up from the bottom of your squat position, keeping your heels on the floor. That’s one rep. Perform 2 sets of 3–5 reps. 

High-Knee Walk

(See 01:31 in the video.)

Step 1. Stand tall, and take a step forward, raising one knee to your chest as high as you can. As the knee rises, grab hold of your shin with both hands and pull it into your chest for a deep glute and inner-thigh stretch. Avoid slouching or bending forward as you do. Try to keep the support leg straight as well.

Step 2. Release the leg, plant your foot, and repeat on the opposite leg.

It’s OK to come up onto the ball of your foot with each step. Do 2 sets of 8–10 strides. 

Spiderman Walk

(See 02:43 in the video.)

Step 1. Stand tall, and take a big lunge step forward. Place your hands on the floor to the inside of your lead leg, and lower your trailing knee to the floor. 

Step 2. Tuck your pelvis under slightly, and push your hips forward until you feel a deep stretch—it’s OK to let your knee move in front of your toes.

Step 3. Twist your torso away from your lead leg and raise your arm overhead. Turn your head and follow it with your eyes. Be sure to raise the arm above you, not behind, so you create a straight vertical line between your planted arm and your raised arm.

Step 4. Return your hand to the floor, and then step forward with the rear leg to stand tall again. Repeat the lunge and twist on that leg.

Perform 2 sets of 5–6 strides on each side.

Sample Bodyweight Leg Workout Plan

Here’s a balanced leg routine that makes the most of the exercises listed above.

DIRECTIONS

Perform the exercises in sequence, completing all sets for one move before going on to the next. Remember to take each set close to failure. You should only stop at the point where you don’t think you could do another rep with good form.

(See 07:07 in the Best Bodyweight Leg Exercises video at the top.)

1. Sliding Leg Curl

Sets: 2  Reps: 6–12

2. Touchdown Squat

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

3. Copenhagen Plank

Sets: 2  Reps: 6–12 (or hold for 15–30 sec.)

4. Bodyweight Leg Extension

Sets: 2  Reps: 5–10

5. Lateral Leg Raise

Sets: 2  Reps: 8–12

Try another great bodyweight routine with our Ultimate Calisthenics Workout.

The post The Best Bodyweight Leg Exercises & Workouts for Strength appeared first on Onnit Academy.

In the video below, Shane and Francheska demonstrate an “I Go, You Go” style routine, in which one person leads the other through an exercise of their choosing, and then the roles reverse. You can apply this kind of workout to virtually any training you like to do. It can make your session more spontaneous and fun, and it helps both you and your partner learn new workout techniques. The workout Shane and Francheska came up with here—improvised on the spot, we might add—is for total-body mobility. You can do a round or two of it as a warmup before a weight-training workout, or do it by itself to help improve flexibility and body control. Done at a brisk pace with short rest periods, it can also double as a cardiovascular routine for endurance gains. Of course, it’s more fun to do the workout with a partner, but you can certainly use it when you’re solo as well.

Directions

The workout should take about 30 minutes. Perform the exercises in sequence, doing reps for 1 minute on each move. Repeat for 5 total rounds, resting as needed between rounds. Perform the workout up to 3 times per week on days in between your normal strength training. If you do it at a brisk pace, it could double as a cardio session as well.

1. Tai Chi Twist

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 1:14 in the video above.)

Step 1. Take a wide (double shoulder-width) stance with your feet facing straight forward. Shift your weight to your right leg, bending your right knee and driving it forward, while you maintain a tall posture.

Step 2. Twist your torso so your body turns to the right. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you draw your arms back to chest level, and then straighten your knee, shifting your weight to your left leg, as you extend your arms and spread your shoulder blades. Keep your torso in line with your right leg.

Step 3. Twist your torso to face the left knee, bring your arms back, and straighten your left leg, lunging back to your right.

2. Mobile Table

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 2:56 in the video above.)

Step 1. Sit on the floor and bend your knees so your feet are flat. Press your palms into the floor behind you. Your fingers can face any direction that’s comfortable (many people prefer fingers pointing out to the sides).

Step 2. Roll your shoulders back and drive your arms down as you extend your hips, raising your butt off the floor as high as you can—ideally until your torso and upper legs form a straight line (think: table top). But stop before your shoulders shrug. It’s OK if you can only lift your butt a few inches off the floor, as long as you keep your shoulders drawn down.

3. Spinal Roll To Mountain Climber

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 4:51 in the video above.)

Step 1. Stand with feet hip-width apart and tuck your chin to your chest. Slowly bend forward at the spine, lowering your head down your body, one vertebrae at a time. Allow the weight of your head and arms to drag your torso down.

Step 2. Place your hands on the floor and step your legs back into a plank position (the top of a pushup, with your body forming a straight line from your head to your heels).

Step 3. Step your left foot forward so it’s in line with your left hand, and try to straighten your back again as much as you can. Now twist your torso to the left and reach your left arm overhead until your shoulders are stacked.

Step 4. Return your hand to the floor and walk your right foot forward so that it’s even with the left foot. Bend your knees forward and begin extending your spine, slowly, to come back up to standing. Repeat on the opposite side.

4. Internal Rotating Squat

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 7:06 in the video above.)

Step 1. Step your right foot out to just outside shoulder width. Bring your left foot in so the ball of your foot is lined up with the middle of your right foot. Plant the left foot with your heel raised.

Step 2. Squat down (you’ll only be able to go to about one-quarter depth) and rotate to the right so that your left shoulder is lined up with your left knee. Come back up, and repeat on the opposite side.

5. Shoulder Roll

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 9:50 in the video above.)

Step 1. Press your fingers into one another so your palms are open and straight, and glue them to the sides of your legs—try to keep your hands tight against your legs while your shoulders slide. Maintain that tension.

Step 2. Shrug your shoulders as high as you can, and then retract your shoulder blades to pinch them together.

Step 3. Draw your shoulders down so you feel a stretch in your traps, and then push your shoulders forward, spreading your shoulder blades apart. Continue making shoulder circles, striving for fluid movement between all positions.

6. Squat Sprawl

Reps: Go for 60 seconds

(See 11:30 in the video above.)

Step 1. Place your feet a little outside hip width and squat down until your knees are bent about 90 degrees. Keep a long line from your head to your pelvis so your lower back stays in its natural arch. Place your hands on the floor and extend your legs behind you so that you’re in the top of a pushup position.

Step 2. Lower your hips to the floor as you drive your palms down and extend your back, drawing your shoulders back and down (an upward dog position in yoga).

Step 3. Reverse the motion to return to pushup position, and then step your feet forward again so you’re back in the bottom of your squat. Stand up.

To increase the challenge, jump your feet back to the pushup position instead of walking your feet back.

See another bodyweight circuit in our guide to circuit training.

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