Targeted Glute Exercises: Hip Bridges and Prone Leg Raises for a Perky Butt

Many people have heard the saying "No squats, no perky butt", which makes many girls eager to try.

and they have begun to try squats or barbell weighted squats.

But after a while, many people complained: the butt is perky, but the legs are thicker.

Although squats can exercise the gluteus maximus, they will inevitably stimulate other muscles in the legs, such as the quadriceps and hamstrings, which can turn your legs into "elephant legs" in a minute.

Therefore, more and more people are beginning to abandon squats as a sport to exercise perky butts, and adopt the following two more targeted methods.

If you want to have perky butts without thick legs, a method that must be mentioned is the hip bridge.

What are the benefits of hip bridge

First of all, the hip bridge training venue is convenient, and the clothing requirements are not high. You can start practicing with a yoga mat or even a harder bed or sofa;

Secondly, it can activate the gluteal muscles. In the running group, there is a classic summary: You may not run well because of your buttocks. It is about strengthening the training of the gluteal muscles. Strong gluteus maximus provides stability, helps you maintain pelvic balance, and can provide energy for your running to prevent injuries.

Stronger gluteal muscles = better running experience. Dr. Romanov wrote in the article: "If I were to recommend the most important training for runners, I would recommend hip strength training." Have a perfect butt!

The hip bridge can not only exercise the buttocks, but also keep the abdomen tight during the exercise. In the long run, it is also a good exercise for the abdomen.

In addition, the hip bridge also has a good improvement effect on correcting leg shape, false hip width and other problems. Therefore, shaping the hip bridge is really indispensable!

Of course, no matter what the trump card action is, it must be based on the correct exercise posture. Otherwise, the effect is not seen, and it is very likely that injuries will occur first.

How to do hip bridge?

1. Lie flat on the mat, place your palms down on both sides of your body, spread your legs slightly wider than your shoulders and bend them at a 60-degree angle, with your feet flat on the mat;
2. In the bridge position, your shoulders, hips, and knees should be at least in a straight line, and your hip joints can be slightly higher than the straight line, but never lower than the straight line;
3. The knee joint is close to 90°;
4. Put your heels on the ground and hook your toes;
5. The distance between your feet is the same as your hip width, and carry the ground on your shoulders.
6. Lie on your back on the ground, bend your knees, and place your feet flat on the ground
7. Lift your hips so that your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
8. Pause at the high position for 5 seconds, then lower your body back to the starting position.

It should be noted that the attention must be placed on the glute rather than the lumbar spine. Excessive force on the lumbar spine will not only fail to exercise the gluteus maximus, but will also easily damage the lumbar spine. Do not do the posture shown in the picture below!

7 bridge poses to lift your butt

Pose 1: Standard hip bridge

Lie on your back, bend your knees and spread your legs apart, with your feet on the ground.

Stretch your arms to the sides of your body, keep your arms on the ground, keep your head and shoulders still, and regularly raise and lower your lower back and hips.

Pose 2: Narrow hip bridge

The key to this action is to shorten the distance between your feet as much as possible,

bend your elbows and hold your arms behind your head,

also feel the stretch in your waist, abdomen and hips.

Pose 3: Wide-grip hip bridge

Corresponding to the previous action,

the key to this action is to widen the distance between the two feet as much as possible.

These two actions can stimulate different parts of the hip muscles respectively,

and the training effect is better when combined.

Pose 4: Frog-style hip bridge

The key point of this action is to keep your feet together.

While maintaining this state,

the hips and waist and abdomen are lifted up.

The stimulation of this action is more obvious, so you must stick to it.

Pose 5: Single-leg hip bridge

The upper body action is basically the same.

The left and right feet are placed alternately on the knees of the other leg.

Continue to lift the hips and waist and abdomen upward.

Changing some forms can not only add fun and freshness to the training,

but also make the training effect more comprehensive.

Pose 6: High hip bridge

This action requires a sofa as an aid.

The upper body action remains unchanged, the two feet are on the sofa surface,

the legs are bent at the knees, and the waist, abdomen and hips continue to lift up.

Pose 7: Weighted hip bridge

Any weight is the key to training muscle lines.

The same is true for the buttocks. Weight is imperative.

Note: It doesn’t matter if there is no barbell at home. You can use other daily necessities instead, or use elastic bands for resistance training!

Another more effective exercise than the hip bridge is the prone leg raise. Compared with the squat, the prone leg raise is a single-joint exercise (hip flexion and extension), which can more easily find the sense of force in the hips. At the same time, you only need a prone chair or box, which is very convenient to operate.

How to do the prone leg raise:

1. Choose a box that is more than one meter high, lean your upper body on the stool, use the hip joint as a fulcrum, and the height of the clamp is above the hip.
2. Grab the handrail to stabilize your body, raise your head and chest, stabilize your body, bend your knees slightly, and bring your feet together. The angle between the torso and the thigh is 90 degrees.
3. Contract your hip muscles, lift your legs, stretch your hips upward, keep contracting your hips at the highest point of the movement, squeeze your hips, then slowly return to the original position and repeat. Then lower your feet in a controlled manner.
4. Keeping your legs as straight as possible will increase the difficulty of the movement, and you can also bend your knees slightly.

Precautions for prone leg raise:

1. Slow down when your body falls to feel the tension and pull of your hips.
2. Keep the spine neutral and tighten the core muscles to stabilize the spine. Use hip extension instead of lumbar extension, and pay attention to keeping the lumbar spine stable at all times without any movement.
3. Keep your butt tightly clamped at the top of the movement

Due to the principle of leverage, prone leg raises can better stimulate the gluteus maximus, so it is an excellent way to exercise the buttocks without thick legs.

Having said that, as the largest muscle in the human body, it is not easy to fully exercise the hip extensor muscle and get it to grow, especially for women with dominant estrogen. Many articles about barehanded buttocks exercises only talk about movement techniques and fitness plans, but forget that there is another very important indicator-weight bearing.

Muscle fibers need to break before they can become thicker, and the breakage of muscle fibers requires heavy weights to exercise. Relying solely on the weight of the hip bridge is very limited.

For beginners, you can do hip bridges or prone leg raises in groups, 8 to 12 times per group, and it is more appropriate to feel a sore feeling in the gluteus maximus after each group. For handsome men and beautiful women with good physical fitness, it is very necessary to do hip bridge and prone leg raise with weight, because only in this way can the largest gluteal muscle be constantly stimulated and grow.

Finally, a reminder that hip bridge and prone leg raise will stimulate the lumbar spine. When exercising, attention should be paid to the contraction of the gluteus maximus. People with lumbar spine diseases should do it under the supervision of a doctor.

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