Resistance Band Loop Glute Workout

7 Days of awesome at-home workouts and delicious dinner recipes – delivered daily right to your inbox!
Sign up for our all-now “7-Day Home Workout and Recipe Plan” by clicking RIGHT HERE!

As a physical therapist, I see a lot of different patients for a lot of different problems.

However, oftentimes there are some commonalities between these problems that would warrant the same treatment – or in this case the same exercise.

Low back pain, SI joint pain, hip pain, and knee pain occasionally fall into this category with one of the biggest culprits being – HIP WEAKNESS!

Honestly – our hips are one area that the majority of us don’t spend enough time strengthening… especially when we really stop to break out into different planes of motion.

Think about your leg days. Chances are you’re doing squats, lunges, dead lifts, maybe some sort of step up, hip thrusters, etc. All of these are great exercises and should be done regularly – let me be very clear about that!

But they all have a commonality to them in that they’re working our leg muscles in one very specific motion. You get a ton of quad, hamstring, butt (glute max) and hip flexor activation, but essentially they’re all moving the same way – namely straight forward/backward – knee over toe.

Now like I said – these are great exercises, but we often miss the mark on hitting some crucial stabilizer muscles that not only serve a great function, but help your figure as well!

So if you want to strengthen your hips – I mean ALL your hip muscles – and make your butt and hips look full and round then you’ve come to the right place!

This is a series of 4 exercises that I’ll typically superset with my patients towards the end of a workout to really tap out all your glute muscles (especially the lateral hip stabilizers) to maximize function and form! I’ve even included video of these exercises so you can be sure you’re doing them right – keep reading down below!

But first (as always) a quick word about anatomy… 

Most of us know about the gluteus maximus – it’s the larger glute muscle in the back that everyone works for a bigger, rounder, tighter booty. You know – this one…

But did you know you also have two other “glute” muscles? In our body wherever there’s a “maximus” you usually have a “minimus” -as is this case – but we also have a glutues medius as well! And these are the muscles we’re after today…

You can see these muscles sit a little further laterally on the hips; strengthening them can really round out the glutes and help to get rid of any “dimple” you may have developed from asymmetrically overtraining the glute max.

So if you’re after thicker, rounder glutes; a stronger, more functional core; and knees that are free of pain – here are 4 of my favorite go-to exercises to quickly and effectively strengthen and tone these muscles!

No obviously you’re going to need some resistance loops for these exercises. If you don’t have any or your gym doesn’t have any you can pick them up for super cheap (less than $10 for a set of 4) online. CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR OWN RESISTANCE LOOPS TODAY! (Use code “UNLOCK20” at checkout for 20% off your purchase!)

1. Sore Cowboy – great for hip flexors, extensors, and abductors
   1. Put the band around your ankles
   2. Spread your feet wider than your hips
   3. Get down in a “defensive posture” – butt down with knees bent (quads engaged)
   4. Hold this posture while taking 10 big steps forward and then 10 big steps backwards

 

1. Crab Walk – great for hip abductors
   1. Put the band around your ankles
   2. Spread your feet wider than your hips
   3. Get down in a “defensive posture” – butt down with knees bent (quads engaged)
   4. Hold this posture while walking sideways – make sure there is tension on the band at all times and be sure not to drag your trailing foot.
   5. Take 10 big steps left and then 10 big steps right

 

1. Monster Walk – great for hip flexors, extensors, and abductors
   1. Put the band around your ankles
   2. Spread your feet wider than your hips
   3. Get down in a “defensive posture” – butt down with knees bent (quads engaged)
   4. Step forward and out – your foot should land outside of where it started.
   5. Take 10 big steps forward, turn around, and return with 10 big steps to starting position

 

1. Penguin Waddle – targets and isolates the hip abductors – glute med and glute min
   1. Put the band around your ankles
   2. Keep your knees straight and your toes in
   3. Walk sideways 10 steps while maintaining this posture
   4. Return 10 steps to the starting position.

 

REPEAT THIS SERIES 3-4 TIMES TO FEEL HIP MUSCLES YOU HAVEN’T FELT IN MONTHS!

Looking for more great hip sculpting workouts? Here are some of our favorites (click the image to be taken to the workout)!

 

Make it happen,

Jared