Strickland Fitness

I had many requests to post more about working the butt. The key is to make mind-muscle connection. If you are trying to work your butt, you have to be focused on working it. For example, when you do a bicep curl, your focus should be on contracting the bicep to raise the weight. It makes a huge difference to the muscle when you consciously think about what’s happening rather than letting the body go into auto-pilot. Do the same for your gluts.

Let’s put this concept to work. When doing a squat, try concentrating more on your behind rather than your quads. Imagine you are being pushed up from the squatting position to the standing position while squeezing your gluts. Activating the muscle with the mind will activate the muscle in exercise.

Here is a great butt exercise. Stand on a 12 inch high box with one leg. One foot should be on the box and the other should be hanging off the side right next to the box. If the right leg is on the box, lower your left foot (bending your right knee) until it touches the ground and then push through the right foot to raise to the staring position. Try not to let your left hip drop below your right. Keep your pelvis square the whole time. Really focus on lowering with the muscle and rising with the muscle. Don’t bounce the left foot off the ground. The most important aspect of the exercise is making sure your knee that is bending stays in line with your foot. Look down or in a mirror to be sure the knee is not collapsing inward. Go up and down 20 times focusing on the right glut. Do 20 on the other side with your left foot on the box and the right hanging off. Do 3 sets of 20 on each side. This a great exercise to activate the butt before moving on to other exercises.

I will post some more specific exercises for getting the perfect pair of buns.

Everyone wants a nice firm butt. It’s not only about doing the right exercises to tone the gluts, it’s about doing the right exercises right.  For most, the quads and hamstrings do most of the work in these exercises. The key is getting the gluts to fire. I will go over a few butt burning exercises and the important aspects of each one.

1Leg Squat

This exercise is great for targeting the gluts and quads while working on strength and balance. Stand directly in front of a workout bench or chair (for at home workouts) with the back of your legs nearly touching it. Raise your left leg out in front of you so your left hip and knee are bent at 90 degrees. Standing only on the right leg, slowly lower yourself bringing your hips behind you until your butt just touches the bench. Press through your heel to raise yourself to the starting position. Concentrate on not letting your right knee collapse in towards your left leg. Your knee should stay directly in line with your foot. Do 10-12 reps and then switch legs. Do 3 sets.

Walking Lunges

This exercise works the gluts, quads, and hamstrings while helping to stretch the hip flexors. You should have about 20-30 feet of space to do this. Take a big step forward, stop, and then drop your butt straight down. Your front leg and back leg should both be bent 90 degrees at the knee. Keep your back straight and stop lowering yourself when the back knee is a few inches off the ground. Rise up and bring the back leg even with the front and step that leg forward and repeat the lowering and raising. This sequence should be even paced and controlled. Go 20-30 feet and then return the same way. Do this 3 times. You can also hold dumbbells in your hands if you need more resistance.

1 Leg Pelvic Lifts

This exercise works the gluts, hamstrings, and the lower back. Lying on your back with 1 leg extended straight (about 2 feet off the ground) and the other leg bent (knee at about 45 degrees and foot flat on the floor), press through your foot on the floor raising your pelvis off the ground. You should raise it until you have a straight line from your head to the tip of your bent knee. Lower your pelvis to the ground and then raise again. Concentrate on activating the gluts while going through the motion. Do 12 reps and then switch legs. Do 3 sets.

The gluts can be hard muscles to train when you don’t activate them. Concentrate on making them work and they will work for you.

Volleyball Spike

How’s your vertical jump? Are you looking to add a few inches to your leap? As a former professional volleyball player, I can tell you that it is possible to improve your vertical with a few simple exercises.

The best way to improve your vertical jump is to jump!

The muscles in the legs contain two types of fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers are responsible for slow and powerful movements. A squat would be an example of a slow twitch muscle exercise. Fast twitch fibers are responsible for quick explosive movements such as jumping. In order to train these fast twitch muscles effectively, you have to do quick explosive exercises.

High vertical leap = powerful, yet explosive legs.

I used the combination of a powerful exercise followed by an explosive exercise to train my 42” vertical jump.

So don’t get rid of the squats; Add the jumps to it!

My favorite combination is to do a set of 10 squats at 50% of my 1 rep max followed by 10 jump squats.

With no weight, lower yourself into a squat and then jump up as high as you can. Land softly and immediately lower yourself into the next one.

3 sets 2-3 times a week is great jump training.

If touching the basketball rim is your goal and you just can’t seem to make it, try practicing trying to touch it. You will be surprised after a few weeks how just trying already increased your vert!