In theory, life itself is a great workout for your glutes: just walk everywhere you can, take the stairs instead of taking the elevator, etc. It also helps you squeeze your glutes alternately while sitting: during meetings, working at your desk, or stuck in traffic. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Even so, today’s life pushes us to a sedentary lifestyle, and we spend more hours with our butt flattened on a chair than in motion, no matter how hard we try . To remedy it, in this article we show you six exercises with dumbbells to train glutes.
Why is it important to exercise the glutes?
Sitting all the time not only makes our butt lose shape, it forces us to have a bad body posture : generally, our body flexes forward, and contributes to a chain of muscle dysfunction and pain: the hip, lower back , the dorsal, the neck … and, of course, the glutes themselves. Therefore, it is important to exercise them to compensate for these negative effects as much as possible . And for that, a dumbbell exercise routine is enough to train your glutes anywhere.
The best dumbbell exercises to train your glutes anywhere
In this 30-minute dumbbell workout to build your glutes, you will do four sets of 6 exercises in the style of interval training circuits, but with your dumbbells. Do as many repetitions as you can of each exercise, and then go directly to the next. Rest only briefly between sets to produce the best results with a minimum of time and material.
Dumbbell lunges
The strides or lunges are an exercise that by itself already works the glutes; But, if you add weight to it, it becomes one of the best dumbbell exercises to train your glutes . To do this, you have to stand with your legs open, your arms extended towards the ground, and a dumbbell in each hand.
Next, step forward with your right leg so that the left leg is extended backward, and lower your torso bending your right knee as much as possible, but without ever touching the ground with your left. Then, squeeze your glutes back up to get back to the starting position. As we have said, do as many repetitions as you can, but it is recommended to do at least 10 on each side.
Romanian dumbbell deadlift
This exercise is perfect for activating your hamstrings and glutes while strengthening your entire back. To do this, you must stand with your legs open and your arms extended towards the floor with a dumbbell in each hand. Get into the starting position (bringing the dumbbells in front of your pelvis).
Next, slightly bend your knees and push into your hips. The dumbbells must descend through our thighs to just below the kneecaps , keeping the spine correctly aligned at all times. After this, we extend the hips to go back up and, once we have almost completely incorporated ourselves, we contract the glutes strongly to return to the starting position.
Dumbbell hip raises
This is one of the best exercises to train the glutes because it activates them and puts them to work like no other, since almost all of the movement falls on them. To do this, lie on a mat on your back with your knees bent.
Take a dumbbell in each hand, and place them on your pelvis while still holding them. Next, squeeze your glutes to lift your butt off the floor and lift yourself up until only your shoulders and your head touch the mat. While continuing to squeeze your glutes, return to the starting position and repeat the exercise as many times as you can.
Overhead squats
At this point, there is no one left who does not know that squats are the star exercise to achieve a heart attack buttocks. Although the quadriceps also work, they activate the butt in a spectacular way and tone it very easily. And, if we add the weight of one (or two) dumbbells to this activity, its benefits intensify.
To do overhead squats, you have to spread your legs a little further than the width of your hips, with the tips of your feet at an angle. We lift the dumbbell over our head by extending the arm to the maximum, and then we do all the standard squat repetitions – bending the knees, lowering the glutes, and not letting the knees go above the line of the balls of the feet. Then you have to change arms and repeat.
Dumbbell step back lunge
This exercise not only strengthens your glutes, but also works your core and balance in general. To carry it out, in addition to the dumbbells you will need a step ; But if you don’t have one, you can use a high step or curb .
To do this, we are going to perform the same movement as in the stride exercise, but in reverse: we will start from a standing position with our legs together from the step or step and then we will extend one leg back. Once there, and with both dumbbells gripped on both sides of the body, we will lower the trunk by squeezing the glutes until the back knee almost touches the ground, maintaining balance . And, squeezing the glutes again, we will go back up.
Romanian Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlift
This last exercise is a variation of the one we saw earlier that gives your glutes extra power. To do this, stand on one leg while holding two dumbbells in front of your body and your arms fully extended .
Slightly bend one leg and lift it behind you while articulating at the hips. Lower your torso toward the ground as your back leg passes behind you, leaving your arms dangling in front of you. Pause, and then reverse the movement, squeezing your glutes up.
