Hey, guys!
Trainer Amy Jo here today.
I have trainer Miranda helping me again.
We’re going to talk about how to tighten the underbutt.
Also known as the ‘ham-glute tie in’.
So, let’s talk about it.
I’m going to show you a few different exercises that are definitely going to help increase
the glutes, and also help decrease some bodyfat underneath the glutes to help show off that
hard work.
The ham-glute tie in, yes, is all about anatomy, but it’s also about how much muscle mass
you have there as well.
How far does your glute stick out underneath?
How round is your hamstring?
How lean are you?
Maybe you have great muscle definition, but you’ve got a lot of body fat covering it.
You kind of have to identify what your issue is first, and then target that.
We’re just going to focus on four different exercises that are going to help that area,
build the muscle mass first because we want to have that first.
The first one is going to be a hip thrust using a barbell.
So, Miranda is going to get in the position on a bench, and I’m going to grab the barbell
for her.
This is going right above your pelvic bone.
It’s going right along the pelvic bone, underneath your hip bones.
Lining it up there.
She’s holding each side.
You can do an actual barbell, like an Olympic lifting barbell, or this is a shorty, an easy
curl bar.
Her hips are lined up with the table top position and her shoulders are lying on the bench.
Nothing higher though.
So she’s going to breakdown and bend at the hip.
She’s going to drop her hips down and then drive up, pushing through the heels all the
way up.
So, you can see how high she’s coming.
You don’t want to shorten it and just – do it wrong.
Yeah, right here.
This is not contracting and you’re not squeezing.
You’re not getting the most out of this exercise if you’re not coming all the way
up.
Also, if you’re not coming all the way down – if she’s going just a little bit down,
and not as deep of a stretch, she’s also not getting that stretch underneath the ham-glute
tie in.
That’s also really important.
Two full things.
Get the full range of motion.
So here we go.
10.
Big stretch down.
9.
She’s pushing through her heels.
8, and 7.
You can see her tempo.
It’s a second up, and a second down.
It’s not too fast, it’s not too slow.
Four more.
4.
Big stretch.
3.
And she’s still holding onto the barbell. 2, and 1.
Then it’s a squeeze up at the top.
You can also do pulses with this, even at the end.
So, let’s say you hit 10 and it still feels a little bit easy, you don’t have any heavier
weights to add on next time.
You can increase the burn by doing some shorties, little pulses.
Right here.
8, 7, 6.
And she’s pushing through her heels, squeezing the glutes at the top.
4, 3.
Squeeze. 2.
Squeeze. 1.
Good.
So, I’m going to take this way.
That’s a great exercise to increase the ham-glute tie in to build muscle mass in that
area.
Increase what you want to increase and decrease what we don’t want there; body fat.
So, the other variation is a single leg.
We can do it without the barbell, but I’m going to have Miranda show us a single leg
hip thrust.
It’s the exact same position.
Make sure just your shoulder blades and your shoulder are on the bench.
You can extend your arms out, if you’d like.
Then her knee is planted right on top of her ankle.
Her foot is not too far out.
You want it stacked perfectly like that.
So, she’s dropping the hip down, getting a big stretch, almost to the floor, then she’s
all the way up again.
Good.
Big stretch down.
And all the way up.
She’s going to do 10 on this side.
8, 7, 6.
Once again, her tempo – notice the tempo. 5, 4.
Not too fast, not too slow.
2, and 1.
Good.
Then once again, she could do pulses here as well.
So, baby pulses would just be right here.
Same thing if she was doing both legs.
Okay, other leg.
We’ve got to even her out because that will drive me nuts.
Full range on the other leg.
Let’s get 10.
Okay, the knee is stacked right over the ankle.
See how she’s breaking?
Her shoulders and her head are still looking up.
Good.
Five more.
4, 3, 2, and 1.
Good.
Great job.
The other thing as well that a lot of times – it’s the neck.
You can lift your neck up while you’re doing those, but sometimes if you’re feeling some
strain on the neck it’s nice to relax and just put your head on the bench of a few reps.
So, if your head is up that keeps your spine in a line while you’re hip thrusting, or
sometimes it’s really hard on the neck muscles, too.
So, you can break, and relax, and put your head back.
That’s exercise number one.
Long winded, I know, but it’s really important.
So, we’re going to go to a ham curl.
Exercise number two.
This exercise is showing – I’m going to scoot you over here just a little bit, so
they can see from the side.
She’s going to hip raise up, then she’s going to curl in, pinching the glutes in at
the top, then stretching out again.
You see how high she’s hip raised up?
That’s the most important piece on this exercise.
Staying too low, you’re only going to use your calves and a little bit of your hamstrings.
You’re not utilizing the glutes and the ham-glute tie in for these.
We’ll do 10.
So that was, what?
Three?
4, 5.
You can see how her toes are up when she’s extending out.
Good.
2.
Last one.
And 1.
Perfect.
Good.
To make these harder, if you want to do advanced, you can do single leg.
We’ll just show about five reps on one leg.
This is a single leg.
Her hips are still elevated and she’s pulling in a straight line.
This is much more challenging, so if you’re not prepared for it being more advanced you
can rule these out.
This is a great way to definitely challenge that hamstring a little bit more.
Perfect.
Good.
Okay, so that’s exercise number two.
We’re going to move the ball away.
We’re going to move into a deeper split lunge.
This exercise I’ll show first without weight.
Miranda is going to get into a lunge position.
The lunge position.
A normal lunge position, her knee would be right on top of her ankle.
So, we’re focused on increasing the ham-glute tie in, so we’re going to extend her out
a little bit more, and we’re going to move this foot.
So now the knee is actually behind her heel.
Now, see how deep she is?
One, this is definitely going to challenge your flexibility.
So, if you feel like you’re unstable, or this is too deep for you, start by getting
more flexible before you perform this exercise.
This is so deep, there’s no other choice for her ham-glute tie in to actually do the
work.
This, she’s getting deep, and then she’s going to come up, out of the lunge, and then
stand back up.
So, we can stand back up, or we can actually stay in a stationary and bounce down, and
up in the lunge.
So, let’s try that.
Scoot up here a little more.
Yeah, good.
Then just come up, but don’t bring your foot – yep.
You see this small range of motion?
But there’s no other choice, but to use her glute here.
Yep, perfect.
Five more.
4, 3, 2, 1.
Good.
Then the other leg, let’s balance it out.
Pushing through the heel.
And hit it.
5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Good.
So, you can see, if she added the barbell – come right in here.
I’m going to put this on your back.
So, then she’s going to do her lunge.
The force is coming right through, down her spine, chest is up.
This actually helps keep her posture up and now she can do a reverse lunge as well, but
she’s got a deeper stretch.
So, she’s still alternating lunges.
She’s not staying just in that position, but she’s still getting that deeper stretch
back.
Great.
You can also use dumbbells, too.
You don’t have to use a barbell.
Perfect.
Okay, so our last exercise, fourth of the circuit, is called Froggies.
You just need a bench.
This exercise, I’m going to have Miranda lay down on her stomach.
Her hip bones are going to be lined up right with the bench.
You can do this on the ground as well, but you’re not going to have the stretch that
you would on the bench because you have the elevation.
She’s holding underneath here, for dear life.
Just kidding.
And she’s going to keep her head lifted, or she could actually rest her forehead down
to keep her spine in line.
She’s going to bend her knees, heels are touching, and she’s going to push to the
ceiling as high as she can and drop as low as she can.
You can see how she’s getting a stretch here.
She’s not going to get that when she’s on the floor.
So that’s why the bench is really effective.
She’s getting a stretch right in through the glute, ham-glute tie in, and then she’s
pressing her heels to the ceiling.
You can see the contraction here.
This one you want to go a little bit higher rep.
I would say 20, 25.
That’s why I also organized for this exercise to be fourth.
We’ve got the heavy lifting done and then this one is to burn it out.
The other variation is mountain style.
So, you can create a mountain with your heels.
You’re going wide first, and then when you come up high you’re heel tapping, but your
legs stay straight the entire time, and then they’re coming up.
So that’s another variation to it.
Then you would do high rep with those as well.
You can see how her hips are being lifted off right here.
See?
Ready?
Up.
She’s lifting her hips up, off the bench.
So, she’s getting that full contraction in her glutes.
You’d go high reps on those, 20 to 25, and put it more toward the end of your workout.
So those are four great exercises to increase the ham-glute tie in.
Remember, even if you’re building that muscle mass – which is really awesome, and it’s
going to show way more, even if you have some body fat – it’s going to show more if
you don’t have as much body fat in that area, but you also still have the muscle mass.
So, some areas are more stubborn than others and if that’s one of your stubborn areas
start by adding muscle mass first.
Then begin reducing body fat.
Thanks for joining me.
Leave some comments below.
If you guys have anymore questions I’d love to be a part of your journey.
Thanks for joining us.
I’m trainer Amy Jo with ATHLEANXX for Women.
Bye for now.