Fire Up Your Glutes

Strong glutes, strong life. Today's workout is all about building powerful functional glute muscles that help the knees, the hips, the low back, all feel better, But let's be honest. I know why you're here today. I don't mind those aesthetic goals as well. Let's get to work.

Take yourself into a functional standard squat, a slight turnout into that anatomically sound position, and then go down and up hinging back, keeping those knees behind the toes. Maybe you've done this exercise before, but today is a new day, and we're focusing on the glute work. So press into the heels, push those hips forward, work in that full range, make sure that your spines continues to stay neutral so that you don't round the spine ever, but you sit back almost as if you are going to lose balance by pressing so far back into the heels, but try your best to stay on the mat today. Let's do two more before we go down into a pulse. So all the way down on this next one, hold it here. Let's get into the burn zone, lower down, lower down, shoulders back, long neck, right away, press into the heels, but also press into the outsides of the feet. So that you can ignite all the muscles on the inner outer thighs.

Let's do two more. Bringing yourself all the way up. Whoo. Already feeling it. Next, we go into second position. Nice and wide. Make sure that when you bend the knees, they're tracking over the second toe, that the tailbone is down, the arms come out, lower yourself down, lift yourself up. Second position, unlike the squat, Now we try to stay tall, so make sure your back is up against the wall, tailbone pointing down, crown of the head reaching up.

Let's do a few more before we hold at the bottom. Last one, hold it all the way down, and let's rock the hips from side to side. Yes. Last time I checked, the pelvis was designed to move. So we're gonna move it right now.

A little spicy here at Pilates anytime. It's gonna burn. So we might as well have some fun with it from side to side. Loosening up the pelvis is gonna stretch the low back. And in this exercise, we are getting those inner thighs involved. One more time from side to side. Bring yourself up.

And now let's go parallel and glue the legs together each of these positions focusing on those minute muscles around the glutes. So lower yourself down, inner thighs together, arms reach to me, lower yourself down, and lift yourself up. See how low you can go. Again, keeping your knees behind your toes, sweep the arms, for a little postural warm up as well. Yes. Today's workout is focused on the glutes, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna not throw in some upper body challenges as well. We're gonna feel complete, well rounded.

No pun intended. Let's do two more. This next one, hold it all the way down, and let's pulse it low. Down. Down.

Breathing, exhaling, maybe thinking of why we are doing this today. Maybe you're like me and you love to ski. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna be tackling those black diamonds. No problem this season. Anybody have a place in Mammoth I can come crash at? Let's do two more.

Hold it here. Make little circles with your pelvis in one direction. And then circles the other direction just to make sure the low back, the hips, everything gets to warm up a little bit before we come up, and hot coals. Take your feet apart and start shaking your feet out like you're on hot coals, hot coals, hot coals. We're trying to loosen up all the muscles here, get the heart rate up before we hit the mat. So let's have some fun here. I want you to feel all the jiggly bits going wild here. Shake it out. Shake it out. We have plenty of isolated exercises today.

Plenty of isometric colds. But right now, we're just letting it rip for three for two and one. Awesome. Now we are ready for some jumps. Let's go from that second position into the chair, four counts each. Hold it out in second.

We go four three, two, and either step or jump in, four, three, two, jump. One, two, three, jump. One, two, three. Let's go for two. One, two, jump, two, one jump out in. Let's go for singles out and in. Feel free to step from side to side. Otherwise, make sure those landings are really soft.

Heart rate is up. We've already worked three different kinds of squats, and this is just the warm up for our glute work. Two more Great job. Let's come to the mat. Whoo, feel that energy flow.

And let's come down to all fours for our single leg series rounding the spine forward, coming to all fours, giving yourself a cat cow to find that neutral spine right in the middle, preserving all of our natural curvatures. One more and hold. Let's focus right arm, left leg, reaching out in opposition, but keep the Pilates box, shoulders, and hips intact. Lift the arm and lift the leg at the same time, the same height, and lower. It's a little lift and a lower, soften your standing arm.

Make sure that you're stacked shoulder over wrist, hip over knee, and then find the longest reach that you can in two directions. Last two, hold it at the top, little pulses up, up, small pulses, deep breaths, targeting the glutes, and a little upper body postural work here as well. Let's do four more. Awesome. Lower the right forearm coming down to the mat and bend the left knee cross it over for the rainbow, take it out for the hydrant.

So a three-dimensional movement here, up and over hydrant, up and over cross behind, up and over hydrone, getting that mobility and strength through our left hip and stabilizing, centering through our right hip. Good. And we're working all the muscles that glute med Gloot max and everything in between. Let's go two more on this next one, lift it out to the side hold it, isolate the kick and bend out and in. Let's do a few here that isometric hold is amazing abduction on the left glute and that hamstring curl challenging our center of gravity. Oh, yeah. Last two, hold and bring it down to that right forearm for a variation on clamshell heels together toes apart option to lift yourself up for a side plank, and let's do a little lift halfway down.

Lift halfway down. If you wanna show off, you can do no hands. Otherwise, give yourself a little support. Heels together will ensure the symmetry, shoulder down the back. Let's do a few more here.

Before we beat the legs, we take it to side two. Last two Last one for that abduction laying on your stomach, forehead on the hands, lift the legs, and let's beat them together in, in, in, in, pull your abs in, in, in, in deep breathe in. Exale out. Squeeze the sits bones together, but keep the low back long and supported. Again, naval lifts off of the mat. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, child's pose. And let's take it.

Decide number two. Coming to all fours. Notice the difference on your right and your left side, cat cow. Extend. Take your right leg back, left arm forward, and let's lift both at the same time and lower at the same time.

So it's an up, and it's a down. What I do not wanna see is that you start to dip the low back. Instead, keep your body connected flat like a board while preserving those curvatures of your spine, trying to maintain everything that's there while you move these outer limbs out and away. Let's do one more. Hold it at the top. Make sure that you are stacked, hold it still, and little pulses up, up.

Again, no shoulder earrings. Imagine that somebody's pulling that right leg away from you, and you have to use your core to stabilize. Last few, lower onto that forearm, and let's make those yummy rainbows into the fire hydrant on side number two. So tendency is that people get all shakira hips about this, meaning that they're moving their hips like their belly dance thing. But in this case, I want you to keep your top half perfectly secure and move within your range of motion today, but then encouraging that three-dimensional movement Up and over to the right, up and over cross.

Also, remember to keep the distance between your rib and your hip open so that you are not collapsing in your upper body. You are just encouraging the length, the two way stretch. On this last one, we're gonna hold it up, and we're gonna isolate those kicks and out, bend, and kick. I feel like I'm can can dancing, or at least that's the image in my head to keep me motivated. Hamstring conditioning, abduction, Can you keep that thigh still in space? I'm doing the best I can, but it's still not good enough. I'm just kidding. I am doing my best and that's all that matters.

Last one, I see you at home working hard too. I see you Let's come down to the forearm and do our forearm clamshell multitasking. That's what we do around here in Pilates. Right? Lift yourself up, feel free to stay down, heels together. Make sure your toe comes apart as you lift the leg. Yes.

He'll stay together so we keep that connection from head to toe, lift that leg and lower halfway. A true abduction here of the leg. And that will help create strong hips. Strong hips mean a strong low back. Strong low back means sexy thirst traps.

Okay. I know why you hit play. I'm just saying. Last few. And this time, as we lay on our stomach for side two, let's bring our heels together toes apart, forehead can rest on the hands, lift your thighs up and down. Squeeze up halfway down.

Squeeze up halfway down. Most importantly, You're pulling your naval up off of the mat, keeping your shoulders and your neck relaxed, and just feeling those sits bones squeeze together, shaping the glutes, strengthening all the muscles. Let's do two more Before we sit back in child's pose and go for some ab work. Great job. Roll yourself up. And let me tell you, if we're gonna have a strong functional backside, we've gotta make sure we've got the front side to support it.

So we're gonna do some ab work now. Bring your feet out in front of you, and let's roll ourselves down to the mat just as we were. But now our clamshell is gonna be on tabletop. Wait to open and close your legs here and just see what is your honest range of motion? No need to force the turnout like my early days in ballet, no. We are honest, and we accept where we are at today, out, out, out, in, in, in, on this next one, hold it out, cradle the head, lift your chest, bring your right elbow to the right knee, knee to the right elbow, and let's pulse those together, pulse in, pulse in. Good.

So we're working the obliques. Yes. Elbow to knee. Elbow to knee. We're working the transverse. We are strengthening our powerhouse. So we have all the power in our glutes at our disposal.

Let's do three more up and over. Up and over, no break other side, up and lift, exhale and lift. So I'm giving you permission for that little bit of the pelvis movement that we warmed up with, elbow to knee, elbow to knee. Let's do about six more on this side, up and over, up and over, and then lower yourself down, feeling that work along your side torso. Bring your legs up, heels together, toes apart, crisscross the legs, and open, inner thigh relief, crisscross the legs, and open. That feels really nice.

Criss cross open, criss cross open. Again, if we're gonna work the outer hips, we need strong inner thighs. Yes. Everything is connected. The stabilizers allow the limbs to move. One more time on each side, finishing off with a criss cross, we're gonna add some tempo changes here.

To make sure we get a nice proper burn in our powerhouse. Let's criss cross from side to side, and here's the tempo I'm looking for to switch it up today. We go criss cross and hold Chris cross and hold. Keep it up. Chris cross hold at one side. Chris cross hold it to the other side. One, two, hold. Chris cross hold.

A few more to each side. As you look to the photographer's smile, the photographer loves you. Oh, last one. The camera loves you even more, arms down, shoulder bridge, lifting our hips up, and lowering our hips down. But today, for our glute workout, we're gonna get a little spicy with the London Bridge.

Lift the hips on one, lower halfway, lift on three, tap the booty on four. So we go up, halfway down, up, and tap. Up halfway down, up, and tap. I went to London this past year for the first time. The London Bridge was quite a sight, so I had to include the London Bridge here.

One more time here. And then lower down. But now the serious work begins because we're gonna try some exercises on one leg. So shoulder bridge so good for the glutes. Because we get to work in that extension of the spine as well.

Make sure your feet are planted, arms down by your sides. Take your right leg up for a classic kick. You're going to lower and point. See if you can get your flexed heel to touch the floor while keeping the extension through your spine and up. Flex down.

Point up. Four more. I'm really enjoying the hamstring stretch. And thankfully, we get that flexed foot to get all the muscles on the back of the leg. Now hold it at the top, 90 degrees, little pulses, press into your left heel, that standing leg, little pulses up. Up, up. If you want to add more difficulty for the last eight, reach your arms up and pulse up. That puts more weight into the glutes, into the hamstring, into the smile of the seat, foot down, arms down, roll down, break is over.

Side two. Lift your hips up, tuck your tailbone slightly, weight in the ribs and the shoulders, Let's take that left leg up. Flex the foot, test the waters. If you feel okay, let's keep it super classical, flexing that foot touching the floor, point the toe and kick. Flex and lower, point and kick.

I feel all those strands of muscle up and down my left leg. I love that I get to think about the stretch because that right leg is gonna get it in a second. Lift that leg on this last one and hold it at the top, point the toe, pulse it up. The first few are for you. And now I'm doing me, arms up to the sky, press it up. Press it up.

Small movement, push into the foot, lift the hips, just a little more. Let's do four, three, two, foot down, roll down the spine. Roll to one side and enjoy a downward dog as we transition back onto our feet. Press the heels one at a time. Go for a run because you're gonna need this little hamstring calf release If you're gonna get through the last standing sequence together, walk your hands and feet together, try not to waddle, soften the knees, tuck the seat, roll up the spine.

Awesome. Let's go for our final lunge series on one leg. You'll see what I'm talking about. Come to the front of the mat, take your left leg behind you into a lunge, and let's hold that lunge. Maybe you can go even lower.

Shoulders back. Again, I never accept a first offer. So feel free to lengthen your stride. Hip distance. Let's do it perfect if we're gonna do it. Down. Down.

Down, shoulders back, upper body active, pulse it down. We're gonna do a few more of these, feeling the burn, equally distributed through the legs. Last few. Good. Bring it up for your arabesque, that standing leg is gonna feel it, but the left leg points, squeeze your glute and lift.

We just did the glute work on our back, those shoulder bridges, so you should feel all of those muscles already ignited. A better connection with your long limbs in space. Feel where you're at today. Last four, three, last one, hold at the top, little pulses, up, up, up. Let's go and pinch the seat.

Last one. And now we squat that same leg lifts directly to the side. So it's squat, leg lift, squat, leg lift. I don't wanna see this. I don't wanna see back. I wanna see abduction lateral movement.

A little more explosive here as we squat low to get high. Good. Last four. Hold it at the last one. Balance, do your best. Little pulses. Smile, baby.

I hate when guys say that to me. But just a reminder to relax your face. Right? Last one. Awesome. Bring that leg in front. Hold it. Little circles.

We're gonna have strong glutes. We need strong hip flexors as well. Reverse it. Make those little circles just a few in each direction. Ultimate balance challenge, especially on this squishy mat. And stand.

Let's go to side number two. Lunch, find that longer stride that will allow you to go a little bit deeper. Flexion on the left side, extension through the right side. Let's tap it down. Down.

Maybe you can go so low that you can tap the floor, or maybe you wanna stay just a few inches above like me. And split the difference. Little taps down. Down. Again, checking in on the difference on your right and left side, different types of work as we go into our arabesque, bring it up.

Good. Now, lift that right leg straight back behind you and tap the floor. Up tap. Squeeze the seat. I don't know what else I can give you to warm up here.

We've worked the backside. We worked the front side. We worked the side side. So now in these final moments of class, you've earned the right to put it together to truly connect head to toe. And to put forth your best effort here, as we aim for the strongest glutes that we can muster together here.

Stay tough, hold at the top, little pulses, up, up, so small. I can't see them because you're already lifted. Already squeezing. Just that little bit of an accent. Eat more. I'm feeling this in my standing leg.

How about you at home? Awesome. Come to face front. Let's finish off at the squat. Let that right leg. Again, checking in.

If you notice that your leg goes higher than me, excuse me. Just kidding. That just means maybe you need to get that leg in that one line because right now we're focusing on a true abduction, and that is in that frontal plane. Good. Last few. After all those isolating exercises, it feels good to move a little bit.

I'm gonna go play some tennis after this. I don't know. Got the whole day ahead of me. Last two. Hold that leg up, but before I go play tennis, I've gotta do these small pulses, my nemesis, but we face on our biggest fears, and that's what makes us stronger here at Pilates anytime.

Last four, three, two, bring that leg to the front. Let's draw those small circles. And let's reverse those circles. Just like we're doing our leg circles on the mat. Last one.

Great job. Let's stretch it out. I'm so proud of you for making it through that workout with me. That was tough. Take your right heel down, stretch, drag it towards you, feel all those muscles in the back chain of that left leg. Good. And let's take one more deep stretch as we drag it towards us. And bring it up, bring that left, the right knee up, circle the ankle a few times in each direction, snap crackle pop, And then the dancer pose option to grab the ankle and stay here to stretch their quad, the front thigh, or inside grip.

If you're going for the gold, you can go for your dancer pose, and that will give you a stretch through your shoulder, your postural muscles, breathe, and bring it down. Let's go to the other side. Starting with flexed foot, drag that heel towards you, feel the stretch, hinging over that leg. You should feel all the muscles from the heel all the way into the seat. Breathe.

Luckily, we've already challenged our balance, so we can stay right where we are here. Roll out the ankle, thanking the ankle for holding us up today. So we could find all the muscles. Some maybe that we didn't know existed. Take your right hand to the right ankle, hips forward, abs in, breathe.

And, of course, our dancer pose, if that feels good for you today, kick and pull, kick and pull, get that external rotation in the shoulder, get the quad stretch, the back extension, all of it. And but it wouldn't be complete without without our final inner thigh stretch. So take a nice wide stance, and let's go to side number one. You can go as low or stay as high as you want. And as I always say, I like to get a little greedy on Pilates anytime. So I'm going for the gold here, getting all the way down, pressing that knee away, feeling my inner thigh, And then let's walk ourselves over to side number two, making sure that standing foot stays down and stays high or as low as you need to here.

As we bring it back through center, walk your feet back together, take your time rolling up, inhale, exhale, bring your hands up to heart center, and put your hands at your heart. I'm so proud of you. I know I say that a lot, but everybody wants strong glutes, but it takes a certain person to put the work in, and that's you today. Great job. Have the best day ever, and I'll see you next time on the mat.