Up for a bit of cardio along with glute work for this week’s Best Butt Exercise? This one won’t disappoint. It’s a plyometric high paced exercise that is great for strengthening not only the glutes, but your legs as well.
Exercise: Ski Jumps
Muscles worked: Glutes, hamstrings, quads, cardio
Jolie Recommends: 3 sets at 30 seconds per set
Difficulty rating: 5
Effectiveness rating: 5
So, good news: you don’t have to be a skiier to be able to get the hang of these. The exercise is named after the pose that you start off in, because it’s as though you’re skiing down a slope.
While that might sound a bit funny at first, try spending a minute in this pose (feet closer than shoulder-width together, knees bent, butt down) and see how your glutes feel after that.
The activation of the glute muscles in this position is no joke!
Best Butt Exercise #28: Ski Jumps
Combining the ski position with a lateral motion jump is such a great idea!
Not only does jumping in a short sharp burst of motion add plyometric loading to your muscles, the lateral (sideways) nature of the move works perfectly to hit the gluteus medius muscle that will help fill out the sides of your butt to make it look more round. Yes please!
How to Do the Move
- Start in a standing position with your feet positioned close together, toes pointed forwards.
- Squat slightly by bending your knees and lowering your butt, as though you are skiing down a slope.
- Pushing up through your heels, launch your body up and sideways, to land about 2 feet to the right of your starting position.
- Landing softly, absorb the impact by cushioning with your knees and hips, sinking into the squat position again.
- Repeat the movement, this time jumping towards the left.
- Without pausing, continue to jump right and left, keeping the knees soft and glutes and core engaged.
Perfecting Your Form
You will feel this move in your quads, but to make sure it hits the glutes effectively, be sure to take note of the following:
- Knees should be forward over the toes the entire move, not pointing inward or outward.
- I find that keeping a slight squat throughout the jump, especially when landing, will really help to hit the glutes.
- Keep your core tight for the whole move, and squeeze your butt cheeks together the whole time to keep the glutes engaged!
- Don’t allow your hips to rotate out to the right or left when jumping. Face your entire body forward the whole time, even though you are jumping sideways.
- Be sure to keep your torso upright, and back straight. Don’t slump forwards and keep weight towards the back of your body if possible – this will also help recruit the glute muscles for the move.
Reppin’ It
This is a dynamic exercise that is great for cardio as well as your butt, so I find that it’s better to time myself with this one rather than counting reps.
Try for 3 sets of 30 seconds each, increasing the intensity and speed with each set. Take a 15 second break between sets, or longer if your muscles are quite fatigued.
Remember, never sacrifice speed for good form – if you find that your muscles are getting too tired to allow you to perform the exercise correctly, slow down or take a break until you are able to execute the move with perfect form.