We do our fair share of squatting and deadlifting in CrossFit, but for some people, a little extra posterior training will go a long way to help you get stronger or alleviate some hip or back pain. Yes, back pain might be caused by weak hips or glutes! Here are 3 exercises you can incorporate once a week to start feeling stronger glutes!
1. Single Leg Step Ups
I sometimes call these "Toe Drag Step Ups" When stepping up on a box, drag your opposite toe up the side of the box as you stand and lower it against the box as you descend. Try not to touch the floor with that foot. If you get the reference, the floor is "hot lava" You can add weight once you can do 10 near perfect reps on each leg.
2. Glute Bridges
Glute bridges are a wonderful exercise to add load to since there is minimal pressure on the knees. The goal is to make the bridge as flat as possible, meaning, fully extend your hips and hold for a moment at the top of each rep. You should feel your glutes squeezing to hold at the top, at that's where your money is made! A heavy 5x5 or 3x10 once per week will be addition!
3. GHD Hip Extensions
Get some quality instruction on the GHD hip extension before jumping into big sets of these. To do the movement correctly, you need a lot of awareness and body control. Start with 3 sets of 10, with a 10 second pause on the last rep of each set. Once you can do those near-perfect, do the same thing with sets of 15 reps. Once you can do sets of 20, consider adding weight to increase the difficulty.
