GLUTIUS WEEKIUS 30 DAY PROGRAM (WEEK 4)

Week 4 is a 9 day workout week and is the final crescendo in the Glutius Monthius program.

If you've completed every day in this program so far, and will continue to do so for the next 9 days than hopefully you've been able to see some pretty noticeable changes in how your glutes look and feel.

Below is the last infograph so be sure re-take your photo's again in the same clothes and from the same sides/angles.

Feel free to send me your before and after's too!

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS 30 DAY PROGRAM (WEEK 3)

We're half way through Glutius Programius so hopefully by now your glutes are feeling different (probably constantly sore unfortunately) but also starting to look a bit differently too.

Volume ramps up again this week using the same exercises still.

At this point your fatigue will be at it's highest and this can then have implications on motivation so I implore you stick with the plan and if you can get through week 3, then you'll be through the hardest part and you can essentially breeze through the last week.

If you have any questions or feedback then feel free to contact me.

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS 30 DAY PROGRAM (WEEK 2)

So how are your glutes feeling?

Sore?

I hear ya.

Looking better already?

They'd have to be.

Week 2 is much of the same but MORE volume.

You'll be doing the same exercises on the same days of the week with your progression being more reps per set which will set your glutes on forte more so than week 1 but that's the point of this whole dealio.

If you've got any feedback or questions on the program then feel free to reach out to me.

Here's week 2:

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS 30 DAY PROGRAM (WEEK 1)

All week we've gone through the best glute exercises in existence and today we put them all together to tear it up for the next 30 days but before you start the program I want you to do a little something.

I want you to take some photo's of your self either in a bikini bottom, skirt or pair of jeans - whatever you choose.

Just make it a clothing item you really want to "pop" in come this time this month.

Take a back and (each) side photo and store them away because in 30 days you'll take the exact same photo's with the exact same clothing on to compare.

Also before the program I encourage you to head to Big W, Rebel etc (I found the K-Mart one's to be the best personally) and get yourself some resistance exercise bands but if you can't do that for some reason then you'll need to drop the side step and monster walk exercises and then add 10 reps onto the prescribed reps in the program the other exercises.

You can simply do the bodyweight versions of the glute bridges and hip thrusts too with the lack of resistance being interchanged for extra volume - no biggie.

Here's the exercise list again:

Band Side Step (continuous reps)

Band Monster Walk (continuous reps)

Glute Bridge (2sec Hold at the top of each rep)

Band Hip Thrust (2sec hold at the to of each rep)

Deficit Reverse Lunge

Walking Lunge

Curtsey Lunge

I won't put the number of sets in but rather a rep total for you to complete so if it says 50 reps then it's 50 total reps in as many sets needed to reach it.

Just remember that you don't start counting reps until you feel the burn in the glutes and if at any point the burn moves from the glutes to another area then stop the set, rest for 20 - 30secs, re-start the exercise and again wait for the burn to creep in before continuing your rep count.

Got it?

Let's roll!

Here's week 1 of the program and each Friday I'll put up the following weeks training.

If you have any questions then let me know and feel free to get your friends in on this.

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS EXERCISE #4 - HILL SPRINTS

Day 1 - Mini Band Glute Combo

Day 2 - Glute Bridge/Hip Thrust Combo

Day 3 - Single Leg Exercises

Over the last 3 days we've shifted from training the glutes in isolation to integrating them into single leg exercises yesterday so today we'll put the glutes into full body movement through hill sprints.

Hill sprints don't get fully utilised in my opinion because they seem so simple to do and everyone wants to follow the latest gimmick or fad which is usually ordinary in comparison.

Hill sprints are brings more explosive contractions into the mix and the glutes being a big powerful muscle with muscle fibres running in all direction, is built for exactly this.

Check the glutes on speed and power athletes, especially in track and field, to see this in reality.

In and around the South Yarra/Toorak area we're lucky to have a few hills and stairs at our disposal but I'd much prefer you to use a hill over stairs if possible as stairs usually shorten your stride up making the exercise more quads then glutes.

Another caveat of stairs is that you can't quite go at full sprinting pace as you're conscious of not missing a step and coming a cropper so if you have, have, have, have to use stairs then do so and skip every 2nd or 3rd stair and build up your pace each set during one of these sessions.

Here are some hills in the South Yarra/Toorak area that I've used in the past:

Location: Woodfull Street, Orrong Romanis Park, Prahran

This is a level 1 hill that I used when I was coming back from a pretty serous knee injury 4 - 5 years back so if you're not in super shape then something like this is a good place to start and you can always upgrade to level 2 if it feels too easy for you.

Location: Orrong Road, Orrong Romanis Park, Prahran

This is a level 2 hill and is the one I used in the middle portion of my knee rehab back then. 

It is done on the footpath seen in the image above along Orrong Road down to Malvern Rd intersection and allows for longer runs then the others listed here.

Location: River Street, South Yarra

I have used this hill, located at the bottom of River St towards Alexander Parade, for multiple hill programs over the years.

It's vastly more acute then 2 previous options and runs for 25 - 30m (light pole to pole as you can see on the right hand side here) so it's the level 3 hill.

If you've driven/walked up this before then you'll know that the image doesn't really show how hilly this actual hill is.

Location: Como Park, South Yarra

This particular grass hill is located at the car park found at the top of Como Park and is an absolute cracker.

It's as acute as you can probably get for a grass hill (where' you'd probably slip too much if it was any more acute) and it's a a little bit longer than the River St option too.

You get about most of the way up and you think it's done then it keeps coming at you so it really forces you to continue to push hard through your entire lower body until you get to the very top, or you're at risk of pretty much rolling all the way back down again.

There are a variety of hill at Como Park varying in steepness and distance so feel free to use either of them.

A couple of tips on doing hills:

- Choose a hill that you can as fast as YOU can for at least 20m

- Hill sprints has the word sprint in it, meaning you must sprint, not coast or run pretty hard but actually sprint

- You can sprint but you can't sprint for long so keep your time per set to 10secs at the absolute top end but the 6 - 8sec range is better...more is not better, better is better

- With sprinting at 100% all out effort you need to rest so after each hill sprint rest at least 3mins between sets to ensure you can attack each hill sprint with maximal effort

Tomorrow - 30 Day Glute Program!!

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS EXERCISE #3 - SINGLE LEG

Day 1 - Mini Band Glute Combo

Day 2 - Glute Bridge/Hip Thrust Combo

For day 3 today we're going to have a look at single leg exercises and even though all those IG models put up videos of squats all.the.time., they are a sub-par glute builder more often then not.

Enter the single leg exercise group.

I have about a million single leg exercises but I'll limit it to just 3 today.

EXERCISE #1: DEFICIT REVERSE LUNGE (LEVEL 1)

You probably seen/performed reverse lunges before but maybe not from off a deficit/step which increases the range of motion of the step back/eccentric portion of the exercise and thus increases the stretch put upon the glutes and an inability to walk the next day.

Not that soreness is in anyway way a gauge for the effectiveness of an exercise or workout but it's always reassuring that you are using the correct exercises when you can feel them the next day.

Tips to optimise reverse lunges of any variation are:

- Keep a vertical shin on the front leg, especially as you step the back leg down behind you

- Keep a relative vertical torso but without any lower back hyperextension and a little bit of forward lean isn't the end of the world

- Step width again isn't a huge issue but if you can get a 90 degree angle through both hips and knees at the bottom position than you're in a good position for maximal glute usage

EXERCISE #2 - WALKING LUNGE (LEVEL 2)

Again you've all done this exercise before but the same rules from above apply here as well to tear those glutes to shreds:

- Vertical shin on the front leg, parallel shin on the trail leg

- A step width that results in a 90 degree angle on the front and trail leg in the bottom position

- A vertical, or close to, torso

EXERCISE #3 - CURTSEY LUNGE (LEVEL 3)

About 90% of the single leg exercises that you've ever done are performed in the sagittal plane meaning front/back and thus only really hits the muscles hard that are required to hold stability and positioning in that plane.

The Curtsey lunge introduces a side to side (frontal plane) and rotational (transverse plane) aspect so now all glute muscles and pretty much all their fibres (that run in all directions) get trained pretty hard.

This can all result in the most soreness of any of these exercises!

Same rules apply for the most part (vertical front shin, vertical torso, step width/distance that allows for a vertical shin) but this does require so extra ankle/hip mobility and knee stability/control to perform correctly, hence why l've given you 3 levels of exercises today but by all means do them all if you can.

Give these a crack and be sure to check in for the 4th and final exercise tomorrow.

GLUTIUS WEEKIUS EXERCISE #2 - GLUTE BRIDGE COMBO

In day 1, we looked at a band hip abduction combination with banded side steps and monster walks so hopefully you've given them a shot in the last 24hrs or so and felt their benefits.

For day 2 today we're going to have a look at a glute bridge combination which focuses mainly on the big glute max muscle but also incorporating some abduction, which was the main focus yesterday.

For just about anything you should always focus on getting the most from the least - looking for the minimum effective dose so being able combine multiple actions of the 1 muscle at the same time ticks those very boxes.

EXERCISE #1 - GLUTE BRIDGE

We've all seen and done this exercise before but like yesterday's exercises, the benefits of the exercise will come from focusing on the specifics of the exercise, and not just going through the motions pumping air like Buddy Love from the Nutty Professor.

The tips/sequence you need to follow is this:

- Start with your lower back flat on the floor

- Initiate downward pressure through your heels into the floor but don't go straight into your hip lift, rather "roll" your bum, hips and then lower back off the floor like a worm

- As you approach the very top position, you want to make sure that you have rolled the front of your pelvis up towards your rib cage

- Once at the top of the movement then you should feel a pretty decent squeeze going on there but just for good measure, give an another conscious squeeze as well as you can never be too firm.

- Instead of just falling back down to the starting position, reverse the steps you took to get up there

Bonus Point - to keep constant tension on the glutes, as you get to the floor let your back flatten but try and keep your hips rolled/tucked up and go back into the next rep

- Same as yesterday only start counting your working reps once you feel the burn coming on

EXERCISE #2 - HIP THRUST

All the same tips apply here but ensure that you are lowering your hips as far down as is comfortable for you, the extra range of motion through your hips has you working the hip hinge movement which is also a great glute builder.

EXERCISE #2.1 - BANDED HIP THRUST

If you've got a long band like in the video, then take note of how to get "into" the band than follow all the same glute bridge/hip thrusts steps from above, but make sure that you are pushing your knees out against the band resistance and you might take a slightly wider stance too, to hit some extra abduction.

If you've only got a smaller Pilates type band then simply pop it around your knees and off you go but you can also try placing the band just above or just below your knees and see which one's fores those cheeks up the best.

Let me know how you go with these and be ready for day 3 tomorrow.