Self Improvement with Irinä: Fitness: Workout: Glute Day Challenge

Hello darlings, welcome back to my blog.

Performing Barbell glute bridges , 60kg.

Here's one more Fitness/workout related article, called "Glute Day Challenge". The story behind this workout is significant and can give you a clue what to expect or why to try this out: In case you follow me on Instagram, you already know that leg day is my absolutely favourite one as my legs are the strongest and most dominant muscle group of my body. I enjoy training my legs because I feel strong enough to perform any workout routine i schedule no matter how challenging it is. On the other hand, this strength comes from the muscular hypertrophy which is excessive on my legs and the more i weight lift, the more muscle I add (quite fast) as a typical mesomorph. This sounds ideal until we consider that all the golden classic exercises which work neat on legs and glutes such as heavy squats (&variations), Romanian dead lifts, lunges, heavy cable kickbacks, leg extensions and curls (not even to mention leg press) stimulate BOTH the quads, hamstrings and glute muscles group etc. The problem with my body is that my legs (especially quads and hamstrings) absorb all the tension and pump INSANELY much, leading to a lot of bulk. (As you can see on the pic)

Hugest leg pump ever.

The outcome: my legs grow x5 times faster than the rest of my body so lately Leg Days have been of high concern as I do not want to grow them further but I still LOVE weight lifting and I need it to work on the rest of my lower body too. It took a lot of overnight research, a lot of hours on BodyBuilding until I was able to conclude on a Leg/Glute workout using heavy weights which would mostly target my glute area without stimulating too much my legs, at least not as a primary muscle group. Then, I made some variations, added 2 more exercises adjusted the sets and created the session in its final form. I gave it a shot and IT WAS EPIC. It worked pretty good on my body, I could definitely feel it working both during my workout (tons of sweat and burning) and post workout. It was really challenging as I underestimated the exercises a bit and to my surprise it didn't make my quads pump the usual unwanted way. If you face the same issue as I do, If you simply want to take the challenge OR if you want a different workout here and then to shock your muscles and prevent your body getting used to your regular routine, here you go:

Equipment used:

Barbell, weight plates, kettle ball, resistance band.

Warm up:

Go for 5-7 minute of your regular warm up (avoid HIIT). I had a REALLY LONG power walk as I reached the gym on foot (took half an hour).

The Challenge:

Weights: Use moderate to heavy weights, adjusted to your own skills and limits. Make sure they will be heavy enough to challenge you but light enough to let you perform a lot of reps.

Sets: I recommend adjusting these to your own level as well. If you are a beginner, it might be better for you to perform this routine on one circle (1 set of each exercise). For intermediates, you can go for 2 full circles with some rest between them. If you try it and you are still going you might be an advanced level so go for the full program I present below. I will write the kg i used as a reference on each exercise.

Explanations: I attached links to every exercise so simply by clicking on it you will be redirected to a page with demonstration and info.

Single leg Body Weight hip thrust : 1 set x 15reps, 2 more sets x12 reps
Kg used: body weight

Copyrights: Marc Jason Locquiao

Kettle ball swings: 4 sets x 12reps

Kg used: I used a large dumbbell of 15kg as I couldn't find any kettle ball at the gym

Barbell glute bridges: 4 sets x 12-15reps

Kg used: 60kg . First 2 sets were of 15reps, 3rd was 13reps, 4th was 12reps

(the exact exercise you can see displayed on the top of my article)

Body weight plie squats: 3 sets x 10reps

Kg used: bodyweight

(if you want to target your calves too, aim for the raised plie squats displayed below)

American dead lifts: 3 sets x 12reps

Kg used: First set: 60kg , Second and third set: 40kg

(the video i used for this demonstration also explains short and fast the difference between well known Romanian deadlifts and American ones)

Resistance band standing leg raises: per leg: 2 sets x 20-25reps

Kg used: bodyweight - First set on both legs was 25reps and second was 22reps.

One of my favourite exercises to perform on the go❤

That was it. If you still made it the whole way I congratulate you. I managed to complete the whole session but I was really exhausted. I will keep working my endurance around this routine here and then as a break on my usual lower body workouts.

You can also try to increase your weights and/or reps throughout the whole workout and perform the last exercise until failure if two sets were not enough to kill your muscles 😈

Do not forget to stretch A LOT and walk a bit (on a flat surface) post workout to help your muscles recover faster. Check out more about stretching and its importance on my relevant article.

Make sure you will fuel up your organism with carbs and protein as soon as possible after finishing your workout to replenish the lost glycogen, help your muscle tissue fibers to repair and get the most out of your training!

I hope you felt inspired to challenge yourself both on your physical and mental evolution. If you try this out, I would love to receive your feedback, impressions, results and statistics. I am glad to read your texts, questions and recommendations on my mailbox and social media so feel free to keep expressing yourselves! Thank you once again for your time here, may your days are filled with achievements, health and productivity. Come back soon.

Hugs,

Irina💋