Your glutes are the largest muscle group in your body. They’re responsible for almost everything your legs do—walking, running, jumping, squatting, lunging, and just standing upright. As far as moving through space goes, strong glutes are the bedrock of overall athleticism & the lunge is the queen of all glute exercises.

Master Lunges for Powerful Glutes

The most accomplished athletes have well-rounded glutes, especially if their sport demands a lot of explosive hip movement. Olympic gymnasts, sprinters, weightlifters, NFL athletes, and professional cyclists all have similarly intense demands required from their lower trunks.

Full glutes have been featured in ancient works of art for centuries and as a more recent obsession in pop culture. It’s impossible to miss when someone is gluteal-endowed and we may be hard-wired to notice:

“It stands to reason that both males and females were attracted to nice glutes, instinctively making the connection to big, strong glutes and survival, reproduction, hunting and protection.”

Bret Contreras, Glen Cordoza (2019); The Glute Lab.

So how do you build yourself one of those coveted plump rumps that men, women, and nonbinary people alike pretend not to side-eye? First of all, if you don’t want a bigger butt, you’re lying (even if you’ve already got one), so let’s accept that fact. Second, it pays to understand your anatomy.

Glute Anatomy Refresher

Your glutes are made up of three major muscles that articulate your hip joints in several different directions:

• Abduction (moving the leg away from the body, out to the side)
• Extension (pulling the leg out behind you when running)
• External rotation (butterfly pose or frog stretch)
• Internal rotation (hockey goalie stance)

The largest and most known, gluteus maximus, does the bulk of the work and is the main muscle we have to thank for keeping us bipedal. Its number one job is to bring your body back to an upright position after stooping, crouching, or squatting.

The second largest muscle, the gluteus medius, is most responsible for internal and external rotation of the hip, while the smaller gluteus minimus helps to abduct the thigh.

Why Lunge?

Lunges hit all of the major muscles in your posterior chain: quads, hamstrings, calves, and of course, your glutes. Thinking back to our anatomy, lunges are the exact up-and-down movement that the glutes are in charge of. Weight training with lunges adds load to your glutes to make them stronger in their most purposeful movement: pushing your legs against the ground.

Lunges are excellent for unilateral strength—they also challenge your hip and core stability. They’re the perfect bodyweight movement to burn out your butt for accessory work, but if you want real glute hypertrophy and soreness, weighted lunges are the way to go.

Start working in a few sets of heavier or high-rep lunges once a week and check that dump truck in the mirror again after a few months. Use our guide and try every lunge variation out there to keep things spicy.

How to Do Barbell Reverse Lunges

Points of Performance

Lunges are super versatile and can be done without any equipment or holding whatever weight you have available. The barbell lunge is pretty basic so we’ll focus on that to break down the form, then cover other variations later.

No matter where you hold weight, your core should stay tight and stable.

If you start to wobble, or your back loses tension and your core turns to mashed potatoes, scale the weight down to something more manageable.

Forward vs. Reverse?

Both variations work the entire posterior chain, but there’s a slight emphasis on the quads with forward lunges and a slight emphasis on the glutes with reverse lunges. For our booty-building purposes, we encourage step-back or reverse lunges.

Setup

Unrack the barbell on your back like you would for a back squat. With your feet about hip-width stance, keep your chest up and brace your core to make sure you’re not arching into your low back. Maintain a neutral spine with your eyes forward.

Lunge

Step one leg back landing on the ball of your foot and allow your back knee to kiss the ground. You only need to go back far enough to create about a 90 degree angle with your bent front leg. Most of your weight should be in that front leg, while the rear leg is mainly there for balance. Keep your front knee tracking in line with your toes, don’t let it cave in or flare out. Maintain an upright torso, no leaning.

Recover

Press into the ground with your front leg (feeling your glutes fire) and bring the rear leg up to meet the front, coming back up to a standing position. Repeat for reps on the same side, or switch legs to alternate.

Lunge Variations (change how you hold the weight)

Lunges are a natural movement that don’t require equipment. But if you want to hold weight for stronger glutes or mix up the way you lunge, there are a ton of ways to do it. Pretty much any of the ways to hold weight below can be combined with any of the ways to lunge, so pick your poison.

Suitcase Lunge

As the name implies, hold a dumbbell, kettlebell, or soup can in each hand down at your sides, like you’re carrying two suitcases. Like a farmer’s carry, this variation works the stabilizers in your shoulders as well.

Back Rack Lunges

Hold the weight on your back like you would for a back squat (reference our Points of Performance above). Feel free to try this one using a sandbag, family pet, or small child.

Front Rack Lunges

Hold a barbell, kettlebells, or dumbbells on your shoulders like you would for a front squat or when catching a power clean. Keep your elbows pointing relatively forward to support the weight.

Bowtie Lunges

This cutely-named variation is reminiscent of the goblet squat and a good way to lunge with lighter weight. Hold a single dumbbell under your chin, gripping each head in one hand (which looks like you’re wearing a bow tie).

Single Arm Lunges

Hold weight in one hand at a time for any variation of your choice. This will challenge your midline stability and balance more than supporting weight equally in both hands.

Overhead Lunges

Hold a weight overhead with one arm at a time or both. This is a more advanced variation, so be sure to keep your ribs down and core tight to keep from arching your back or overextending your shoulders.

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The ultimate bodyweight movement that even good athletes struggle with: pull ups. Getting your first strict pull up as a beginner is a huge accomplishment, but stringing multiple reps together is arguably just as huge. It can take time and some dedicated progressions to get there.

Pull ups are at the crux of human evolution. Our arboreal primate relatives build nests in trees to keep away from predators and scavenge for fruit—how do you think they get up there? Any regular rock gym member will agree, climbing is in our nature. The most basic and effective climbing movement is the pull up.

Why Are Pull Ups So Hard??

Your lower trunk holds the largest muscles in your body, your glutes and legs. The muscles of your upper trunk, your arms and back, have less mass. It takes a ton of effort to generate enough power against gravity to move all that posterior chain weight through space using only your upper body. Basically, you’re heavy.

One of the great things about practicing pull ups is that you don’t need a ton of equipment, just a pull up bar. And barely that. A low-hanging branch in your nearby park could work, just make sure it’s sturdy enough to hold your literally heavy ass.

Check out our tips to improve your pull up strength and technique so you can start repping them out like a true monkey/gymnast. The goal for most of these movements is to spend more time under tension in the challenging parts of the pull up. The stronger you get at each progression, the more efficient your pull ups will be.

5 Tips for Better Strict Pull Ups

A Note on Pull Up Grip

For all of these pull up exercises, you should be using a double overhand grip positioned just outside shoulder width with your thumbs wrapped around the bar, not on top. There’s a time and place for thumbs on top, but it’s not for strict pull ups.

1. Dead Hang for 1:00

Also known as a passive hang, the dead hang from a pullup bar may look like nothing is really happening, but set a timer for just one minute and see how long you can make it. When your forearms and shoulders are screaming, you’ll know for sure there’s more to it.

Hanging from the bar for as long as you can challenges your grip strength, stamina, and overhead mobility. Relax your shoulders and start with :20-:30 seconds at a time. Don’t underestimate the dead hang. Take your time to build up to one minute.

2. Work on Scap Pull Ups

From the dead hang, activate your scapula by pulling down on the bar, squeezing your shoulder blades, and moving your shoulders away from your ears. Don’t let your legs and back get loosey-goosey. Keep your core tight and maintain a hollow body so your feet are slightly in front of you

Holding this tensed position is called an active hang and it’s the very first part of a strict pull up.

You don’t just use your arms when doing pull ups. Your “chicken wings” or scapula muscles in your upper back are some of the primary movers. Being able to control them on their own is necessary for effective pull ups.

Move between passive hang and active hang by relaxing your shoulders, then pinching them together again. Now you’re doing scap pull ups.

3. Do Holds & Negatives

Use a box or bench to jump up into the top position of a pull up with your chin over the bar and your elbows bent. Again, keep your core tight and don’t let your back arch or your legs swing. Point your toes for extra credit. Hold this position at the top of the pullup for as long as you can, then lower down into the negative.

For the negative, slowly lower down from the hold position with a 3-5 second count. (This is considered the eccentric part of the movement.) Keep the negative slow and controlled through the entire movement all the way to the bottom of a dead hang—straight elbows and relaxed shoulders.

If you can master holds and slow eccentric negatives, you can master strict pull ups.

4. Use Bands to Lighten the Load

If you have access to a thick or wide band, you can lighten the load on your upper trunk (“the load” being the rest of your body). Loop the band around your pull up bar and pull it through itself, then tighten. You’ll be left with one loop hanging securely from the bar that you can slip your foot or knee into for extra support.

Step into the free-hanging part of the band, then work on getting in a ton of volume on your strict pull ups. The band will let you do more pull ups than you can manage unassisted, which feels great and gets you in the mental headspace of stringing together more reps.

Bands are good tools, but use them sparingly and don’t rely on them forever. Ultimately, you’ll get stronger without it.

5. Segmented (Partial) Pull Ups

If you can do one or two strict pull ups, segmenting them is an excellent way to work on the weakest parts. Remember, your weak points are what prevent you from stringing more pull ups together.

Chunk the pull up into three segments:

1. To work the end of the pull up, jump to the top with your chin over the bar. Lower just a few inches until your eyes pass the bar, then come back up. Repeat for reps.
2. For the middle of the movement, jump to the top of the pull up again, but this time lower down until you’re about halfway. Come back up to about eye-level with the bar, then repeat. This is probably the trickiest spot for most people, since it’s the most mechanically disadvantaged.
3. Work the very bottom of the pull up starting with a scap pull. Pull yourself a little higher, then lower back down into a full dead hang.

You can also do segmented negatives if you have some extra sticky spots. Drill the segments for long enough and get ready to PR your max strict pull ups!

Happy Pulling, Heroes!

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Increase Your Total With Expert Oly Programs

It’s maddening — one day you’re feeling fresh and rested, but missing should-be easy lifts at 70%, like the lifting gods cranked up the gravity on your platform. Then, on a day when you’re feeling “just ok,” by the mercy of whatever moon phase or planet alignment or hormonal cycle, your 90% lifts are smooth as butter. Maybe you even hit a PR (a miracle!).

It’s enough to make an athlete want to light some candles, draw some symbols, and sacrifice a goat on the platform.

You might have some idea which parts of your lifts need work, but you don’t know why it’s always your overhead positioning or what to do about it. You’re tired of stalling, hitting the same plateaus, or feeling like you’re just sort of playing around with weights instead of aiming for solid goals.

Quality Programming Will Always Move the Needle

We’ve compiled the absolute best online weightlifting teams and programs in the TrainHeroic Marketplace. Get daily programming delivered to your phone where you can track your percentages and message your coach for individualized feedback.

No more lifting cycle guessing games. No more chilling in your comfort zone or staring blankly at a loaded bar.

From seasoned veterans to the newbies training for their first meet — these programs focus specifically on Olympic weightlifting technique, skill, strength, and power with meaty complexes and form drills written by star coaches.

Grab your wrist wraps, lace up your lifters, and get ready to put in the work.

Our Top Olympic Weightlifting Programs

1. Earned Not Given

Programs by elite USAW champ and cat-loving badass, Mattie Rogers @mattierogersoly, have been in high-demand for ages. Known for her grit and transparency about mental health, this 2020 Tokyo Olympian has years of professional competition experience behind her training. Get personal coaching, learn weightlifting insights, and exchange memes with Mattie so you can lift like an Olympian. Newbies! Mattie also offers a beginner-level track to get you started.

(PS. Her inclusive new athletic apparel brand, Viicaya, is definitely worth checking out.)

Click here to get it.

2. Catalyst Athletics

Greg Everett @catalystathletics is known in the lifting world for his no-nonsense approach and prolific books, blogs, videos, and bomb educational content from 10+ years in the industry. He’s coached international medalists, national champions, and record-holding athletes. Catalyst offers other teams and programs depending on your WL journey — Aimee Anaya Everett (Mattie Rogers’ coach) hosts an exclusive team for women: Aimee’s Ladies. 

Click here to get it.

3. Cal Strength Club

Founder and head coach, Dave Spitz @cal_strength, is a USAW Senior International Coach with over a decade of experience training all levels of weightlifters to put up fat totals. His programs have turned out record-holding beefcakes like Olympic champion, Wes Kitts @weskitts22, who also coaches for the Cal Strength team. Apart from the Club, Cal Strength has a ton of other teams and programs to fit whatever pieces of the Oly puzzle you need to work on.

Click here to get it.

4. Yazmin Stevens 8-Weeker

If you haven’t heard of her, Yazmin Stevens @yazmin.stevens is a national champ, repping Malta as a 64kg lifter at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She’s won mutiple international titles and is a member of the IWF Athletes’ Commission. Her gym in Malta, The Training Room, combines Crossfit-style functional fitness, gymnastics, engine work and Oly weightlifting for next-level fitness. Don’t sleep on her 8-week program! 

Click here to get it.

5. Squat University: Back to Basics

Chad Vaughn @olychad and Dr. Aaron Horschig are the wise wizards behind the hugely successful Squat University @squat_university. Chad is a two-time Olympian, national champ, and USAW record-holder with a CF-L2 cert. Aaron is an athletics-focused PT, S&C coach, and published author of some incredible books on functional movement. Together, their two-part program emphasizes strategic mobility, quality movement patterns, barefoot warmups, intense volume and progressive overload.

Click here to get it.

6. CH Fitness & Performance

Olympian and USAW Hall-of-Famer, Cara Slaughter @caraheadsslaughter, runs the show at CHFP @chfpweightlifting. She’s an international coach whose weightlifting methodology is based on patience, practice, and effective positioning. Choose from a menu of training options including off-season programming and 3, 4, or 5 sessions per week. Cara rocks as a champion for the POC community by hosting clinics and training camps that make Olympic lifting more accessible to black women.

Click here to get it.

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Get in Peak Performance Shape for Your Next Meet

The powerlifting community is one of sacrifice—giving up your time for hours in the gym, giving up cable flys and cardio for compound movements, giving up size L shirts for XXXL. Putting up the biggest numbers possible means feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck on a regular basis and almost nobody wants to do that.

Not to mention all the food a lifter has to eat in order to become an absolute barbarian. They never tell you that eating for size and strength is a full-time job.

But there’s nothing like the energy on meet day. Everywhere you turn: tattooed meatheads with traps that look like they belong on black angus bulls, chests like flank steaks, legs that can squat whole cars, and enough back hair to make a grizzly bear blush.

Like other strength sports, powerlifting training can be repetitive and isolating. Every week you’re hammering away at your squat, bench, and deadlift to move the needle on your numbers. Sometimes you’re doing all the work solo in a dark, chalky corner of the gym.

But the truth is: all the nose torque in the world can’t out-perform shitty programming.

Whether you like to focus on raw lifts, single-ply or multi-ply, you need to see progress on your max effort attempts—otherwise, what’s the point? Why suffer if you’re not getting stronger across the board?

Ditch Your Excuses and Get to Work

TrainHeroic offers professional powerlifting training sessions delivered to your phone from some of the biggest, baddest PL coaches in the world. Track your squat, bench, and deadlift numbers over time. Keep tabs on your training with direct access to your coach. You can even expect to work on some of those neglected accessories that’ll give you an edge like grip strength and optimal pulling position.

If you’re waiting for a sign to get serious, this is it. Grab your belt, your straps, your chalk, and lace up your chucks.

The Best Online Powerlifting Programs

1. Wenning Strength Conjugate Training

With a PhD in Kinesiology and world records in both equipped and raw powerlifting, Matt Wenning @wenningstrong is one heck of a strength coach. Over the years he’s trained monster powerlifters, NFL players, and tactical athletes like police, military, and special forces. The Wenning Strength team pushes both hard training and strategic recovery for a super effective take on the conjugate method. 

Click here to get it.

2. Greg Panora Training Systems

Greg Panora @big_papi_panora is an OG in the world of powerlifting. He trained at Westside Barbell under Louie Simmons when the legacy of blood, sweat, and savagery was just beginning. With two decades of experience and seven world records under his belt, Greg has the authority to tell it like it is. Effort and intensity are the bottom line on Greg’s team—stick to the basics, show up and lift with a purpose.

Be sure to check out his Hypertrophy Program for serious size gains.

Click here to get it.

3. BonSchroGO

Bonnie Schroeder @bonschro is one bad babe. She won her first PL comp at age 26 and has continued strength training after a double mastectomy. Bonnie’s powerbuilding team is “zero bullshit” programming designed to develop your strength, aesthetics, and confidence with a barbell. She’s clearly committed to developing a community of passionate athletes who empower and motivate each other to courageously harness the badass within.

Click here to get it.

4. Team Unchained

Unchained Strength @unchained_strength is run by tatted powerlifting bombshell, Christy Senay @krispy_kremez, and her strongman beau, Gary Piotrowski @gary_biceps. Christy started her fitness journey with weight loss, but soon discovered the mad love for lifting heavy. Her carefully crafted programming is influenced by both strongman and powerlifting methods. Unchained Strength also offers a killer powerbuilding program, Look Strong Naked, if you’re tired of fitting the “fat powerlifter” stereotype.

Click here to get it.

5. Tactical Powerlifting by Josh Bryant

Based out of Texas, Josh Bryant @jailhousestrong, is a world-record powerlifter and winner of the 2005 Strongest Man in America title. Josh has put in the reps over time as a coach, author, and speaker in the S&C space. His Tactical Powerlifting is no-frills training that helps athletes feel prepared to perform in life or death situations. Expect a gnarly combination of barbell work and functional movements like pulls, rucks, carries, and sled drags. It’s “good old fashioned hard work, sweat, persistence, and sacrifice.”

Click here to get it.

6. Conjugate Powerlifting by Queen Bee Power

For the bulky bitches and brawny baddies in the LGBTQ+ community, has you covered! “QBP is written by Laura Phelps @queenbeepower who has broken 45 All-Time powerlifting world records in her 10 year powerlifting career. Laura was the first female to total 11x bodyweight, and is still, by formula, the highest ranking equipped female powerlifter of all-time.” Absolutely badass.

Click here to get it.

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It’s Time to Become Your Biggest & Baddest

Time to maximize your genes, get scary big and saucy lean with some of the top online programming for bodybuilders in the TrainHeroic Marketplace. 

No more wandering into the gym without a plan or training through lame, repetitive workouts, unsure if you’re actually getting anywhere.

No more “we’ll just see how I’m feeling today.” 

Get daily training delivered to your phone and real individual feedback from award-winning coaches who could only respond to your Instagram DMs in your dreams.

A sure-fire path to success is to surround yourself with people who do what you do and have what you want. With the right program and an online community of like-minded heroes who are hell-bent on having a superior physique, you can build a bod like a Greek god (if Greek gods lived on chicken and rice).

Don’t sleep on these. Punch your ticket to Gainzville with some of our favorite bodybuilding programs, then go ahead and take your “before” picture.

The Best Bodybuilding Programs on the Internet

1. Jacked Street

Coach John Welbourn @johnwelbourn of PowerAthleteHQ is a former NFL athlete with some no-nonsense methods for bodybuilding. His “holistic approach to traditional bodybuilding” pairs compound movements for building strength—because you can’t be jacked without being strong—with strategic accessory work for hypertrophy. You won’t find any Olympic weightlifting programmed here, but there’s room to work it in if that’s your style. 

“Jacked Street has been packing slabs of meat on Residents since 2015.” We can vouch.

Click here to get it.

2. Built Like a MF

Listen up baddies 📢 meet your new strength and lifestyle guru. Coach Maddy Maddawg Forberg @maddyforberg isn’t here to mess around. With a background in powerlifting, Maddy’s program is backed by science so you can build a body you’re proud of. BLAMF is geared to get you strong with compound movements and lean with upper/lower body training sessions for hypertrophy, turning you into the confident bad b*tch you were meant to be. 

New to fitness but ready to put in the work? BLAMF is also beginner friendly.

Click here to get it.

3. Ogus Daily

NPC Champion and physique coach, Matt Ogus @mattogus, is striated and thicc in all the right places. He preaches consistency in tracking your lifts, eating enough protein, and optimizing your sleep. He even cleverly equates nutrition to finances in this post and we love him for that. The guy knows what he’s doing and it shows in his medals. Do what he does and you might just get what he’s got.  

Ladies! Matt also offers a womens’ physique program: Vixen. Let his own dump truck serve as testament to his ability to build yours.

Click here to get it.

4. Optimal Bros

Ryan Jewers @ryjewers is another no-nonsense coach with an evidence-based approach to his training methodology. He’s a kinesiology Masters’ candidate with a long background in hockey and is currently training to compete in the Classic Physique division. He offers three programs:

• Optimal Bros: 4 Day Upper/Lower Split
• Optimal Dawgs: 3 Day Full Body Split
• Optimal Gals: Women’s 4 Day Lower/Upper Split

Click here to get it.

5. Golden Era Aesthetics

Coach JP Gallardo @jpgcoaching has a fan following for a reason — he knows his stuff, he doesn’t buy into fads, and sticks to the basics that actually work. His style of training leans into the “golden era” of bodybuilding with foundational movements for massive hypertrophy. He’ll help you nail your lifting technique to look less like a noob over time.

He also happens to be a really chill guy (our marketing team met him in person at the Arnold).

Click here to get it.

6. Alpha Babe

Elite CrossFit Games athlete, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet @camillebaz, changed directions after retiring from competitive CrossFit and becoming a mom. CLB is a powerhouse of information with the body to boot. In her words: “Alpha Babe pairs advanced functional bodybuilding methodology for women to help create well defined physiques while simultaneously creating elite athletic capacity thanks to science-based fitness programming.”

Click here to get it.

7. Paragon Training Methods

Since their transition from an outdated app into our system, Paragon has soared in users. Coach Laurie Christine Tongate (LCT) @lauriechristinetongate has done a TON of work in the strength space, especially for women who need help unpacking good fitness, nutrition, and recovery habits. Paragon offers physique programs for home gym, full gym, and dumbbells only, so you have no more excuses — get the body you want NOW.

Click here to get it. 

8. Yoke Squad

Paul Carter @liftrunbang1 is a lean, mean muscle machine with some popular programs in the bodybuilding space. Paul puts out a ton of educational content to go along with his programs — tips on growing fuller muscle, how to train each movement more efficiently, how to target specific tissues with tempo and intensity. Don’t look for a shoulder to cry on here. Paul is ready to tell it like it is and won’t hesitate to call you out on your BS. 

Paul also puts out a program for women in the physique space geared toward building the shapes ladies want most: Valkyrie

Click here to get it.

9. Team Aesthetics

Evan Holmes @evan_holmes_ is stacked and natty (though you wouldn’t believe it) with a big, mean physique that comes from years of working hard, digging through misinformation, and building confidence through lifting. His Team Aesthetics is a monthly subscription, not a one-time purchase program, so you get feedback from him and a community of like-minded athletes to train with.

He also seems to be bros with JPG, which we think is super cute. 

Click here to get it.

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Your hamstrings are not just for decoration or making yoga feel impossible. They’re essential for basically any athletic movement involving your legs—jumping, running, lunging, squatting, and picking up weight.

Add these eight killer hamstring exercises into your training rotation and watch your posterior chain strength soar.

Get Stronger Pulls & Shapely Gams With These Hamstring Exercises

 Usually when you think of well-developed legs, you imagine thick quads with a sculpted teardrop shape above the knees. The front-facing quad muscles get a lot of attention as primary movers of your posterior chain. But think of how ridiculous bodybuilders would look from the side with those massive quads and itty bitty hamstring muscles.

Your hamstrings team up with your glutes to drive you forward during sled pushes or launch you upward when dunking on the court. Not only do they provide raw power for your squats and deadlifts, but full hamstrings widen the overall shape of your legs and test the stretch in the leg holes of your workout shorts.

If you want to improve the landscape of your legs, especially how they look from the side, adding focused hamstring work into your training is non-negotiable. Building strength in your hamstrings comes with loading functional, compound movements, but it pays to isolate and really fry them once in a while.

Take a tour of hamstring anatomy and work some of our favorite hamstring exercises into your training.

Hamstring Anatomy

Your hamstrings are a group of three cable-like muscles at the back of your thigh running from your hip to your knee. They’re largely responsible for flexion of the knee joint and extension of the hip joint, along with some rotation of your lower leg and glute stability.

The semitendinosus and semimembranosus (what a mouthful) flex/bend your knee and work with your glutes to extend your hip, like at the top of a hip thrust

The biceps femoris has two heads, long and short, that help flex your knee and externally rotate your lower leg. They also support your hip when you walk, run, or jump.

These three muscles are crucial antagonists for your quads and are commonly injured in sports that involve a lot of explosive sprinting.

Fun Fact: Lombard’s paradox refers to the paradoxical contraction of both the hamstrings and quads when you rise from squatting or sitting to standing. The two muscle groups are antagonists, which means they usually work in opposition to one another. Apparently this is just efficient human adaptation for being bipedal. Nice.

Which Hamstring Exercises Build Big Legs?

1. Conventional deadlifts

Easily the most popular posterior chain movement across strength and conditioning sports, the deadlift is a hard-charging, heavy-loading grinding hamstring exercise. Thinking back to our anatomy, the deadlift adds resistance to a primary function for the hamstrings: hip extension. Deadlifts are a compound movement that also require strength and stability in your core, hips, and back.

2. Romanian deadlifts

Also known as stiff-leg deadlifts, RDLs act even more on the posterior chain by excluding the knees from the equation. Some consider them the pinnacle of hamstring exercises. Instead of bending the knees for a conventional deadlift, keep the knees straighter and maintain only a soft bend. This results in both a deep stretch and a strong contraction for the hamstrings.

Single-leg RDLs are a killer way to train each leg unilaterally and work on balance.

3. Nordic hamstring curls

One of the hamstrings’ primary functions is to flex the knee. A hamstring curl does just that while isolating and adding resistance for muscle hypertrophy. There are a number of different ways to do hamstring curls: seated, standing, or lying on your belly. If you don’t have access to a leg curl machine, try using bands or dumbbells instead. Nordic curls can be done with a partner to anchor your feet or any equipment stable enough to hold your legs down.

4. Good mornings

Good mornings function exactly like an RDL, but with the load on your back instead of pulling from the floor. With a barbell on your back, the same rules apply as for the RDL: keep your back flat and a soft bend in your knees as you hinge forward. Squeeze the glutes to drive through your hips and come back up to standing. This killer hip hinging movement works your hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors.

5. Hip thrusts

Commonly used for glute work, hip thrusts (aka glute bridges) also act on the hamstrings to drive weight up using hip extension. To further isolate your hamstrings and turn this into more of a hamstring exercise, place your feet out in front of you at a wider angle than the traditional 90 degrees. You can also try this method using a bench to squeeze your hamstrings, drive your heels down and hips up.

6. Kettlebell swings

Does this movement look familiar? Hip hinge with a soft knee bend anyone? Kettlebell swings are stellar for loading the hamstrings with higher reps and more explosive hip extension. A great way to work your hamstrings during HIIT training. Be sure to keep your back flat and hinge forward instead of sitting back or squatting into the movement. For Russian style kettlebell swings, your arms can stop parallel to the ground instead of extending fully overhead.

7. Rowing

Another method for frying your hamstrings during HIIT workouts or metcon training is to hop on a rower. Rowing on a machine is like the perfect combination of deadlifts and barbell rows—tons of back and hamstring activation. But you have to row with good form or you’re just wasting your time. The video above delivers entertainment + tips to improve your rowing form.

If you’re skeptical about this one, try rowing a 10k and let us know just how roasted the backs of your thighs feel afterward.

8. Hip extensions & glute-ham raises

For these absolute hamstring burners, you’ll need access to a Glute-Ham Developer (GHD), found in most CrossFit gyms and some commercial gyms. Hip extensions (erroneously called “back extensions” which are a completely different movement) involve fixing your legs straight in the pads and moving through hip flexion and extension. Glute-ham raises (GHRs) are more like a hamstring curl. For both movements, focus on squeezing your glutes and hamstrings to come up.

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One of the most advanced gymnastics skills is now regularly taught in CrossFit classes: the muscle up. You can do them on a pull up bar or gymnastics rings; you can do them strict or with a heaving full-body kip. That is, if you can do them at all… if you can’t, here are a bunch of progression ideas to work on.

For The Gymnastically Challenged

The struggle is very real with such a highly technical movement. Just like the snatch in Olympic weightlifting, muscle ups require a combination of speed, strength, mobility, coordination, and timing. If you’re lagging in some major area of your athleticism, you’re gonna have a bad time.

The more advanced the movement, the more elements of fitness you need to execute it.

For those of you with an eye on hypertrophy, check out the guy who holds the record for most consecutive bar muscle ups in a row (26). Just look at how shredded his core, arms, and shoulders are—like any competitive gymnast. There’s value to be had in exploring gymnastic strength to grow full upper body muscles with mobile joints and strong rotator cuffs. Plus, being a thick bodybuilder doesn’t automatically disqualify you from mastering muscle ups.

If you’re tired of scaling workouts down to pull up variations or if you’re just ready to mess around with a more advanced skill to impress your friends, it might be time to dedicate some effort to mastering the muscle up.

Bar vs. Ring?

Many athletes learn the bar muscle up before they move to the rings, so that’s what we’ll focus on here. The general consensus is that the technical skill involved in manipulating swinging rings is more complex. The pull up bar provides an immovable base for the athlete to put together a series of already difficult movements without having to control a pair of rings.

As to which one is actually harder to execute, it depends on the athlete. Some say the effort in moving your body around a pull up bar versus through the rings makes bar muscle ups more taxing. Others might struggle more with the deep ring dip in the catch position of a ring muscle up. Once you master both, you can tell us.

Kipping vs. Strict

A heated topic among mostly novice athletes: to kip or not to kip. If you’ve had enough exposure to modern athletics, you might notice that advanced gymnasts do both.

Kipping muscle ups are not “invalid” as a movement just because they’re easier to learn and can be performed faster than strict muscle ups. The skill of kipping allows for higher rep ranges (like those programmed in a CrossFit metcon workout) and gives newer athletes access to learning the basics of a movement they wouldn’t be able to perform otherwise. Plus, it’s fun.

Let’s break down some of the mechanisms behind the kipping bar muscle up and do a little skill drillin’.

What to Work on to Get Your First Bar Muscle up

In order (mostly)

1. Your Pull Up Strength

This seems like an obvious one, but it’s easy to neglect in favor of the trickier parts of the muscle up. Anyone who can successfully do a muscle up has the lat strength to string together a few strict pull ups. Athletes often report the most sore parts of their body after a high-volume muscle up workout are their lats. Top to bottom, your lats will feel like tenderized meat. Work on holding at the top of the pull up, negative descents, and activating your scapula.

2. Your Horizontal Pulling Strength

Horizontal pulling movements like ring rows, inverted/supine rows, and bent-over rows are often overlooked because horizontal pressing (bench press, pushups) is a fan favorite. Too much pressing and not enough pulling can lead to bad posture and poor shoulder health. Plus, a huge weak point in your muscle up game when you go to pull your body into the bar.

3. Your Lazy Core

No one wants to hear it, but a strong core does everything. For gymnastics, mastering the hollow body position is essential. And don’t be surprised if you develop a fresh six-pack in the process (like any competitive gymnast). It also helps to hammer your core weaknesses with any movements you can do from the pull up bar like hanging knee raises or toes-to-bar.

4. Mastering The Kip & it’s Variations

Kipping pull ups, butterfly pull ups, chest-to-bar pull ups, and kipping bar muscle ups all have a few movement patterns in common, but notably: aggressive hip extension. When you feel confident with every variation of kipping movement, the bar muscle up will evolve into a natural progression. (You can start by practicing the superman to hollow body position from the ground.)

5. Jumping to Hollow Position

The hollow body position is technically the first part of the bar muscle up. To start a BMU from the ground, you need to jump up and grab the pull up bar. The strongest and most dynamic starting point to launch into the rest of the movement is the hollow body position. Get used to jumping into a hollow, then swinging forward into the arch (like the superman to hollow body from the floor).

6. Snap to Support

Training the transition from below the bar to above it can be the most difficult step to master for the BMU. You have to be explosive at just the right time to go from a “hips open” to “hips closed” position. This drill can be done a number of ways, but the most common is to use an aggressive situp to snap from an arch into a supported dip using plates on the floor.

7. Jumping From a Box

When you have a solid strength/technique foundation for the bar muscle up and you’re ready to get over the bar, jumping BMUs are one of the best drills to get a feel for the full movement. You can even work on linking a couple reps at a time. Use a box that’s tall enough for your knees to bend when standing and grabbing the bar above you. The box allows you to sub the aggressive mid-air hip pop for some leg drive.

8. Banded Bar Muscle Ups

When jumping from a box becomes easier, you’re probably ready for a thick band. The band gives you something to kick against and just enough support to get you over the bar. Bands are awesome for feeling the point of weightlessness and stringing together multiple reps. But be careful not to rely on a band too much and fall into the trap of never progressing beyond it.

9. Shoulder & T Spine Mobility

It’s kind of a no-brainer that if your shoulders and t-spine are super sticky, you won’t be able to access the overhead positioning for the bar muscle up. You need to be able to hit the arch position with your chest forward and head through your arms before you can snap up to the bar. Work on opening your shoulders and t-spine before practicing your muscle up drills.

10. Practice with EMOMS

When you can land one successful bar muscle up at a time, get some reps in with a once-a-week EMOM (every minute on the minute) of just one muscle up. Practicing with a prescribed rest time will force you to just go for each rep whether you’ve psyched yourself out or not. Focus on one or two cues at a time and don’t get discouraged if you miss a few.

Remember: every rep counts toward mastery.

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Everyone online seems to have a strong opinion about arching your back in the bench press. The reasons and schools of thought vary around the hows/whys, so what’s a novice athlete to do?

Anthony Cuevas, an NCSF Certified PT based out of New York started lifting at 14 years old, so he knows a thing or two about our favorite staple, the bench press. In this piece he talks about bench press mechanics and the differences between holding your back neutral and arching it, along with tips on how to program bench for yourself. Spoiler alert: like most things, it depends on your goals!

Arching vs Flat-Back Bench Press

To arch or not to arch? That is the question. It’s a common argument among fitness influencers and strength enthusiasts concerning the bench press. And the answer often depends on personal preference—some choose to lay flat when benching, and some (like myself) choose to arch their backs for leverage.

The bench press is an important and effective exercise regardless of which variation you take, because it works most of your upper body muscles. Emphasis on effectiveness, because that’s what exercises are meant to be at the end of the day, effective.

Different versions of the bench press put emphasis on different parts of your upper trunk. Incline bench works your upper chest, while close grip bench uses more triceps and forearms. But the mechanics behind the standard bench press are worth exploring, especially when it comes to the age-old argument of whether or not to arch your back.

Which bench version is right for you?

It isn’t as one-sided as IG fitness influencers want you to believe. There are actual benefits to both methods of benching.

If your goals are aesthetic, the strict method of benching helps develop your chest more since you’re using a full range of motion (ROM) by stretching the chest muscles at the bottom of the movement and squeezing at the top.

Arching your back in the bench press is commonly used in the powerlifting and weightlifting communities because their goals are more strength-focused. This method of benching helps boost your numbers due to the shorter ROM and leverage of the bar.

I choose to lean more towards the arch due to shoulder injury issues. The shorter range of motion makes the press easier and pain-free. The arch also helps me to be more aware of planting my feet, creating leg drive and spreading my lats on the bench. This added tension uses my whole body to move the bar.

Depending on your personal training goals, experience, and shoulder health, it’s worthwhile to explore both methods.

How to Bench Both Ways

The classic way to bench press for bodybuilders:

Lie flat on the bench and grip the barbell just outside shoulder-width. Keep your shoulders back and chest up with your spine neutral.

Keep your lower back and butt down on the bench with your feet planted to create leg drive. Breathe in as you lower the barbell to your chest and breathe out as you press the bar up.

Using the arch for strength:

Create an arch setup by pressing your shoulders and butt down into the bench and allowing your mid-back to bend, engaging your lats.

Keep your feet planted to create leg drive. Take a breath to brace your core before unracking the bar. The pressing motion is the same: inhale before you lower the bar to tap your chest and exhale as you press the bar up.

Coach’s Tip: Maintaining your lumbar spine’s natural curve is different from arching deeply into your back! With practice, you should be able to feel the difference between the two techniques.

How to Program the Bench Press

I highly recommend programming some form of bench press to develop a strong chest. Here’s an example on how I program my bench press days.

1a. Bench Press

Warmup Sets

Empty bar (45lbs) 2×15

135lbs 1×8

165lbs 2×9

175lbs 2×5

Working Sets

195lbs 3×5

205lbs 4×3

225lbs 3×2

Rest Time

Warmup Sets: 1:00 to 1:30

Working Sets: 1:30 to 4:00

This might seem like a lot of volume for one day, but in order to adapt and make strength gains, I focus on volume one day and technique drills on another day.

The rest period is vital to your success. Don’t skip it! Instead of sitting on the bench looking at social media, I suggest you focus on injury prevention by stretching your upper body muscles during your rest periods. This will help you stay in peak performance while pressing weight.

Bench Press Variations

If you want to truly build those bench numbers in the weight room, you’ll need to add different variations of the bench press using a variety of equipment. Unilateral work (using one arm at a time) helps you focus on creating proper form and addressing imbalances in your barbell bench press.

Here are some common horizontal pressing variations to add to your bench program. Try one of each variation along with your barbell benching to help boost your numbers and grow your chest.

Dumbbells

Flat Bench DB Press

Incline Bench DB Press

Single Arm DB Chest Press

Floor Press

Cables

Cable Chest Press

Seated Cable Chest Press

Single Arm Cable Chest Press

Kettlebells

KB Chest Press

KB Push Ups

KB Floor Press

The final verdict:

Whether or not you choose to arch depends on your own personal goals at the end of the day.

If you’re looking to build an aesthetically pleasing chest—try to bench without arching.

If you’re looking to build compound strength and boost your bench numbers—use the arch.

Whether or not you use the arching method doesn’t need to be some huge argument to determine the right or wrong way to bench press. 

It’s mostly a personal choice depending on the goals you’ve set for yourself.

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Short shorts are the new stinger tanks.

Rocking those big tree trunks with canyon deep cuts is so hot.

Leg extensions are a bodybuilding staple—they isolate your quads, the front-facing muscle group of your thighs, by flexing (bending) and extending (straightening) the knee joint. We’d argue that pretty much all professional bodybuilders with sick quad development do leg extensions. Find us one who doesn’t and win a prize or something.

No machine for leg extensions? Get creative with your leg workouts

Growing massive wheels can be a real challenge for hard-gainers or people with long femurs. Squats and leg presses alone probably won’t cut it. Leg extensions are a key piece to develop your quad meat, strengthen your knee joints, and sculpt that coveted teardrop.

Thicker quads also mean stronger squats, faster sprints, higher vertical leap, and shamelessly being able to wear short shorts at the pool during summer (or only being able to wear one brand of jeans). Skinny legs are for giraffes and supermodels. Thighs that can crush a 20lb watermelon are where it’s at. 

But if you don’t go to a globo gym or have access to a leg extension machine, what else can you do? 

Most of the other resources out there suggest functional stuff like Bulgarian split squats, or other squat and lunge variations, but we already know those movements work your quads. They also light up the rest of your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings), which is not what we’re going for here. 

So, what are some creative ways to load and isolate your quads without a machine? We’ve got a few ideas that might get you some weird looks in the gym. (Let the normal people look. We’re here for abnormal size and strength.) 

But first, a refresher on leg extension technique and principles from Kris Gethin.

Leg Extension Alternatives

Since the leg extension is not a functional movement found anywhere in sports or compound exercises, it’s hard to replicate without a machine. Keep these handy options on tap as leg-day finishers or superset pieces for your compound lifts.

Also: because you don’t have an effective weight stack like a leg extension machine does, you’ll be limited on the amount of weight/resistance you can load for each of these. But that just means more reps, baby.

Banded Leg Extensions

Anchor a long band around a post or stable rack, then loop the free end around your ankle. Step out far enough so the band has tension. Using a chair, wall, or box for stability (or freestanding like this girl if you have great balance), flex and extend your knee to get the leg extension pump.  

Loop a short band under your opposite foot for a similar version. There’s also this cool variation involving a squat-ish trick with a jacked New Zealand farm bro and some cows in a field. 

There are a ton of different ways to set this up. The main ideas are to give your feet enough clearance off the floor and to elevate your working knee. This mimics the setup of a leg extension machine. 

Grab a bench, pair of tall jerk blocks, GHD machine, or whatever else you have access to and set it in front of a rig far enough out that your band will have tension. Anchor a long band to the rig and loop it over the ankle of your working leg. Another way to set this up is to hook the band on one leg of the bench and do your extension on the opposite side. 

Alternative load ideas: use ankle weights or hook the front of your foot in a kettlebell.

Put something like a foam roller or block underneath your knee for slight elevation instead of sitting it flat on the bench. This little trick makes a massive difference in the angle of your leg and the effectiveness of the movement. Flex and extend your leg as you would on a leg extension machine.

Medicine Ball Leg Extensions

Seated

Sometimes used in physical therapy practice, this version can easily be done at any CrossFit gym or at home. Find a tall seat—jerk block, reverse hyper machine, bench stacked on boxes—anything you can sit on that allows your legs to dangle freely.

Grip your medicine ball between your ankles and squeeze to hold it in place. Extend your legs out in front of you and lower back down to a slow count. The slow tempo is what maximizes the smaller amount of weight. 

Pro tip: Add a foam roller, block or ab mat under your knees for elevation. 

Wall sits (seriously)

If you’re skeptical about this one, then you’ve probably never experienced the ruthless agony of holding a wall-sit for minutes at a time. The quad burn is real. 

Isometric holds are often underutilized for muscle hypertrophy, so don’t sleep on these!  

How-To

With your back against a wall, walk your feet out a few steps, then bend your knees as though you’re sitting on an invisible chair. Make sure your legs form a 90-degree angle and your thighs are parallel to the floor. No cheating. Try to accumulate 3:00 and see just how fast your legs fatigue. 

Bonus: this wild idea

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The most wonderful time of the year—when everything is on sale and your inbox is flooded with promos and each time you click “purchase”, you can feel your bank account groan. 

But man, there is some cool stuff out there. And who doesn’t love giving a unique gift to someone important in their life? 

It’s time to #treatyoself (or actually shop for others)

Honestly, most gift guides kind of suck. They include silly stuff that doesn’t make sense, gifts that are too expensive or utterly useless. For the kind of Type-A personalities that train in Crossfit, powerlifting, bodybuilding, and Olympic weightlifting, you want to make your gift count.

Gifting Tip: When it comes to finding the right gift (especially for the bros), it’s a good idea to replace something old/used that your giftee already has, or give them something to enhance an activity they already do every day, like training. 

We hunted down some of the top-gifted gear, apparel, equipment, and accessories for the athlete who has it all. We also tried to keep things realistic here. You won’t find any $5k investments (you already know if you’re looking to commit to a big gift anyway) or random dumb stuff. Enjoy!

We’re all wishing for a visit from Lift-o Claus this Holiday season. But even the big guy might need some help with gift ideas. 

Jump to Any Section:

Fitness Gift Guide for the home gym warrior

Fitness Gift Guide for the mobility-challenged

Fitness Gift Guide for the strong ladies in your life

Gift Guide for the crossfitter in your life

Nutrition and Supplements

Bonus badass gymwear