The Best Resistance Band Workouts for Glute Gains

Having bands available at home are excellent substitutes for busy people that don’t always have the time to make it to the gym. Time is a luxury, and people that work busy jobs, like lawyers, nurses, police officers, etc., it’s often very difficult to find the time to head over to the gym, so having bands at home is a really great investment. However, the thing you have to know when you see videos like this is that, while it is still possible to grow muscles like the glutes with banded exercises, the amount of growth is not nearly going to be as substantial as doing exercises using heavier weights.

Time Away from the Gym

Whenever you catch something, like a respiratory disease, COVID, the cold or flu, do yourself and the members at your gym a favor by staying home. Don’t be that guy or gal who’s spreading the disease to others that may not be able to afford getting sick, themselves, so just stay home.

Band Resistance

It’s really common for band manufacturers to come out with varying levels of resistance for their lines of bands. Essentially, if you can only afford to buy one set of bands, its usually a safe bet to go with the resistance level in the middle because going too light may not be challenging enough to produce significant results and going too heavy may not allow you to do the exercises with good form.

Kickbacks

Banded kickbacks are awesome for good glute development. When you kick the leg straight back, you’re mainly hitting the glute max (the main glute muscle), but, to be honest, trying to double the kickback as a glute and core exercise is inevitably going to hamper your gains because the reduced balance is going to force one to overly concern herself with maintaining balance, instead of focusing on making the glute work. Hold onto a chair (preferably one without wheels), the sofa, or having your hands on the wall will allow you to put all your focus on the glute, and even permit you to utilize a heavier band, thus making the glutes work harder and get more growth.

Forward Lean Kickback

When it comes to kickbacks, I really prefer the forward torso lean because this allows for a greater stretch in the glute and longer time under tension. Since the leg is going to be traveling longer when you’re leaning forward as opposed to staying upright, this means that the glute is having to work for slightly more time when you lean forward, which research suggests can help with growing more muscle mass.

Hip Abduction

The way she is kicking the leg out to the side is called a hip abduction, which does not work the inner thighs, but rather, this variation is hitting the gluteus medius, which extends from the upper to the outside part of your glute. If you want to hit the inner thighs, you will need to go from outside to inside, as opposed to inside to outside. As for the hip abduction, this is a great way to build a more rounded shape for the outside of the glute, as well as getting the shelf look for the top of the glute.

Squats

Doing squats with a band around the ankles is, frankly, not going to have much effect on the lower body muscles — the amount of work is pretty minimal because the ground is reducing the band’s effects (a heavier band may cause the feet to slide, thus compromising your stability). Doing squats with a hip circle band above the knees is regularly used by personal trainers and physical therapists because it combines the dynamic work going on in the quadriceps and allows for isometric work in the glute medius throughout the set. Since the band is trying to pull the knees inward, you must constantly drive the knees outward to counter this, thus making your glute medius to do a great deal of work.

Lying Hip Abduction

The lying hip abduction is the classic “lady” exercise, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective. Time for some physics talk — with the band being down at your ankles without getting any backup from the floor, this lengthens the moment arm (the distance from your hip to the band; remember that the band is the cause of the added resistance), meaning that a greater amount of torque must be overcome by the glute medius. If you’re using a hip circle, it’d be more beneficial to have the band closer to the knees to allow for more range of motion since those bands are stiffer and don’t stretch super far, and if the band is particularly strong, slide it up to the middle part of your thighs.

Conclusion

Whether you’re just on a short hiatus from going to the gym or you’re outright ending your membership for the long term, having bands at home is a great substitute. Understanding that you’re not going to make quite as substantial muscle size and strength gains with bands as you would with heavy weights, bands can still provide a good amount of resistance to make your home exercises quite challenging. All in all, bands are a great investment that offers an affordable and space-saving alternative for muscle size and strength gains at home, as well as for those of you that have to travel often for work and even when you’re on vacation.