10-Minute Glute Activation Workout (Do This Before Leg Day!)

Hi, I'm Lindsay Baumgren of Nourish Move Love. And today I have a 10 minute glute activation workout using this little bad boy, a mini loop resistance band. Okay. So if you have one of these, you're gonna want it a lighter resistance. You could go light to medium on this. And this is a glute activation workout. So personally I would use this as a warm up to a leg day workout, like a heavy leg day workout or any leg day workout. That said, you can do this as a 10 minute standalone workout when you have a little bit of time and you need to fit in a little burning workout. Or you can use it as an add on workout to a leg day. You decide, whatever works for you. But we're going to put this minivan on for all 10 exercises. So I have 10 exercises for you. We're going to start with the band on the thighs, so 6 inches above the knees. This band never touches my knees. It never touches my joints, my ankle joints. Okay. It's always above the knee or below the knee. We're also going to put it on our feet. I'm going to walk you through that. You have 10 exercises total. You're going to do each exercise for around 40 seconds and then you'll get a 20 second transition between moves. So I can talk you through this. The focus here is really about activating our lower body, our glutes. So putting the band on helps the proper muscles fire. So it's going to help my glutes fire because there's already tension on my legs and it's going to stay there. Okay, so we're going to go ahead and get started. Your first move is a basic squat with the band on your thighs. You're going to start in three, two. Let's go. So I'm just sitting back into a squat. The band stays on my thighs. I'm pushing out against the band. Knees drive out towards my toes. Sitting down, stand up tall. Squeeze. Okay, so this is keeping constant tension on my outer glutes. That's what I'm driving through as I stand. Drive through the heels. Constant tension right here on the glutes. That's why the glutes are activated by using a minivan. Really great way to warm up for any leg day workout. Nice work here. Okay, you're just squatting it out. You're going to take each exercise at your pace. Nice. Right there. You got 10 seconds here. Down and up. Start to feel those legs. Nice. Right here. Finish. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You're out. You're going to stay here. I'm going to stand on my right leg. Okay, Standing on my right leg. My left leg is going to tap out to the side, center, side, center. That's where you're going to be. So I'm driving through this outer hip. This leg is stabilizing me. My quad is turned on. I'm going to get low. You're going to feel fire in both the standing leg as well as the tapping leg. Let's go. Push right here. Push. Think about pushing out through right here. Pushing out through my outer glute. That's what's pushing out in standing through here. Stabilize through my quad right here, my quad, my top of my thighs. Stabilizing me. Just pushing out. Push out. Push. Nice. Push. There you go. Turning on both glutes in a different way. Stabilizing. Working all the small stabilizer muscles right here on the right side of my body. Pushing through the meat, the big, chunky part of my booty right here. Come on, push it. Stay low. Finish strong. You got it? Right here, you have four. Three, two, one. Stand tall. Shake it out. We're going to do the same thing on. On the other side. Okay? So this time, my left leg is going to be my stabilizer. My right leg is going to work. It's going to tap out. Big meaty glute working here. Small stabilizing muscles all working here. Okay? All those small stabilizing muscles, we're going to talk about what they're good for. Let's get low in this standing leg. Tapping out to the side in three, two. Let's go. Tap. Okay? These small stabilizing muscles, runners, really good for you avoiding any hip injuries, right? Also really good for moms or women in general. Our hips stabilize our pelvic floor. Okay? So all these exercises with a band on hips, stabilize the pelvic floor. Hold that pelvic floor nice and steady. After you have a baby, your pelvic floor adjusts, right? Things change. Okay? Gotta have strong hips to stabilize your pelvic floor. Good for runners, good for moms. Let's be honest, it's just good for everybody. Stay low on that standing leg. Tapping out to the side. Come on, finish. 4, 3, 2, 1. Walk it off. Now we're just going to put it together and go side to side squat. So I'm going to go right together, left together again. Driving out through those hips. Stepping side to side. Band stays on my thighs. Final set with the band on my thighs. Okay. Side to side squats. Shoulders down and back, chest is lifted. We're there in three, two. Let's go. Step side, center, side, center. Pushing out through that band. Stretch it out. Okay. I have a lighter band on. This is where I could maybe feel like, oh, I could go heavier, but I want to make sure we're properly getting the glutes activated and warmed up here. That is the point of this 10 minute workout. Okay. Like I said, you can use it as a standalone minivan workout. That's awesome. But the purpose is really activating the leg muscles. So when I get into my workout and I do squats, the proper muscles are firing versus sometimes we have bigger muscle groups that tend to take over your quads. Your hamstrings can take over a squat finish. Three, two, and one. Nice work. Okay, now we're going to transition. This band is going to go down to my feet, right? Okay. So it's going to go on my feet. Okay. The band is underneath and on top of my shoes. Make sure you have shoes on for this. Okay. You're going to want shoes on. Side, center, knee drive. We're going to go just to the right step. Side, center, drive. Okay. Side, center, join when you're ready. Up, wide, narrow, drive. Wide, narrow, drive. Activating my hip flexors. Wide, narrow, drive. Wide, narrow, pull up. Nice. Again. This is a really great exercise for runners. Focusing on those strong hips. Again, we're gonna do this on each side of the body. Nice. Pull it up. Always good to try different exercises with your minivan. This is a fun one. Come on. Ten seconds here. Drive. Feel those hips working. Feel that standing leg working. You got 4, 3, 2. Finish. One more pull. Same thing. Other side, side, center, pull up. If you've done some of my leg workouts, you'll see that side center, squat. I time under tension. Good for firing the glutes that drive right there. Good for strengthening our hip flexors. Okay, side, center, squats. We're going to go over here to the left side of the body in three, two. Let's go. Side, center, drive. Side, center, drive. Again. You're going to feel that low core activate too. Anytime you put resistance on a knee drive, your core's got to be on right. That core turned on. Love this one. A really great, great way to warm up if you're going for a run as well. Right. Glutes and hips, come on. Nice work, you guys. There it is. Finish strong. You got 10 seconds here. Nice work. Looks really good. Boom. Come on. Five, four, three. We're gonna get one more in because we can. There it is. Nice. Okay, now I'm gonna keep this band here. I'm gonna go to the side, take a narrow stance. Feet are right under my hips. I'm gonna grab the top of my band. It is a hip hinge. Hinge the hips, back, pull, straight up. Hinge the hips, back, pull straight up. Hamstrings, hamstrings and glutes. You're on in three, two. Let's go. Hinge, hips, go, back, pull up, squeeze. I'm squeezing right where my butt meets my hamstring. This is a really great warm up exercise. If you're doing any type of deadlift, anything focusing on the hamstrings, kettlebell swings. If you're doing any of my kettlebell workouts right here, this move, not overextending at the top. Coming up. Just finding a neutral, squeezing through the back of the legs to stand me up and drive tall. Nice work. Final exercise with the band on our feet is right here. Nice work. 10 seconds. Activating those glutes, stretching through the hamstrings and then squeezing and activating for 4, 3, 2, and 1. You're going to take that band and put it back up, but this time it's going to go around my ankles or my calf shin area. I'm going to go right here around my caption area. This is going to get the heart rate up a little bit. We're going into cardio squat with a superman hyperextension squat, squat, reach. Okay, you're there in three, two. Let's go. Squat. Kick back and reach. Kick back and reach. This fires up my posterior chain, staying on those hamstrings that we just did. Again, if you're doing any type of deadlift, doing any type of kettlebell swing. Really good. Taking a bar class right here. Nice. Adding those arms makes it a little bit harder, right? Increases the entire erectae, spine spinae. Can never say that. Increases the engagement along the entire backside of the body. Let's go there. Yep. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Walk it off. Nice work, you guys. You have two exercises left. A loaded squat walkout. I'm going to get nice and low in a squat. Wide, wide, narrow, narrow, wide, wide, narrow, narrow. Again, pushing from my hips. Okay, outer glutes, that's where you are. 40 seconds, holding a loaded squat. Three, two, let's go. Wide, wide, narrow, narrow. Push, push, push, push. Stay low, chest up. Come on. Think about pushing right here through my abductors. That's my outer glute. Your abductor should be on Fire. After having this mini band on for 10 minutes, doesn't have to be big, just small. Step out, out. Narrow, narrow, wide, wide, narrow. Feel that heart rate. Climb a little bit. We're going to finish with one final walk it out exercise. Nice work. Glute should be nice and fiery by now. You're in the final. 10 seconds. Come on. Stay low, stay low. You got it. Give me five, four, three, two and one. Walk it off. You're going to go to the back of your mat. This is your final glute activation exercise. It is a V walk. You're going to get nice and low and you're going to walk up. 2, 3, 4. Opposite toe is going to tap behind and then you're going to walk backwards. So we just went from side to side motion. Now we're going to go front to back. Good to train in all planes. You're on in three, two. Let's walk. Walk it. Four, three, two, one. Take it back. Two, three, four. Again. Driving through those outer glutes, but a little bit different. It's going to feel a little bit different because you're moving front and back versus side to. Always good to train in different planes. You guys spend a lot of our time going front and back, but it's always good to go side to side. Adding this minivan to any exercise is going to increase the intensity and the power you have to generate to move. Come on. 10 seconds. Let's go. Finish strong. Final move. Glutes are on fire. I feel them. 3, 2, 1. Nice work. You can take that band off. You are done if you can. I was going to do that really sly and I didn't, so I tripped up. But you. You know what? You guys finished this workout. That was awesome. Mini band. 10 minute glute activation. Whether you do it as a standalone 10 minute workout or you add this onto a leg day workout, your glutes are nice and fiery. Ready to go. Thanks for giving this a shot and I hope you come back. As always, more workouts@nourishmovelove.com hope to see you there.