Learn proper glute drive machine form to maximize glute activation and protect your lower back. Keep your feet high so your knees stay behind your toes, stick to 8-15 reps, and maintain rib-pelvis alignment throughout the movement.
In this video, we're going to show you how to use the glute drive and show you tidbits and tips to get the most out of it. We've got Manami here today. Manami, jump on the glute drive and we'll show you how to use this and the best way to use it. So firstly, my preference when using the glute drive or any barbell glute thrust exercise, the rep range I like to use is 8 to 15 reps. And that's for multiple reasons, because when we're, we're loading and we're loading this axis when we're lying down and we're loading directly through the pelvis, not standing up, so we do want to take that as a something to consider because it can create issues in the lumbar spine where people move through that lumbar flexion. So, Manami, off you go and just demonstrate how you would do this. So you're going to lift up and just do a couple reps for the folks, and then we can tweak things as we go. So firstly, what we want to also consider when we're doing this is the shin position and where we're at. So if we're wanting to use more quads, let's just do this experiment for a sec. Bring your feet lower onto the machine. Yeah, bring it right nice and low. Now, if she does a couple reps there, what you're probably going to notice is lever-wise, it's actually not too bad for it. It works pretty well. Her knees aren't going over her toes, she's able to bridge up. So it's actually not the best example, but if you were working with someone who was taller, you'd probably find that it'd be a lot more knee flexion forward, which would then use a lot less glutes. Now, by reverse, just lock that in for a sec. And a little higher. Let's play with your foot placement a little bit. Let's get you nice far away. Okay, and off you go. Do a couple of reps again. Let's just do 4 reps here. What you can see now is that the knee is well behind the toe. So it's probably going to be now probably a little bit more glute activation, a little bit harder for her to get that full extended position, which can be then very helpful for people who are flexing too much into that lumbar position. So that's pretty good. Now we do want to hold that. The other thing— lock it in for a second— the other considerations we want to make on setup is our rib position. So we don't want to be in thoracic extension. We want to put the pelvis on top of the rib cage as we do it. So if you can just demonstrate that, Naomi, get the pelvis on top, which she's doing perfectly. You can see her head position as well is tucked, keeping everything locked. So the only thing that is moving is the pelvis. This is a picture-perfect glute, glute drive. So if you want more tips and we'll just do one more. Lock it in. Perfect, perfect. Those glutes are on fire. So if you want more great tips like this on any exercise, make sure you subscribe to my channel for more.
