Tone & Define Your Glutes with These 5 Bar Method Exercises

If you’re familiar with The Bar Method, you’ve probably heard us toss around the word ‘seat’ quite often. When we say ‘seat’, we are referring to your bum. Unlike most fitness classes, The Bar Method workout targets ALL of your glute muscles. While the gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in our bodies, it can be difficult for many people to find & engage. Our workouts are designed to teach students how to isolate these underused muscles then work deep into the muscle to tighten, tone, and lift your seat. Today, we’re sharing some of our favorite glute exercises that target the different muscle groups in your glutes, resulting in a rounded, perky, J-Lo like seat.

Diagonal Seat Facing the Center of the Room

Diagonal seat is a classic Bar Method exercise, but this fairly new variation will have you feeling the side of your seat after just a few one inch lifts! What makes this seat exercise so powerful is the primary focus on the side of your seat (the dancer’s dent) even though it is taught from a parallel stance. With this seat lifting exercise, you get the added bonus of stretching your chest and shoulders. You’ll build back and abdominal strength and challenge your standing quads as well. Warning: your seat is going to look so good in leggings after this exercise, you might want to budget for a new pair of Bar Method leggings!

Tilted Seat

Tilted seat is a sure-fire way to ignite your hamstrings and glutes. This seat exercise mimics the feeling you get when walking up stairs and it leaves a lasting impression on your back side. All of the work happens in the front leg as you have to use your hamstrings and glutes to lift yourself up one inch and down one inch. This exercise is focused on your gluteus maximus and medius so that you’re working your seat from all angles. The back leg is just for support so focus on keeping your weight in your front leg to maximize effectiveness.

Second Position Thigh

While not a seat specific exercise, second position thigh will sculpt and create definition in the side of your seat. When in this exercise, work on squeezing and engaging your glutes while  maintaining focus on your thigh-work. This will pull the side of your seat in tighter and create the look of a dent in your glutes. If you want to take this up a notch, take your instructor up on any options to raise your heels up.

Glutes-dancing

Glutes- dancing is one of the newest exercises to hit the barre and we hope you have gotten the chance to try this fun new variation for lifting your seat and toning your hamstrings. The added focus of using your hamstrings and glutes to lift your thighs up will have you feeling the burn in no time. This exercise focuses on your gluteus maximus and medius while strengthening your low back and adductors. If your teacher adds in a turned-out position, you might feel the zing even more on the side of your seat. If you haven’t seen this exercise in class yet, send your instructor a note on Instagram and ask them to include it in their class choreography!

Round-back: Glutes Stretch

Round-back is your opportunity to lengthen your hamstrings, glutes and back right after seat-work. In all Bar Method classes, we work deep into a muscle, and follow this with a stretch to lengthen the area you just worked. This class format prevents your body from “bulking up”. Stretching the back of your body will also make your muscles feel more comfortable after class. In addition to the stretching benefits, round-back will spike your heart rate and call on your core muscles too!  Round-back is a powerhouse exercise that is just as therapeutic as it is effective at building strength. For more tips on round-back, see this tutorial on our Instagram page!

While we could go on and on about all of the effective glute exercises at The Bar Method, we’d rather get into class and get moving. We hope you are just as excited as we are to get into your next Bar Method class and round that rump!