Dangerous Curves: Get Your Glutes In Gear With Supersets

Spring break is just around the corner, and summer is hot on its heels. That means you've probably seen an influx of gym-goers trying to run off those last few pounds and crunch their way to a six-pack. Yeah, abs are nice, but nowadays, they're not the most coveted aspect of a hot body. What could be sexier than a tight tummy, you ask? Why, a fabulous rear-end, of course!

That's right: The glutes now occupy the seat of "sexiest fitness body part." Nothing screams "fit" like a curvaceous, firm booty. Strong glutes instantly improve your rear view, and they also boost your athletic performance.

Training your glutes can help you sprint faster, jump higher, squat stronger, and play harder. Well-developed glutes can even protect your lower back during intense exercise.

If your backside isn't already at the front of your training plan, now is the time to build your booty! The quest for a better butt usually includes everything from heavy squats, to walking lunges, to non-weighted exercises like kickbacks.

While all these are great glute-gettin' movements, you'll get better results if you arrange them in higher-intensity supersets.

To make a superset, you simply pair two exercises and perform them back-to-back, with little to no rest in between. When you superset two exercises that hit the same muscle group, you're technically performing a "compound set." Compound sets force a higher level of muscle fatigue because you're forcing the same muscle to perform more work in less time.

You don't want just any old compound set, though! Particular exercises will take your gluteus to the maximus. By combining a non-weighted or light-weighted glute isolation exercise with a heavier lower-body movement, you'll exhaust your glutes and strengthen your quads and hammies. By pre-fatiguing your glutes, the rest of your lower body will have to work harder to move the weight.

For each of these supersets, perform the isolation exercise first. The rep range for the first movement should be around 20-25 reps, followed immediately by 6-10 reps of the compound movement. After you crush both exercises, rest and repeat for a total of 2-4 supersets.

1. Glute Bridge with Deadlift
When performing the glute bridge, squeeze up through the glutes and try to keep your quads and hamstrings relaxed. Pause ever-so-slightly at the top before lowering again to complete the rep. Once you feel the glutes burning, stand up and immediately move into a stiff-leg deadlift. As you do the deadlift, make sure you are squeezing through the glutes and not pulling from the back.

2. Glute Kickback with Step-Up
The glute kickback targets the gluteus medius; you will feel it when you move into the step-ups. You can do kickbacks with your body weight, with an ankle weight, or using a cable pulley system. To create maximum glute activation during the step-ups, use the highest bench or step you have available.

3. Hip Abduction with Weighted Lunge
When doing hip abductors, pull the weighted leg back in a slightly diagonal pattern. This will better activate the glute medius. Lift your leg as high as you comfortably can.

After doing hip abduction on both legs, move directly into lunges. Your balance may be shaky—that's okay! You just worked your glutes to death. Use lighter weight until you feel confident in the movement.

These supersets aren't meant to be done one after the other. For best results, add one of these superset to the end of your normal lower-body training session.

If you do too much extra work on your glutes, you may find yourself over-trained and therefore unable to get those results for which you worked so hard! If you want necks to crane as you pass, activate your glutes at the end of 2-3 workouts per week.