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Quick Wits: Best Exercises for the Glutes & Calves (Lifting for Muscle Series) · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:00
  Philip Pape: To round out the lower body.
• 0:01
  Philip Pape: We are hitting the glutes and the calves today.
• 0:04
  Philip Pape: So, ladies and men, something for you.
• 0:08
  Philip Pape: Here today in the lifting for muscle series of quick wits, we're going to talk about my four top exercises for building strength and definition to get a big butt, big calves.
• 0:18
  Philip Pape: Whatever you're going for.
• 0:23
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast.
• 0:25
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, phillip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition.
• 0:36
  Philip Pape: We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best.
• 0:46
  Philip Pape: Let's dive right in.
• 0:47
  Philip Pape: Today we're honing in on the glutes and calves.
• 0:54
  Philip Pape: Sometimes these muscles are overlooked.
• 0:56
  Philip Pape: I do think they get hit pretty well with other movements, but not as much if you don't respond as well to those or you just want even more definition in these areas.
• 1:05
  Philip Pape: I know a lot of the ladies out there want to work on those glutes, even some of us men.
• 1:10
  Philip Pape: I have the opposite problem and I really need bigger calves.
• 1:14
  Philip Pape: We all want to work on these areas.
• 1:17
  Philip Pape: Let's talk about four exercises today, starting with the glutes.
• 1:21
  Philip Pape: The gluteus maximus is one of the largest and most powerful muscles in the body.
• 1:25
  Philip Pape: It definitely deserves attention.
• 1:27
  Philip Pape: Squats and deadlifts are definitely going to hit them, but if you want some glute-specific movements, we need something that requires squeezing the glutes through hip extension.
• 1:38
  Philip Pape: I'm going to combine two exercises here.
• 1:40
  Philip Pape: Either hip thrusts which I realize are very popular, but they can be a little tricky and the loading is somewhat interesting depending on how strong you are and you don't want to get injured, and trying to get your back in the right place, all that stuff.
• 1:56
  Philip Pape: I like the cable pull-through as a more accessible movement.
• 2:00
  Philip Pape: You put a rope at the bottom of a cable attachment, you stand away from the rack and you just pull through and squeeze the glutes.
• 2:07
  Philip Pape: Honestly, it mimics a kettlebell swing in a way, but you can really load it up and get the tension throughout the movement.
• 2:15
  Philip Pape: That's for hip extension.
• 2:17
  Philip Pape: Number two we have again I'm going to combine a couple things here, but lunges and step-ups.
• 2:24
  Philip Pape: Depending on who you are, you're going to feel it more in the glutes.
• 2:27
  Philip Pape: I like reverse lunges in place, but I also like walking lunges.
• 2:32
  Philip Pape: I'm not a big fan of the forward static lunge.
• 2:35
  Philip Pape: I prefer a reverse lunge or walking lunges.
• 2:39
  Philip Pape: Then also the other thing I mentioned here besides lunges was step-ups.
• 2:43
  Philip Pape: If you have a box, let's say 12, 18 inches, and you can put a barbell on your back or use dumbbells and step up, you can really get a burn in the glute muscles.
• 2:53
  Philip Pape: Let's move on to the calves.
• 2:55
  Philip Pape: These can be very stubborn for some of us, just like any other muscle.
• 2:59
  Philip Pape: You need to give them the right amount of stress, stimulus and volume to get them to grow.
• 3:04
  Philip Pape: Here I'm just going to talk about standing versus seated.
• 3:07
  Philip Pape: Standing calf raises target the gastrocnemius muscle.
• 3:13
  Philip Pape: I think I'm pronouncing that right.
• 3:14
  Philip Pape: That's what gives your calf its rounded shape.
• 3:17
  Philip Pape: We're going to use either a standing calf raise machine or something like a squat safety bar on your back with a calf block.
• 3:24
  Philip Pape: You could even do donkey calf raises.
• 3:27
  Philip Pape: There's ways to do that, with a barbell or with a machine.
• 3:30
  Philip Pape: Really depends on your equipment situation.
• 3:32
  Philip Pape: You could even hang from a dip belt.
• 3:35
  Philip Pape: You can hang some weight and bend over, holding your arms on a rack and a calf block, and do it that way.
• 3:41
  Philip Pape: There's a lot of ways to hit that.
• 3:43
  Philip Pape: Then we have seated calf raises, which target the soleus or soleus muscle Forgive my Latin.
• 3:49
  Philip Pape: That's located beneath the larger rounded calf muscles, that's the lower part of the muscle that helps with your lower leg aesthetics.
• 3:58
  Philip Pape: Seated calf raises is just what it sounds like.
• 4:00
  Philip Pape: You sit down and you're basically pressing up with your thighs, either with a home machine or a machine in the gym.
• 4:07
  Philip Pape: There you go.
• 4:08
  Philip Pape: For the glutes, you've got anything with hip extension Make what did I say?
• 4:13
  Philip Pape: Hip thrust and cable pull throughs.
• 4:15
  Philip Pape: We have lunges and step ups.
• 4:17
  Philip Pape: For the calves, we have standing calf raises and seated calf raises.
• 4:21
  Philip Pape: You might need to get creative with your equipment.
• 4:24
  Philip Pape: There you go Now.
• 4:26
  Philip Pape: Remember, a strong lower body is more than just individual muscle groups.
• 4:30
  Philip Pape: It's really an entire system.
• 4:31
  Philip Pape: If you can work on these separate muscle groups in a complimentary fashion, you'll see overall development, which is what we're going for.
• 4:38
  Philip Pape: Until next time, keep pushing, stay strong.