I first heard about “froggers” from the go-to guy on glutes, Bret Contreras. We ran them in Women’s Health as part of a glute-activation warmup. And yes, while they look sort of ridiculous, after adding them into my regular warmup routine (along with lying clamshells, some standard glute bridges, etc), I was a believer that this move got my butt ready to work.
Just recently, I read some insights from Bret about how he likes to end each workout—especially on his heavy squat and deadlift days—with some high-rep glute work. That's where glute bridges come in. I liked the concept: While he and many other our of favorite experts seem to continually agree that weighted hip thrusts and deadlifts are among their favorite moves for helping women grow their glutes, going heavy on these exercises isn’t something the majority of women can do day in and day out. Adding some high-rep, non-taxing exercises after a total-body or lower-body focused strength workout can help “burn out” your glutes so you more fully fatigue those fibers. (Which, remember, is a good thing: That’s what helps them grow stronger.)
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As I started playing around with using these after my workouts, I noticed that I felt the best and most complete booty burn after using a combination of a few glute bridge variations: Toes slightly lifted, heels turned out slightly, and then finishing with froggers. I’d recommend starting at the lower end of the rep range (30) and trying to go from one move to the next with little or no pause in between. It should burn—fight to push through that. Start with one set of those three exercises, and gradually build up either total reps (up to 50) or adding an additional set. Embrace the burn, ladies!
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