Lunge & Calf Squats: One Move to a Better Behind

We are always looking for ways to amp up our glute game. Whether we're adding some unilateral love to our workouts or powering up our fat burn with plyometrics, there's always another way to keep the good gains coming. After all, variety is at the heart of long-term workout success: it's what keeps your mind and body from getting bored  — and your glutes can get bored, fast.

Not only does your glute muscle group contain the largest muscles in your entire body, but they are some of the most used muscles in your body. You use them to stand, walk, run, sit, climb and bend over, so if you want to create a booty you've never had, you're going to have to do movements you've never done. You need to move your glutes out of their comfort zone.

Enter: the Lunge & Calf Squat!

This single move works your glutes in a variety of ways. It contains unilateral training, which will help create structural and aesthetic balance in both sides of your body. It contains dynamic movement, so you get some functional glute training, too. It contains a static hold, so you can build muscle endurance. It also allows you to use extra resistance so you can build the lean muscle mass that's absolutely necessary to building a perkier backside. Finally, this move is a compound exercise, so you're working multiple muscle groups. In addition to your glutes, this exercise hits your hamstrings, quads, core and calves. Pretty sweet, right?

Try this peach of a move out for yourself.

Tips:

• Sink down into your front heel in the lunge: keep the weight out of your toes and push back from your heel too. This strategy will keep the force of the movement out of your knees and in your glutes where it belongs.
• In the squats and lunges, ensure your knees stay behind your toes and parallel with each other.
• If you can't get up onto the balls of both feet at once for the calf raise, do one foot at a time.
• Keep your spine straight and your core engaged.