I’m looking for some other movements to incorporate into my ME and DE lower days. I’m most concerned with addressing posterior chain development, specifically bringing my glutes up to par. I’ve done pull-throughs, Romainian Deadlifts and GHRs before, but the gym I’ll have access to this summer won’t have a GHR, leaving me with only two exercise variations that I’m familiar with.
Basically, my question is what movements, other than GHRs, could/should I be using for assistance work for my glutes (and posterior chain in general)?
[quote]jga wrote:
I’m looking for some other movements to incorporate into my ME and DE lower days. I’m most concerned with addressing posterior chain development, specifically bringing my glutes up to par. I’ve done pull-throughs, Romainian Deadlifts and GHRs before, but the gym I’ll have access to this summer won’t have a GHR, leaving me with only two exercise variations that I’m familiar with.
Basically, my question is what movements, other than GHRs, could/should I be using for assistance work for my glutes (and posterior chain in general)?[/quote]
Basically, bar starts in an ultra high rack pull position (for me it’s about 3-4 inches above my knee). You break the bar like a regular rack pull, but continue on to shrug it.
I originally came up with it as an upper back exercise, but when doing it for rep (10-12) even with light weight (70% of DL max) it KILLS my glutes.
Be careful with doing natural GHR’s on a machine not intended for that movement. I once did this on a pulldown machine and ended up doing a face plant and had the machine fall on top of me and nearly crack me in the head.
[quote]skizac wrote:
Be careful with doing natural GHR’s on a machine not intended for that movement. I once did this on a pulldown machine and ended up doing a face plant and had the machine fall on top of me and nearly crack me in the head.[/quote]
Holy crap. I’ve had that start to happen with the plate loaded but realized that I forgot to load up the weight. GHR is a tough move to replicate in a commercial gym. Any thoughts on reverse hypers? I’d love to do them but even using a swiss ball on a bench seems really awkward.
natural GHRs kill your hammies. I know you said work on glutes, but they’re great for a bunch of things.
Instead of using a machine, why don’t you just grab a barbell, load it up with more than your bodyweight, and then jam it against the power rack’s front upright. Use 10 lbs plates to keep it from rolling backwards. Hook your heels under than and do them. Use a pad (should be plenty in a commercial gym) for your knees, and maybe a folded towel across each ankle if the bar cuts into you.
In addition to the above, try supersetting pull-throughs with another P-chain movement to emphasize the glutes even more.
[quote]ajcook99 wrote:
A poster on here, Modi, had an exercise he called Rack Humps that looked damn good.
[/quote]
Could be tough to set up in a commercial gym. I just took advantage of what was around me at the time.
I’ve also just been doing a ton of bridging and trying to get the focus off the hamstrings and onto the glutes. I’ll hold the contraction for a second or two at the top, but if I feel it in my hammies, I’ll hold it until I can really get the glutes to fire.
RDL’s and GM’s are pretty high on my list. I never felt like pullthroughs did much for me, I just don’t love the setup or the feeling.
Louie said straight leg sumo DL’s at a seminar I went to a while back. However, for me, these hurt my knees, so I put a very slight break in my legs, just so they’re not locked out and they still work as well.
Various GMs, to replace GHRs I like to do close stand GMs especially as an accessory lift. Back extensions, go for 100 to 200 reps total, or add weight. Lots of commercial gyms these days have plyo boxes, if yours does try using the tallest one for reverse hypers, just have to squeeze a dumbell between you feet for weight.