Did you know that the glutes are one of the most important parts of your body? Having a strong and perfectly round butt is not just aesthetically pleasing but crucial for your body balance, everyday movements, and avoiding any kinds of falls and injuries.
Glutes muscles comprise three muscles: gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. Together, these muscles make sure that you can walk and run properly without tripping or losing body balance.
By reading the highlighted role of glutes in your body, it is natural to wonder if you can do something to strengthen these muscles so you can enjoy maximum benefits for the longest periods.
Therefore, in this article, we introduce you to hip circle bands and how you can incorporate them in your gluteus workouts for reaping utmost benefits efficiently and effectively.
What Are Hip Circle Bands?
Hip circle bands are high-quality pure elastic cotton bands that add resistance to your everyday workouts.
Moreover, the bands allow you to work up your hip abductors and help you with knee positioning and stabilizing the body for a better workout posture. When used during squats, donkey kicks, glute bridge thrust, etc., the added resistance by the hip circle band engages core muscles as well. This ensures that your body gets in a full lower body workout, and you’re able to break through any and every muscle growth plateaus.
Benefits of a Hip Band
Here are a few of the many benefits a hip circle band offers:
1. Enhances Workout Efficiency
When performing your regular workouts, the hip circle bands allow you to intensify your exercise and engage more muscles simultaneously.
When using hip bands, your muscles come under more tension than they would when using regular weights. The more resistance, the harder your muscles work, the more efficient and effective workouts.
2. Engages the Core
Would you feel excited if you’re told that using a hip circle band will help you work out your core as well? Here’s the good news! Performing hip workouts requires you to focus hard on your body balance, and adding a hip band ensures you engage your core as well.
Using these bands forces you to maintain the tension by forcing the arms or the legs to stay stretched and fight off the pressure, enabling you to engage your core to retain the band stretch and perform the workout.
3. Allows Natural Movements
While machines teach you the proper movements required to target each muscle group, they sometimes result in an unnatural or improper position due to different body types.
Using a hip band allows you more freedom in movement, a better exercising posture, and a greater pump to work out.
4. Allows Full-body Workouts
If you’re one of those who like to perform compound workouts, then hip circle bands are made for you.
The resistance bands allow you to work out your arms and legs while ensuring that you engage your stabilizing muscles and use your strength to maintain the tension while performing various glute workouts.
Related Article: Compound vs. Isolation Exercises
5. Promotes Better Form
Exercising is not as easy as it sounds when you’re just starting, and the act of utilizing the momentum and the body flow to get over with your reps and sets is something we’re all guilty of.
Fortunately, the hip circle bands force you to maintain the tension in your body and perform the exercise the way it’s meant to be; without cheating. If you still end up cheating, the band will collapse, and you will get caught.
Workouts Using Hip Bands
Now that we’ve elaborated on some major benefits the hip circle band offers, here are some of the workouts you can try with these resistance bands to intensify the exercise and enjoy a more efficient and effective workout.
1. Fire Hydrant
- Place the resistance band above your knees and get down in a kneeling position, with hands placed right under your shoulder.
- Stretch the knees to 6 inches apart, and slowly raise your right leg sideways while maintaining your balance on the left knee
- Hold it steady for a few seconds and then place it back on the floor
- Complete 8-10 reps on each leg before moving on to the other leg
2. Forward/Backward Squat
- Start by placing the hip circle band on your thighs and taking a squat position.
- Open your legs hip-width apart, maintaining the band tension in your legs, and hold your hands up in front of you.
- Walk ten steps forward and then ten steps backward, in a squat position
- Continue the exercise for 8-10 reps
Related Article: Train Your Booty to Stardom!
3. Hip Bridge Pulses
- Place the hip circle band just above your knees and lie down on your back
- Keeping your hands by your side, fold your knees and place your feet flat on the floor
- Squeezing your abs and glutes, lift your hips a few inches up
- Staying in this lifted position, stretch the knees to the sides, create tension in between your legs and engage your core
- Bring back your knees, completing one rep
- Repeat the exercise for 20 reps
4. Band Glute Bridge
- Lie down on your back, bending your knees and placing your feet firmly on the floor
- The hip bands placed just above your knees create tension in your legs.
- Maintaining the tension, squeeze your glutes and lift them in the air and hold the position for a few seconds.
- Lower down your hips to complete one rep
- Continue the lifting exercise for 10-12 reps
5. Donkey Kicks
- Place the band on your thighs and get down on all fours, creating a right angle with your legs.
- Without bending your back, lift your leg as far up as possible and hold the posture for 5 seconds.
- Slowly lower down the leg and repeat the workout on one leg before moving to the other leg.
You must invest in a high-quality hip band to maximize your fitness gains. The hip circle bands by DMoose are 14.5 inches long and 3.15 inches wide and are made with non-slip and soft fabric. These hip circles come in three resistance levels; low (gray), medium(red), and heavy (black), which are worn on the thighs, to add resistance to your legs and allow you to engage glutes hamstrings, and quads muscles primarily.
Conclusion
Hip bands are the ideal gym gear that helps you intensify your workouts and break through your muscle growth plateaus. They are soft, comfortable, non-slip, and lightweight that can be easily carried around in your gym bag.
They help you engage major body muscles, such as abdominal, glutes, hamstrings, etc., along with stabilizing body muscles to enjoy compound workouts efficiently while maintaining correct postures, so you don’t end up cheating your exercise or getting injured.
Reading List
Is Home Gym Worth the Investment or Gym Membership?
Article Sources
- Bartlett, Jamie L., et al. ‘Activity and Functions of the Human Gluteal Muscles in Walking, Running, Sprinting, and Climbing’. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 153, no. 1, 2014, pp. 124–31. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22419.
- Jeong, Ui-Cheol, et al. ‘The Effects of Gluteus Muscle Strengthening Exercise and Lumbar Stabilization Exercise on Lumbar Muscle Strength and Balance in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients’. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, vol. 27, no. 12, 2015, pp. 3813–16. J-Stage, https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.3813.
- Lieberman, Daniel E., et al. ‘The Human Gluteus Maximus and Its Role in Running’. Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 209, no. 11, June 2006, pp. 2143–55. Silverchair, https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02255.