This has to be one of my most popular non-cardio classes. For shizzle. It’s not fair to judge our resistance classes on the same scale as a cardio class. We know that cardio classes are easy to fill because for most people they are more ‘fun’. But we also know that our non-cardio classes are probably going to be the ones that make the most difference to our clients in terms of injury prevention, muscle tone and feeling like a ninja longterm.
Booty was always my ‘bridge the gap’ class. This class opened up resistance training to folk who would have been put off by lifting weights but also included my crew who knew what to do with a barbell, so they could work on their glute activation and isolate any weak points in their lifting game.
BB classes are easy to market, target a part of the body that is currently fashionable and have real world benefits rather than just pert cheeks. A HUGE amount of squat and deadlift coaching comes from having better function around the hip….. so you’re basically futureproofing your clients for whatever steps in their fitness journey they choose to take next. BB classes also set you up as an expert, especially if you are able to coach each movement on different bodies and different anatomical needs.
Putting together the ultimate BB class
Warm-Up - include light load glute activation in similar planes/paths of motion that you will have in the rest of the class, hip mobility, core activation and mid-back mobility.
Main Class - focusing on a variety of movements to target glutes (in all vectors), hip stability & hamstrings:
Top down movements - eg squats, split squats and lunge variations
Floor up movements - eg glute bridges, hip thrust variations
Accessory movements - eg. clams, kickbacks, side raises, banded curls etc
Hip hinge - where possible/suitable teach the hip hinge
Focus on technique, tempo and mind to muscle connection as well as correcting technique to help your clients get the best from each movement
If teaching ETM, include enough time for changing over during and in between tracks, and try to avoid relying solely on top down movements which massively target the quads. We need these movements too, but in order to effectively target the glutes, they need a bit of extra love from the floor.
General advice
Avoid relying solely on the burn to dictate if an exercise is effective… and the same goes for DOMS
On the flip side, most clients see both of the above as indicators they had a good sesh, so find a mid-point between science and client motivation
Use this class to teach technique and to feed in to other resistance classes you may want to offer
Use hip circle bands on squats to teach 'knees open'….. and then remove them when the client is using any semi-significant load
Understand that clients will outgrow a ‘hip circle only’ class at some point - especially if they move on to lift weights... and you can be there ready and waiting!
If you need any help with putting together your glute activation classes, check out our Fitness Library or our ‘It’s All About That Bass’ instructor workshop
