Hip Flexor Stretches

The hip flexors are almost always chronically shortened in individuals who sit for long periods of time. This is bad because when these muscles get short, they prevent the glutes from fully activating which results in flat, saggy booties.

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• Relax into this stretch and hold.
• Do not bounce.

One Arm Row

This is a great bang-for-your-buck exercise that works the pulling muscles asymmetrically and also trains scapular retraction. Plus it hits your biceps like a curl but you don't have to feel like a choade who wastes his time in the gym doing curls. Throw in a little torsional stability and you can see why it's "Coach Stevo Approved!"

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• Pack the shoulder.
• Squeeze the shoulder blades together on every rep.
• Do not let the plane of your shoulders change relative to the plane of your hips

Goatbag

One of my new favorites, this is the perfect exercise for grooving on the movement I like to call "hinging." Push your butt back and keep pushing back until your knees have to bend so you can push your butt back even more. Keep a flat back and only let your face come down because you have to keep pushing your butt back. Those things on the back of your legs are called "hamstrings." Use a stick at first (pictured) so you can see that your back is flat. And do it in front of a wall so you can keep touching the wall with your butt, stepping forward a little, then repeating. The goal is to keep touching the wall, not to get low. "Hinging" is a back-and-forth motion, not an up-and-down motion. Once you're comfortable, hold a weight on your chest, squeeze your shoulder blades together and prepare to walk funny tomorrow.

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• Keep repeating, "Butt back," over and over.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together the entire time.
• Don't be afraid to put your torso between your legs if your butt can go back that far.

Burpee

The Burpee is a simple gasser. It's an explosive, full body, bodyweight exercise that will tax your anaerobic cardio fuel system like few other movements. Traditionally used as punishment (like when I was a Marine Corps Officer Candidate), you will find these sparingly in Coach Stevo's metabolic circuit workouts. But that's no excuse not to learn them. Basic rule of thumb, if you can do it with a push up, do it. If you can't do a bodyweight push up, skip it.

Coach Stevo's Top Tip

• It's about speed. How fast can you sprawl, push, and pop?

Bodyrock Example (you're welcome)

Gulbis Glute Twists

This is a weird exercise, but I don't know any others that light up my glutes like "the Gulbis." If you do not have properly firing glutes, you might not feel these at all and insist that I am crazy. Bret Contreras (inventor, but bad at naming stuff) is particularly verbose in his explanation, but if I had to summarize in a single queue, it would be, "squeeze the cheek closest to the band and bring your hips around fast and hard like a golf swing."

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• Leg closest to the band is further back.
• Pivot at the hips. This is not an oblique exercise.
• Squeeze the glute and hold for a few seconds.
• Drive the hip around and down. Like a golf swing.

Bret Contreras Demonstrates