Freakin’ Awesome Exercise of the Day: Dumbbell Bench Press with Glute Bridge
This past weekend was unique.
Jess and I had yet another visitor in town from Ohio! She is one of Jess’s best friends, was a bridesmaid at our wedding, and our first solo female visitor.
I mention that last point because when 2 girlfriends get together in a city like LA, 2 things occur;
#1: Shopping
#2: Hairspray
#3: More shopping
I seriously came home in the middle of the day the other day to grab something that I had forgotten and thought I had walked into a full-on beauty salon. The smell took over all of my senses to the point where my hair ended up looking like this just by the context effect;
I thought we had a decent sized bathroom counter until they took command to get ready for the numerous dinners we went out for (Jess and I don’t go out a whole lot, so when we have visitors, we make it rain). We went to some really nice places and when you go to a nice place you have to get on your big boy clothes.
It’s always a struggle for me to pick out what I am going to wear (because I hate doing it), and when I do, it usually ends up being roughly the same 2-3 outfits every time. What can I say, while I enjoy wearing a suit every now and then, it’s so much easier to wear a t-shirt and shorts (and even easier to wear the same color of those things, however, this was banned very early into our relationship). If you dig through some old photos on my Facebook, you will find a few gems of me wearing all white clothes
…it was a simpler time.
But when Jess was having me plan my outfit this past Saturday night, I realized something;
I despise 80% of my clothes!
And I picked out pretty much everything in my closet. Sometimes I just can’t explain my actions.
What to do, what to do…
Oh, did I mention we went shopping?
Being a good hubby, I tagged along for these epic shopping trips and actually ended up with more clothes than either of them! Express definitely knows how to fit clothes for tall, lean guys like myself!
Let’s just say Kasey Esser 2.0 has arrived and he now dresses appropriately for nice occasions!
I did notice one thing when I was trying on some pants;
I don’t care if you are a guy or girl, clothing decisions for the lower body are made much easier when it makes the butt look good!
Guys, glutes are king when it comes to getting a female’s attention and for producing stronger deadlifts and squats.
And girls, I know you wouldn’t mind a nicer butt.
Speaking of butt terminology, I have heard the glutes referred to as “cakes” lately??
Anyway, in light of all that, I wanted to showcase an exercise for you all that will make your butt (I can’t use the word cakes seriously) look better AND give you more upper body strength.
This is an exercise that brings the goals of males (upper-body pressing obsessed) and females (lower-body “toning” obsessed) together. That’s pretty impressive.
Welcome to the Dumbbell Bench Press with Glute Bridge (I know, what a creative name)
This movement take a typical dumbbell bench press and says, “GIVE ME MORE GLUTES!!”
I stole this exercise from Functional Movement Systems (FMS) and have just begun implementing it into some of my client’s programs. So far it has worked great!
As you will see in the video, the butt and hips are actually going to be off of the end of the bench, forcing you to contract the glutes to keep everything in alignment.
Take a look;
It doesn’t look like much at first, but think of the standard repetitions you perform at the gym. You usually work through a certain range-of-motion.
Your body, your glutes in particular, won’t be used to holding themselves in a contracted state (this is called an isometric contraction) for an extended period of time.
What I’m trying to say is this will make your butt burn…a lot.
We all need more posterior chain strength, yet we have a tendency to want to work on our “show” muscles in the front of our body.
Well, this move allows you to accomplish both of those objectives.
Give it a shot in your next workout and let me know what you think!
I will be spraying down our apartment with pure testosterone in the meantime.
Be your best,
Kasey, CSCS
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