If you ask all your fitness savvy friends what their favorite lower body and glute exercises are, squats, deadlifts, and lunges are likely at the top of their lists.

And with good reason! These are highly effective exercises to develop lower body strength and endurance. But there’s something they all lack. They can’t be remedied by squatting deeper, deadlifting heavier, and most certainly not by lunging a marathon.

A healthy body requires balance. And so does your lower body workout. The good news is that we are going to share 2 effective gymnastic exercises to help bring balance to your hips.

The muscle often neglected in workout programs is the gluteus medius muscle. Which when strong and mobile can provide many benefits, including but not limited to:

• Increased hip stability and strength
• Improved knee health
• Good posture
• Reduced lower back pain

To enjoy all of these benefits and more, try incorporating these two essential exercises, inspired from our GB Foundation Courses, below!

Turn Your Glute Exercises Upside Down

Here’s a surefire way to mobilize and strengthen those gluteus medius. And just about every other muscle in your body! The frog press, a fantastic gymnastic exercise, will challenge your hip mobility from a new perspective... upside down and in a handstand! This unique approach to lower body mobility will serve as a valuable training tool to master your press handstand.

Strengthen your hips and your shoulders with this one of a kind Gymnastic Bodies Workout.

To do the frog press, first walk up into a handstand with your chest facing the wall. Stop with your hands roughly a foot away from the wall and remember to keep your core tight and legs extended. Keep your handstand strong and stable as you bend your knees outward and tuck them into your chest. How’s your shape? Holding strong? Good! Now reverse that motion all the way back out to handstand.

See how many you can do with good form!

Lift Off For Stronger Gluteus Medius

Not many exercises out there target your gluteus medius quite like the Reverse Straddle Leg Lift. An essential Gymnastic Bodies exercise that strongly targets the outer glutes, while building active mobility in your hips.

This is a brilliant exercise to add to your workout routine and you won’t be disappointed with the improvements in hip mobility and strength. Oh! And say goodbye to that achy back pain while you’re at it.

Incorporate this Foundation Series exercise into your training for strong and mobile hips.

Give these reverse straddle leg lifts a try and get your glutes firing. Start by lying at the edge of a box or a sturdy table, if you have one, with your legs extended downwards off the edge. Begin raising your legs up to parallel while keeping your legs straddled wide to resemble a “V” shape. Remember to keep your knees straight and point your toes away from you.

Repeat for 10 repetitions, moving smoothly through a full range of motion.

No lower body workout is complete without exercises that target your gluteus medius. Try GymnasticBodies hip mobility exercises and see exactly what you've been missing.