Glutes are the secondary strength powerhouse to the core of the body. It is, therefore, worth focusing on the glute leg muscles during your fitness training.
What are glute muscles? These are leg muscles positioned at the back of your thighs, which contrast the quadriceps.
Does the Peloton work your glutes? Absolutely! Peloton has a spectrum of exercises that target the glutes, from bike rides, tread runs, Bootcamp classes, barre classes, outdoor exercises to strength training.
Strong glute muscles add to an attractive outlook other than strength for more body exercise.
Does Peloton Make You Glutes Bigger?
Does Peloton help you build booty? Yes! Peloton does make your glutes bigger. All the Glute classes are good. For Peloton bike users; You make sure to focus on your glutes when you ride, instead of your thighs or hamstrings. Climb Rides, Hill climbs, out of the saddle, and heavy resistance are also helping to build a booty. Several peloton workouts outside of ride classes are glute-oriented and can help you increase your strength as well as achieve perfect glutes.
Why Is Glute Activation Important in The Peloton?
Peloton has two types of equipment, the bike, and the treadmill. Both are cardio fitness equipment with a significant emphasis on leg muscle training. However, if you don’t activate the glutes before a workout, there is a likelihood of not using the glutes for your exercise. You will stretch and move your glutes in a workout that is probably high-intensity, yet they were in an inactive state.
Even worse, when your form demands the use of glutes, you may end up with an injury. Therefore, even if you are not to use more of the glute muscles, activation before the workout is essential as a safety precaution.
Moreover, the glutes provide more energy for cycling and running. Therefore, they will be more helpful during classes if they are activated. This translates into more productivity in Peloton classes.
Activated glutes facilitate hip flexion and leg flexibility, which is suitable for a wide range of motions during classes. Thus, sitting upright, bending, or standing on the bike will be easier. You can also decide on a marathon or a sprint during a tread or outdoor running class.
I love glute activation because it reminds me of the importance of glute training. If not for a good-looking booty, strong glutes are essential for handling any form of cardio and most strength workouts.
Is Peloton Bike Good for Glutes?
Yes, the Peloton bike is excellent for glutes training. However, not all Peloton cycling classes and forms facilitate glute exercise.
So, how do you target glutes during cycling? Basically, cycling classes for glutes involve cycling out of the saddle while standing on the pedals.
Classes that encourage more time off the saddle include;
- Climbing
- HIIT and Hills
- Tabata and most interval classes
However, some situations may prevent you from cycling while off the bike saddle. These would include body weakness, pregnancy, weakness from old age, and knee injuries.
The good news is that these conditions do not actually subject your glutes to non-activity. Usually, you will only take a low-impact class with either of the conditions above, right? This means that you use more of your quads and less of the glutes during class. But what if there is a way to turn the situation around without jeopardizing your health?
You can involve your glutes by changing your overall body posture while taking a saddle class, for instance, low-impact Peloton rides. So, instead of sitting staring, you can bend with your back slightly raised, which forces your body to use more of the glute muscles.
Other than the posture, you can increase the cadence instead of the bike’s resistance. This will help increase your workout speed, which calls for more leg muscle incorporation. In the process, your glutes get worked out.
What Is Glute Inactivity?
Inactive glutes can indicate that the muscles are weak and are not used as much as they should be during physical activities.
The most prevalent cause of underactive glutes is a lifestyle. Even if you work out hard every day, you probably spend the majority of your time sitting down. When you sit, you simply aren’t using your glutes, so they become inactive. Injuries frequently result in inactive glutes.
What is Glute Activation
Glute activation is simply a warm-up training for your glutes. It just prepares the glutes for correct form and movement during exercise sessions.
What does it mean to activate your glutes? Glute activation refers to the moderate activity that you subject your glutes to in order to prepare them for a glute workout. It may include stretches, sprints, and target muscle strength training for the glutes.
How to Activate Your Glutes
There is a range of exercises that aim at activating the glutes. These include;
- Donkey kicks (Youtube)
- Lying lunges
- Butt bridges (Youtube), among others
In Peloton, I love barre classes with Hannah Corbin for glute activation. They ensure that you target your glutes for at least a minute at a time, which reminds your glutes that they are still alive.
Actually, I feel like these classes should be used for treading DBS, which stands for Dead Butt Syndrome. If you can’t feel your butt because it feels so numb, how about a good shock with one of these barre classes?
How long does it take to activate your glutes? The duration takes to activate glutes will depend on you. If you are always exercising and had a long day sitting at work, a minute is actually long enough. However, if you wait for the DBS to catch up with you, you will be up for a longer time. It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to activate this glutes.
What happens when you activate your glutes? If your glutes are activated, you should be able to feel that they are contracting. When you activate your glutes, you take them from a state of immobility or inactivity to a state of being active. As a result, they become more flexible, which allows you to take correct forms during workouts without staring. Besides that, you can use the glutes as a source of strength for your training.
Can I Activate Glutes on the Peloton Bike?
Usually, you should activate your glutes before getting on the peloton bike so that using them on the bike becomes easier.
In a case such as Peloton low-impact classes where you are on the bike saddle, your body finds it easier to use the quadriceps as opposed to your glutes. Unfortunately, this means that trying to change this form will bring resistance and difficulty.
And this is why glute activation before the bike class is important. It promotes glute flexibility, allowing you to use glutes during cycling.
Note that the glutes are more powerful than the quads, which means that an opportunity to use them will reduce fatigue and increased output.
Nevertheless, you can activate the glutes on the Peloton bike, especially during a pre-ride warm-up.
How do I activate glutes on the Peloton bike? The simplest form of activating glutes on the fitness bike is to pedal while off the saddle. However, you can also activate the glutes while still on the saddle. You will just bend your back so that you create a letter C with your spinal area. As you pedal, you will feel the weight shift from the quadriceps and fall on the glutes. As you work out from this position, you will activate the glutes.
Can I grow big thighs in Peloton training?
Yes, you can. However, you have to ensure that your classes focus on the glutes more. Sustained strength training targeting the glutes increases their muscle mass, hence a big-thigh outlook.
Peloton for Glutes
So, if I cannot use the Peloton bike for glute activation, what Peloton classes are suitable?
My choice class for glute activation is the Peloton barre. Other than barre;
Consider a short Pilates class that targets the glutes. It helps stretch the glute muscles to the extent of being active. Add that to the Pilates awareness training, and get to use your glutes even in a class you couldn’t have before.
There are also low-impact lower body strength training classes with glutes incorporated in the workouts. Then, they activate the glutes for a more intense class.
Sice lower body strength is broad, and you can narrow down to legs and glutes. These are strength classes that focus on glutes to enhance endurance and optimal activity.
Strength for runners is also strength classes that focus on leg muscle strength, among them the glutes.
Best Peloton Classes for Glutes
Peloton classes that target the glutes could be strength, bike, or treadmill classes, as explained below;
1. Peloton Bike Classes for Glutes
Here are glute training classes for riders;
- Climb Classes: Climb classes involve drawing your optimal strength against a progressively increasing resistance. Therefore, you will usually be off your saddle, hence drawing strength from your glutes. My favorite climb on the bike is a 45 min class with Tunde Oyeneyin.
- HIIT and Hills: in HIIT and Hills, you will get an interval class that progressively increases strength. A good part of the classes involves being off the saddle, hence a glute workout. My best class is a 30 min HIIT and Hills class with Ben Alldis.
- Tabata Ride: there are Tabata ride classes where you have to stand on the pedals during the burst sessions. They have a climb aspect, which makes them great for glutes training. A good example is a 30 min Tabata with Robin Arzon.
- Bike Bootcamp: If you take a bike Bootcamp that incorporates lower body strength into cycling, you will improve your glute activity.
2. Peloton Tread Classes for Glutes
You will always draw your strength from the glutes whenever you run fast. Peloton tread classes that allow for this form of strength include;
- Speed: Most Peloton speed classes impact the glutes, especially the Hills option. An excellent example is a 30 min Hills Run with Marcel Dinkins.
- Power walk: The power walk is about picking up the pace in the walking category. It encourages your body to increase the muscle strength required for the exercise. Most importantly, the speed ensures that the glutes are the primary muscles in the exercise. Consider a 45 min Power Walk with Kirsten Ferguson for a try.
3. Strength Training
Among the strength training options for glutes are;
- Lower body: lower body training targets the glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, and other leg muscles. My favorite option that favors the glutes is glutes and legs, with a bias on the 30 min Glutes and Legs Intermediate Class with Callie Gullickson.
- Strength for Runners: strength for runners improves athletes’ strength and stability, preventing the risk of injury. They will mostly target the leg muscles, among them the glutes. My personal favorite is a 15 min Strength for Runners with Matt Wilpers, which targets more of the glutes. In addition, the medium and heavy weights for the class add to the intensity, hence increasing muscle mass building.
Final Thoughts
Peloton glute workouts spread across all the Peloton physical exercise categories. These include bikes, treadmills, and strength training.
Glute activation and exercise encourage strength, endurance, and increased muscle mass, necessary for optimal body strength.