This Superset Rocks Your Glutes, With or Without Weights
The challenge of lower-body leg training at home is this: How do you load the strongest muscles in your body? Your quads, glutes, and hamstrings have serious power, and very often, simple bodyweight moves like squats and lunges don't truly challenge them. Sure, you'll feel like you're working, and if you do enough reps, it'll burn, but none of it will really give you that deep muscle pump you want.
If you have a chair, though, then you can indeed push your legs to the limit, thanks to this Bulgarian split squat superset from Men's Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. "You can do this with whatever loads you have in your house," he says, "and it'll tax you. And even if you do it with no load, if you focus carefully on the movements, you'll feel it, too. It's a guaranteed glute buster."
The Bulgarian Glute Smash Superset is that rare leg move that presents a challenge even if it's only using only bodyweight. Sure, your legs are strong as a pair, but here, they wind up isolated. The first portion of the superset, will challenge quads and glutes in that setting. The second portion attacks hamstrings and glutes. And because one movement (the starting split squat) asks you to focus on moving at the knee joint and the other (the hip hinge) pushes you to focus on your hips, you wind up with a well-rounded leg session.
"This is one-stop leg day shopping," says Samuel. "If you're in a pinch, you're hitting everything you need. And if you want to go harder, this is a perfect, well-rounded leg day finisher."
It works with weights or without, says Samuel. "I like to load and it's worth loading when you can," he says, "so that could be kettlebells, or it could be what I'm using here, two five-gallon jugs of water. But you can do it with bodyweight too and focus more on the contractions and body positioning."
That positioning is that much more important on the second move in the series, the Bulgarian hip hinge. "This hip hinge is unique because it offers some nonworking leg support. That actually helps you focus on how you're hinging," says Samuel. "And that'll let you really attack your glutes."
Either way, the series fatigues quads and glutes first, then wipes out your glutes in the second portion of things. And all you really need is a chair.
Start in the bottom of a Bulgarian split squat, left foot on the back of a chair. Press up from there, holding two kettlebells in a front rack or holding a five-gallon jug of water at your chest, or using bodyweight. Stand up. This is the start.
Keeping your core tight and your torso slightly forward, bend your right knee, lowering your left knee toward the ground. Pause at the bottom of your split squat, then power up. That's 1 rep; do 8 to 10.
Now shift your load. Either drop the jug of water and pick up two jugs of water and hold them at your sides, drop the kettlebells to your sides, or, if you're using bodyweight, just stand straight up.
Keeping your front shin perpendicular to the ground and your core tight, push your butt back and lower your torso and the weights toward the ground. Stop the moment you feel your back start to round and pause. "Depth will be different for everyone," says Samuel. Stand back up, squeezing your glutes. That's 1 rep; do 8 to 10.
That's 1 set. Do 3 sets per leg.
Use the Bulgarian Glute Smash Superset whenever you need to attack legs. It's 10 minutes of leg day fun with multiple uses. "If you're doing it without weight, feel free to go heavier too," says Samuel. "But you may not have to. Even a light weight with this is gonna push you, I promise you that."
For more tips and routines from Samuel, check out our full slate of Eb and Swole workouts. If you want to try an even more dedicated routine, consider Eb's New Rules of Muscle program.
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