Last week Strength Coach and Sprinter Keats Snideman came to BCSC (Bret Contreras Strength & Conditioning aka Bret’s Badass Garage) for a specialized glute and sprint-specific strength workout. This was actually his second workout in my garage as he’s making a concerted effort to maximize his glute strength and attempt to get stronger in the anteroposterior (max speed sprint) vector. Keats is a very well-respected individual in the sport-specific training community as he’s been at this for many years. He’s been there, done that, and is a bit of a wise owl. He’s known for being open-minded yet highly skeptical. The fact that he immediately approves of these exercises is a testament to the exercises’ effectiveness as it’s just not possible to “pull the wool” over Keats’ eyes. Here are the clips from his workout:

1. Barbell Glute Bridge

This short-range movement allows you to use a ton of weight and maximally activate the glutes.

2. Barbell Hip Thrust

This variation allows for more range of motion around the hip joint.

3. Single Leg Hip Thrust

Note that in my garage I use a Skorcher (a machine that I invented) to go really deep. You can mimic this by using two benches.

4. Band Hip Thrust

Again, at my garage I use a Skorcher for the band hip thrust which really accentuates the end-range contraction. This is very difficult to mimic as the band tension comes from far below the exerciser.

5. Pendulum Quadruped Hip Extension

Note that the knees stay bent to decrease hamstring contribution and increase glute contribution and the hands brace against the side rails to allow for irradiation and transfer through the lat, core, and thoracolumbar fascia into the glute.

6. Pendulum Donkey Kick

This variation utilizes knee extension with simultaneous hip extension and would better transfer to acceleration sprinting as the directional load vector is a blend between anteroposterior and axial. Note that Keats is fatigued and has tremendous difficulty controlling his core. This exercise is extremely challenging for the core, glutes, and quads, and is very difficult from a metabolic perspective as well.

Keats’ Reflections

As you can see, Keats is one smart dude. I should mention that prior to these glute exercises Keats had done sprints, cleans, deadlifts, and ultra high step ups. Keats had a race shortly after his first workout in my garage and he did very well. He speculated that these exercises helped him power through the sprint cycle and activate his glutes more efficiently even though he had only performed one workout! Indeed, a good strength training program can have dramatic short-term effects that can be seen rather quickly as well as long-term effects that are realized from many years of training.

Still squat and lunge, still do Olympic lifts, still do plyometrics and ballistics, and certainly still sprint! But make sure you add in some anteroposterior exercises as well such as barbell glute bridges, barbell hip thrusts, and pendulum donkey kicks for maximum glute power and sprint speed development. Hope you enjoyed the post!