This is a variation of a one-legged squat exercise (a Pistol), done with a towel wrapped around a pole to help stabilize your body as you’re doing it and to allow to you work in a more effective manner for the glutes.
The “Pistol” exercise is normally done freestanding…when done like that, it’s more of a quad exercise. When you use the towel in this fashion, you are better able to control the movement and focus it on the glutes.
In addition, it’s a VERY challenging exercise, from a strength AND balance standpoint (including hip flexor strength in your front leg!)
This variation allows you to use your upper body to assist in the movement without taking tension off the target muscles.
So for this, you’ll need a towel and a pole to loop it around. Grasp the ends of the towel and stand on on leg a few feet away (you’ll have to experiment with foot distance to get what works for you). Now squat ALL the way down, bring your other leg straight out in front.
Push yourself back and repeat. This one is actually going to require some upper body strength as well and a key note…as you push up, try and stick your butt out and get an arch in your back as soon as possible on the way up. That will help put more focus on the glutes.
Once you’ve done your reps on one leg, switch to the other, or you can just alternate legs.
This is a challenging exercise that’s going to hit not only the glutes but the rest of your legs as well. And the beauty of it is, you can do it just about anywhere you have something to throw a towel around.
Nick Nilsson is known in the fitness industry as the “Mad Scientist of Muscle,” and for good reason! For more than 28 years, Nick has been creating unique, new exercises and training techniques and putting together some of the most innovative muscle-building and fat-loss programs available anywhere.
