Trinny Woodall shares her 5-move secret to building glute strength and stability

Our buttocks are made for more than sitting on. Three muscles make up this area, and one of them, the gluteus maximus, is the largest in the body. We need it to be strong for everything from standing up from a chair and climbing stairs to supporting full-body stability.

Trinny Woodall has been a fitness fan for decades. She often shares her home workouts online, joined by friends and trainers. This time, she's revealed her go-to 15-minute set of glute exercises, alongside PT Nathalie Hayward.

“We need to keep [our glutes] strong and supple,” says Nathalie in the video, shared on Instagram. “So we need to do release work and stretching as well."

The warm up

Many people are prone to skiping a good warm-up in favour of getting to the workout faster, but Nathalie says that warming up muscles is "absolutely crucial".

"It prevents injury and gets your muscles prepped for movement," she says.

Here's her go-to warm up for the glutes:

• Windscreen Wipers
• Glute Bridges
• Cat-Cow Stretch
• All-Fours Leg Lifts

Once they’re fully warmed up, Trinny and Nathalie stand up on their yoga mat to begin their glute and leg exercises. The trainer suggests doing a few sets of the five-move routine to create an effective 15-minute workout.

The workout

1. Squats

Squats are a compound movement, meaning they work many muscles at the same time. In this classic squat stance, Nathalie stresses that your body weight should be "evenly balanced between both feet" to avoid doing a side lunge.

Here's how to do it:

• Stand with your legs together.
• Step out with one leg and squat deeply.
• Bring your legs back together and step out with the other leg.
• Continue for a minute.

2. Hamstring hinges

You'll be familiar with the hip hinge if you normally do deadlifts or RDLs in the gym. Trinny does this one with a set of dumbbells to increase the intensity but Nathalie sticks with bodyweight. It works the back of your legs and the glutes.

Here's how to do it:

• Inhale and push your hips back, keeping a soft bend in your knees.
• Pretend you're trying to hit a button on the wall behind you.
• Push back until you can feel a deep stretch through your hamstrings on the back of your legs.
• Push through your feet to return to standing.

3. Side-lying leg lifts

As well as focusing on the glutes, the side-lying leg lift recruits muscles in the upper-body as well. It's a great one for improving stability in the shoulders and back as well as you rest on one arm.

Here's how to do it:

• Lie on your side with your knees bent.
• Rest on one straight arm and keep the other arm on your hip.
• The easier variation is to just raise the top bent knee and then lower it down again.
• The harder version is to lift both hips off the mat and then raise your top leg.

4. Frog bridges

A frog bridge is very similar to a glute bridge but bringing your feet together "isolates the gluteus maximus", says Nathalie.

Here's how to do it:

• Start with the soles of your feet together and your knees bent.
• Lift the hips and gently squeeze the glutes.
• Hold the pose at the top for a few seconds before lowering back down again.

5. Reverse lunges

The final exercise in Trinny and Nathalie's workout is the reverse lunge. This one works muscles in the inner thigh, the quadriceps, and the calves, says the PT.

Here's how to do it:

• Start with both feet together.
• Step back with one leg and bend the knee as close to the mat as possible.
• Bring the leg back in and swap to the other side.

While Nathalie demonstrates the reverse lunges, Trinny demonstrates a ski squat against the wall. This is better for people who have knee issues, says the trainer, so feel free to swap out the lunges for this variation.

A ski squat is the same as a wall sit. You use the wall for stability but stay in a squat position for as long as you can.