Personal Trainers Share The Exercises They Literally Never Do (And Neither Should You)

“I definitely believe that the barbell glute bridge is an overhyped exercise when it comes down to glute hypertrophy,” aka muscle building in the glutes, said Andrew Gonzalez, a trainer at Chelsea Piers in Brooklyn.

“While staying in the realm of hip hinging, I believe barbell Romanian deadlifts and Good Mornings … using the safety squat bar are better alternatives for glute hypertrophy because they provide a better stretch-to-shorten stimulus,” Gonzalez said.

Beyond this, he said the Bulgarian split squat with a little bit of front-foot elevation is his go-to movement for glute work. “These exercises provide a better environment to give fuller ranges of motion on the eccentric part of the movement rather than the concentric, which is known to be a better driver for hypertrophy all around,” he said.