This Glutes Workout—Literally—Kicked Our Butts in 10-Minutes Flat

Welcome to Trainer of the Month Club, our fitness series, where we tap the coolest, most in-the-know fitness leaders to create a month-long fitness challenge. On Mondays, we have our “sweat drops” where you’ll get access to the week’s workout that you can follow along at home. This week, Nike Master Trainer and run coach Traci Copeland is taking us through a glutes series.

As anyone who’s ever run a mile well knows, being a runner isn’t just about running. Sure, you’ve gotta log your miles and stretch on the reg, but you also need to supplement your runs with cross training in order to make sure you’re strong enough to cross the finish line—whether that’s an actual finish line at a race, or a metaphorical one when you make it to the end of your post-work three miler. We already know that your core is critical to your running abilities, but there’s one more oft overlooked set of muscles you should also be paying attention to: your glutes.

So why should runners be thinking about strengthening their glutes before hitting the road (or the tread)? “It’s all about injury prevention,” says Nike Master Trainer and run coach Traci Copeland. “We focus on our quads and hamstrings pretty often, but the glutes are actually going to help stabilize our pelvic and prevent injury.”

Copeland has put together a five-move, 10-minute workout that will fire up your glutes for your upcoming runs. The series is made up of single-side isolations—which you don’t get from the usual glute moves like squats—so that you’re working both your left and right evenly, and can see where your weakness are… and what you might need to work a little harder to strengthen in preparation for a race.

Follow along in the video above, and don’t forget to check back next week for another run-friendly set of moves from Copeland.

Try this glutes-strengthening strengthening series.

Do each move on the right side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the left side for 30 seconds. Cycle through the series twice for a total of 10 minutes of work:

1. Glute bridge: Lay on your mat with your arms by your side with your right foot planted on the ground and your left food straight up in the air. Slowly raise and lower your hips, keeping your spine in a neutral position and squeezing your glutes at the top. To make things more challenging, add a weight; To modify, keep both feet together on the ground instead of doing one side at a time. Cycle through one side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other for another 30 seconds.

2. Tabletop with leg lift: Come into a tabletop position with your shoulders directly in line with your wrists. Lift your leg up and out to the side, keeping your knees bent. Keep your tailbone tucked, and be sure not to arch your lower back. Cycle through one side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other for another 30 seconds.

3. Single leg squat: Lift one leg off of the ground and squat down on the other while raising your arms toward the sky. If it’s too intense, use a bench behind you for balance. Cycle through one side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other for another 30 seconds.

4. Single leg deadlift: Lift one leg off of the ground behind you and reach toward the ground (like a pendulum), keeping your back flat the entire time. To make things more challenging, hold onto a weight. Cycle through one side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other for another 30 seconds.

5. Power skip: Step one leg back behind you into a lunge, then drive it up in front of you as you hop up into a skip. Cycle through one side for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other for another 30 seconds.

Your glutes aren’t the only thing runners should be working on the reg—core strength is critical too, so check out Copeland’s 10-minute series that will light it on fire. And, obviously (!) , don’t forget to stretch.