Join instructor Sina Riemann for a 20-minute precision Pilates class for glute strength and stability. Riemann takes you through a series of moves designed to activate even the smallest muscles you may not regularly give a workout.
Director: Sarah Yalowitz
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Editor: Christopher Jones
Talent: Sina Reimann
Creative Producer: Christie Garcia
Line Producer: Joe Buscemi
Manager, Social Creative Development: Lauren Alberti
Production Manager: Melissa Heber
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Casting Producer: Nick Sawyer
Camera Operator: Josh Herzog; Jake Robbins
Gaffer: Gautum Kadian
Sound Mixer: Michael Guggino
Production Assistant: Erica Palmieri
Hair & Make-Up: Yev Wright-Mason
Set Designer: Jeremy Derbyshire-Myles
Food & Fitness Director, SELF: Christa Sgobba
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Director: Sarah Yalowitz
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Editor: Christopher Jones
Talent: Sina Reimann
Creative Producer: Christie Garcia
Line Producer: Joe Buscemi
Manager, Social Creative Development: Lauren Alberti
Production Manager: Melissa Heber
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Casting Producer: Nick Sawyer
Camera Operator: Josh Herzog; Jake Robbins
Gaffer: Gautum Kadian
Sound Mixer: Michael Guggino
Production Assistant: Erica Palmieri
Hair & Make-Up: Yev Wright-Mason
Set Designer: Jeremy Derbyshire-Myles
Food & Fitness Director, SELF: Christa Sgobba
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00This is your precision glute activation. Think about it like the small little muscles in
00:10your glutes. The muscles we usually don't work out will get into here. All these movements
00:15we're going to do target the outside pocket of your seats. Also, really important here,
00:19heads up, if you ever need to take little breaks, you're totally allowed to, right?
00:23Take a sip of water, towel off, and then get back into your exercise. Let's get started
00:28with your warm-up. We're going to start with my favorite exercise, the perfect exercise
00:31to always start any glute work is separate your feet nice hip-width apart. We're going
00:35to take it into a squat. I want you to take it super slow. Squat down for two, sit your
00:40hips back for three, sit your hips back for four. Now, press into your heel, mid-foot,
00:45and the big toe, rise back up, squeeze your glutes at the top, and then slowly take it
00:50back up. We're just going to warm up right here, your glutes, your quads, and don't forget,
00:55your center core is always activated as we squat. Beautiful. Now, I'm going to show you
01:00real quick here from the side. I really want you to sit back, keep those arms nice and
01:04long, press through the entire foot, right, those three connection points on the feet,
01:09and come back up. What you want to avoid here is that pelvic tilt. Don't do one of these,
01:14okay? Again, really bad in the low back. It's just a small little squeeze in the glutes.
01:19Squeeze, yes. Get everything nice and tight, and then lower back down. All right, we're
01:24going to add on to this. We are adding a leg lift in three, two, and one. Meet me all the way at
01:30the bottom. Now, lift up, shift your body weight to the right side, lift your left leg up, squat
01:35back down, lift your right leg up. So now, you're already going to feel that abductors work right
01:39to you. Squeeze that glute. Beautiful. Open up, inhale, exhale, lift. As always, all of these
01:47single leg exercises, if you feel unstable, you can always hold on to something. We're going to
01:53hold this low in three, two, and one. Meet me down low. Give me a tiny pulse in the glutes. Up an inch,
02:00down an inch. Almost like you're trying to sit down on a chair, and then you decide, oh no, I get
02:04right back up. So a small little pulse. You got five. We're going to a knee opener in four, three,
02:10two, meet me down low. Start to open your knees out for one, out for two, and then draw your knees
02:16back in. Think about opening from the hips as you open your knees out, and then draw them back in.
02:21Really working the outside pocket of your seat, your outer thighs. Everything is activated here.
02:26We got 10 more seconds right here, and we're going to stand up. You get a quick breather. We take it
02:31into a curtsy lunge. In three, two, draw it back in, rise up, shake it out. Take a quick little
02:39breather. We're going to take this now into our leg series on the left side. We're going to start
02:44in a static curtsy lunge. So your left foot is forward, your right foot steps back. So you got
02:50a big X in the legs. Meet me all the way down low. Find your curtsy lunge. Now you should already
02:56start to feel the outside of your seat, the glute, the outer thigh. Keep your chin off the chest.
03:01Hold it low. Bend both knees deeply down. Press into your left heel. Start to slowly rise up.
03:06Straighten both legs at the top. It's a static curtsy lunge. All the way down, slowly rise up.
03:13You're squeezing those inner thighs together at the top. Inhale, exhale, rise up. Now if this feels
03:19a little bit too much, just step your foot a little closer and take it slowly back down.
03:25Beautiful. Nice and slow with control here. We're going to meet at the bottom in five,
03:30four, three, two. Meet me all the way down at the bottom. Chin is off the chest.
03:35Give me a tiny pulse. Down an inch. Your right knee is trying to tap the mat, but you're not
03:40actually tapping it, right? You're just lowering down towards that mat. Relax your shoulders again.
03:45Unclench your jaw. You have five. Hold in four, three, two. Hold it all the way low. Now extend
03:52your right leg out. Bring your hands to prayer. Step your right foot behind your left calf. Step
03:57it back out. Step it in. Step it out. If you want to spice it up a little bit, add a little speed
04:02here. Quick in and out. Otherwise, stay nice and slow. We got 10 more seconds right here. We're
04:09going to take it one more time back to full range. Tuck your knee underneath your hip in three,
04:14two. Step it back. Bend your knee back to full range. We're feeling the burn right now. You got
04:19eight, seven, six, five. Push through four, three, two, and stand up. Wow. Shake it out. The booty
04:29should be on fire right now. Let's take it down onto your mat. You probably all know this exercise.
04:34It's your donkey kick. Hands underneath your shoulders. Knees underneath your hips. You're
04:39in that quadra position. I want you to pick up that left heel towards the ceiling. Flex your foot.
04:45We're lowering that left knee down towards your mat and then lift it back up. Really make sure
04:51here you're not surpassing that knee. You're just lowering it down right to the mat and lift it back
04:57up. Right now, we're going to work your gluteus maximus, the big butt muscle. Yes. Inhale. Exhale,
05:05squeeze. Ten more seconds right here. Meet me at the top for a tiny little pulse. In five,
05:13four, three, two. Hold it right here. Tiny little pulse. Squeeze your glute as hard as you can.
05:20You should feel. I always call this the smile of your butt cheek. You should feel that smile of
05:24the butt cheek. Squeeze up. Beautiful. You have eight, seven. Now we take it into your seat work.
05:31In three, two. Hold it nice and high. I want you to drop down onto your right form. We externally
05:37rotate that left knee out to the side for an attitude and then slowly drive that left knee
05:42back into your midline. So think about opening the hips towards the left hand side. Attitude that
05:47knee open and then drive it slowly back in. Now we're going to feel the gluteus medius. It's a
05:53small little muscle on the outside pocket of your seat. That's the easiest to refer to it. It's the
05:57outside pocket of your seat. Beautiful. Inhale. Exhale it. Squeeze. Beautiful. Now we're holding
06:04this up at the top. We're doing a little attitude pulse. In five, four, three, two. Hold it right
06:11here. Give me that little attitude pulse. Tiny pulse. Tiny pulse. Beautiful. You got ten. Find
06:16that burn. You have eight, seven, six, five. Almost there. Four, three, two. Release if you need to.
06:27Make a little fist. Tap out that glute. Give it a little shake and now we're going to take this into
06:32our side lying work. So let's lay all the way down onto your right side. Get nice and comfortable.
06:37I want you to align your right knee with your right tip. Extend that left leg in a nice long
06:43line from the toe all the way to the crown of your head. Now if you want you can also lay all the way
06:48down onto your bicep. The choice is yours. Point your foot. We're starting to sweep that left leg
06:54forward for two. Sweep it forward for three. Sweep it forward for four. Hold it right here in the front.
07:01Tap your toe down to the floor. Lift that left leg slowly back up. Flex your foot. Sweep your leg all
07:08the way back in alignment with your hip. Now a few counterpoints here. You do not want to kick your
07:14leg too far back. Why? Because you're going to feel it in your lower back. You want to align your foot with
07:19your hip. Yes. Point your foot. Sweep it forward. Get your foot working. Point. Tap the foot down to the floor.
07:27Lift. Flex your foot. Sweep it back. Beautiful. Now again you're going to feel the outside part of your
07:34side here working, right? This is again it's seat work right here. Outside of your thigh, your left
07:39glute is activated the entire time. We're holding this forward in four, in three, two. Hold it right
07:47here. Now give me a mini circle. Feel that burn. That's it. That gluteus minimus is on fire y'all.
07:53There you go. Tiny little circle. Reverse in three, two. Reverse. Other way. Beautiful. Keep that foot pointed.
08:00In four, we're gonna kick your leg back in three, two. Kick your leg slowly back. Flex your foot.
08:06Now externally rotate your left hip open. Pull that left knee slowly in alignment with the right.
08:11Flex your foot. Press it all the way out. Perfect. That's it. Really pull that knee in. Engage that
08:19core as well and press back out. This is your side lying leg press right here. All right. Now we got
08:25two more moves right here laying down. We're taking this into our clamshell. One of my all-time
08:31favorites. In three, two, and one. Bring your heels together. Toes apart. Zip your thighs together first.
08:38Now I want you to lift your bottom leg a little higher. Open that top left knee and then bring it
08:45back together. So you're just opening your left knee up to the ceiling. Feel that squeeze in the glute.
08:50Inhale. Exhale. Open up. Again remember we did a hip mobility class. This is opening again your hips
08:56right here right. It's that external rotation from your hip. Everything is working in sync. Squeeze
09:02that glute at the top. You got 10 seconds. We finish this out with an internal to external
09:07rotation. In three, in two, and one. Hold it open. Now tap your knees together. Tap your toes. Tap your
09:14knees. Internal rotation. External rotation. Tap your toes. Knees and toes. Knees and toes. Last eight,
09:22seven. Fight for it. Come on. You got four, three, two, and one. Bring it down. Give it a little tap.
09:30Tap it out. Tap, tap, tap. Beautiful. Now it's bilateral. We're going to take this into a bilateral
09:37butterfly hip bridge. So I want you to lay down onto your mat. Get comfortable. Bring the soles of your
09:43feet together. Hands come right by your sides. I want you to press into your palms. Articulate your
09:50spine slowly up for two. Lift your hips up for three. Lift your hips up for four. Squeeze your glutes at
09:56the top. And now slowly lower your hip down for two. Down for three. Lay all the way down for four.
10:02So this is really opening up those hips here really nice. You're going to feel that stretch in
10:07those hip flexors. But you're working your glutes. Again, the small little muscles in your butt are
10:12activated, especially as you pike it up. You squeeze your glutes at the top. And then slowly lower
10:18down. You want to go super, super slow here, guys. Don't go too fast. Press into those palms. Lift up.
10:25Collarbone is open, right? Open that chest a little bit more. Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze. We got 15 more
10:33seconds right here in that butterfly. And then we take it back up to standing into your right leg.
10:38Give me one more. Last one. Last one. All the way up. Squeeze. Hold. Slowly lower down. Super slow.
10:48Hug the knees to the chest. Roll out your back for a split little second here. Beautiful. Release your
10:54feet. Bring your right hand down. Left hand as well. Pull yourself slowly back up. We come into
11:00your standing position for your curtsy lunge on the other side. All right. The left side should
11:05be nice and warm. I'm already feeling it. I'm sure you do too. Right foot steps forward. Left leg steps
11:11back. We go into that static curtsy lunge. So meet me down low. Right foot in front. Left foot back.
11:17Remember the X in the legs. Press into your right heel. Hands on the hips. Relax your shoulders.
11:23Yep. You got this. Let's get into the second side. Press into your right heel. Start to rise up
11:28straight and bold. Like squeeze those inner thighs at the top. And then slowly bring it all the way
11:33back down. Beautiful. Open up. Squeeze. Right. Really again, back in that right side. Now you're back in
11:40your right glute. Gluteus maximus. Big muscles. Yes. All the way down. Whenever we go into the
11:47pose, right, you're gonna target again the small little muscle. Eight seconds here. We meet down
11:52low. In four, three, two. Hold it all the way low. Tiny pose. Ooh. Find that fire. Right. The booty
12:01should be on fire right now. Tiny little pose. You got eight, seven. We go into your stepper in three,
12:08two, one. Meet me down low. Extend that left leg. You step your left foot behind that right.
12:14Step it back. Long straight leg. Step it in. Step it back. Your right leg. Again, it's super static,
12:20right? There's no movement in the right leg. The movement is coming from your left leg. You're
12:24isolating, right? It's almost like an isometric hold. Last five, four, three, two. Drop it back.
12:33Bend your knee. Take it back to full range. I know. Back to full range. Now the burn should really be
12:37kicking in right now. And take it back down. Last six, five, four, three, two, and one. Stand up. Shake it
12:49out. And we take it back down into your quadruped position. Donkey kicks. Let's take it all the way
12:54down. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders. Knees underneath your hips. Belly button to spine.
13:00Pull that right heel up to the ceiling. Flex that foot. And now slowly lower your right knee down
13:06towards the mat. Nice and slow. Flex your foot. Kick it back up to the ceiling. So not just the
13:13glute right here is working. You're also going to feel your hamstring a little bit, right? They're
13:17working in sync. Beautiful. Inhale. Exhale. Pull it up. Now listen up. We take this into that little
13:24pose. You're going to feel again that little squeeze in your glute. In three, two, and one. Meet me all
13:32the way at the top. Flex your foot. Give me a tiny pose. Again, avoid arching your back here, right?
13:37Draw navel into the spine. Yes, there you go. You got eight, seven, six, five. Attitude is coming up in
13:46three, two, and one. Hold it high. Drop slowly down onto your left forearm. You externally rotate your
13:53right hip open to the side for your attitude. And then draw it back into your midline. So we're
13:58opening that hip. Follow with your eyes that hip and then slowly bring it back in. Look down
14:04towards your mat. Fantastic. That's it. That's your attitude. You're going to feel this squeeze
14:09in the outside pocket of your seat again. Feel that gluteus medius squeeze and bring it slowly
14:15back down. We're going to hold it at the top in five, four, three, two. Hold that external rotation.
14:23Now pulse your knee up towards the ceiling. Tiny pulse. It's so small. Don't make it bigger.
14:27Tiny little pulse, right? It's those small little pulses and Pilates that will always get you.
14:32They'll get you. You have eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Release. Again, if you need
14:42that little tap, make a little fist. Tap out the glute. And then you come slowly back down onto
14:47your mat. Again, you can either cradle your head with your hand or you lay all the way down. Whatever
14:53is comfortable for you. Now let's bring your knees in front of you first. I want your bottom
14:58knee, left knee in alignment with the left tip. Extend that right leg nice and long. Your toe
15:03should be in alignment with your spine. So make sure your hips are not too far forward.
15:08All right. Point your foot first for me. Internally rotate your hip. Don't open it up too much.
15:13Yep. There you go. Now let's start to sweep that leg forward. Point your foot. Sweep your leg
15:17forward for two. Sweep it forward for three. Sweep it forward for four. Hold it. Tap that leg
15:24down to the floor. Super slow. Lift it back up from the outer thigh. And now flex your foot.
15:30Sweep it all the way back. And remember, smile of the butt cheek. Squeeze right there. Point back
15:36forward. So you never want to surpass the smile of the butt cheek. Again, it's not good on your
15:42low back because if you kick it too far back like this, you see my hips are opening up. They're
15:46rotating to the back. I'm arching into my low back. Pilates is all about the small muscles
15:51right here, right? We're focusing on the slow count. We're not trying to go fast here right now.
15:57Focus on flexing that foot back and then squeeze. There you go. We're holding this in front in five,
16:04in four, in three, two, and one. Hold your right foot in alignment with the left. Give me a little
16:11circle. Tiny little circles here like you're drawing something. Beautiful. Reverse in three,
16:17two, and one. Reverse. We're feeling that burn. There you go. You got five, four, three, two. Keep
16:25that leg up. I know you can. Push it all the way back. Externally rotate your right hip open.
16:30Bend your right knee in for two. Bend it in for three. Bend it in alignment with the left tip for
16:36four. And then flex your foot. Press it all the way out. This is your external leg press.
16:40Beautiful. So our hips are slightly open on the right side to you to get again to the outside
16:45pocket of the seat here, right? Whenever we externally rotate our knees slightly, you're
16:50going to get a little bit more the pocket of your seat. Squeeze. Fantastic. Guys, we're almost there.
16:55We're going to take this into that clamshell in five, in four, three, two. Bring your feet
17:02together. All right. Take a quick rest if you need to. Feet together. Lift the bottom leg a
17:07little higher. And now open your knees for that clamshell. Heels together, toes apart.
17:12And close again. Inhale. Exhale. Open as far back as you can, right? Where you, again,
17:18open that hip. Squeeze. Open, open, open. Now if this is too much, you can always lower that
17:24bottom leg down if you need to. In 10 seconds, we finish this out with that internal and external
17:30rotation. In five, four, three, two. Internal rotation. Tap the knees together. Tap the toes.
17:39Tap the knees. Internal rotation from your hip. Beautiful. The outside pocket of your seat should
17:43be on so much fire right now. This is it right here. This is it. Push through. Last five, four,
17:50three, two, one. And release. We're not going to do that butterfly hip bridge again. We're going
17:57to take this right into your stretch. So let's lay down onto your back. Shake it out. And now
18:03we're going to take this into a little figure four stretch. You're going to love this one.
18:06I want you to pull that right knee towards the chest first. Pull that left foot on top of the
18:11right. Now wrap your hands behind your thigh and push with your left elbow into that left knee.
18:18Draw that right knee a little closer towards you. You're going to feel that nice stretch going all
18:23the way down your left hamstring into that glute. All the way down into that hip. Hold it right here.
18:30Maybe roll out your right ankle if this feels good for you. Reverse it. And then slowly switch.
18:38Other side. Stretch it out first. And then pull that left knee in first. Right foot comes on top.
18:44Wrap your hands behind your thigh. And then push your right elbow into your right knee.
18:49Oh that might feel a little more sticky on one side. That's okay. Push into it. And then take
18:54an inhale on the exhale. I want you to draw that left knee a little closer towards you.
19:02Beautiful. Pull it in. Pull it in. And then slowly release. Extend both legs. Pull yourself up over
19:09your side. Right hand comes down. Pull yourself all the way up. Nice and slow. We're going to
19:14take one more stretch right here which you're going to love. It's one of my favorites. We're
19:18going to take this into a little pigeon pose. So we're going to start with your left leg. Hold
19:22that left leg in front. Right leg is nice and long. And you're going to take it down into your pigeon
19:27pose. Now you don't have to go so low. You can either be right here on your hands or you take
19:31it down onto your forearms for a deeper stretch. All right. Getting into the outside pockets of
19:36your seat right here. If you can, try to keep that left foot in alignment with your left knee.
19:42Sink low. Exhale.
19:50And then slowly walk your hands back up. Pull that left leg back. Pull your right leg in front.
19:57Extend your back leg all the way. Walk your hands all the way down onto your forearms if you can.
20:03And again, if this doesn't feel good, stay right here.
20:06Really find that inhale. Exhale. Sink a little lower. Last five, four, three, two, and release.
20:17I want you to slowly come back up. Come into a standing position. Shake out those legs. Let those
20:23fingertips spread wide. Amazing job. Thank you guys so much for joining me for this precision
20:29glute activation today.
20:36you