Tip The Cure for Pancake Butt Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip The Cure for Pancake Butt Build your glutes and bring up your hamstrings with this clever exercise variation Check it out by Gareth Sapstead August 29, 2020February 28, 2021 Tags Training Improve your single-leg strength, boost your balance, and (of course) build better glutes and hamstrings. How? With one exercise. This one: Tight Single-Leg Deadlift How to Do It Set yourself up in front of a power rack or unused piece of gym kit. You want to be able to hold it at around chest height. Hold a dumbbell in the same hand as your forward working leg. Notice the angle of the dumbbell and how the handle and your grip stay tight into your leg the entire time. Take one leg off the floor and, using the support to remain balanced, begin to descend into your single-leg deadlift. Try to shift as much of the weight as possible onto your lead-leg glutes. Really "sit" into them. Focus on pushing your hips back, but at the same time allowing some bend of your supporting knee. Don't use the support to assist with lifting the weight, only to keep you balanced while focusing on hitting your glutes and hammies as hard as you can. As you fatigue you can then begin to use the support to assist you on the lift upwards, while the downwards motion should still be all you. This is optional, but a good way to reach closer to failure when you might be feeling extra masochistic. Why This Exercise Works Regular single-leg deadlifts are a great option if you're looking to build strength, stability, and a bulletproof lower body. The trouble is, your lack of balance can get in the way. And, while practicing on one leg without support is important to get better, it's not doing much for your pancake butt or weak hamstrings in the meantime. Doing single-leg deadlifts with support allows you to improve strength and stability one leg at a time, without getting too wobbly. This can either help you build up to the more unstable stuff over time – if that's a route that fits your goals – or you can just stick with the partial support to build better glutes and hamstrings. Tight single-leg deadlifts meet in the middle, pleasing both the "functional" camp and hardcore meatheads alike. Keeping the dumbbell in close and on the grounded-leg side (ipsilateral) make these deadlifts back-friendly while emphasizing the glutes and hamstrings of your lead leg even more. Tight single-leg deadlifts are somewhat of a hybrid between a single-leg Romanian deadlift and a skater squat, with the backside-building benefits of both. Sets and reps depend on your goals and phase of training. Broadly, start with 3 sets of 8-12 on each leg, and don't be afraid to go heavy. Your balance won't be holding you back! Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip Avoid This Major Training Mistake Want to get bigger and stronger? Then you're going to have to remove this bad habit from your life. Check it out. Bodybuilding, Powerlifting & Strength, Tips, Training Paul Carter June 18 Training Tip The Ultimate Upper-Back Builder And five ways to do it. Training Jason Brown February 14 Training Bodybuilding s Most Controversial Exercise Back in the “Golden Age of Bodybuilding,” guys performed the now-forgotten pullover to build their upper bodies. Who says you can't go back? Back, Bodybuilding, Training Chris Colucci February 21 Training Question of Strength 51 What's the best way to preserve muscle while losing fat? How do you smash an overhead press plateau? Answers here. Powerlifting & Strength, Question of Strength, Training Christian Thibaudeau January 21