Donkey Kicks | Illustrated Exercise Guide

Primary muscles: Glutes, hip flexors
Secondary muscles: Abs
Equipment: No equipment

DONKEY KICKS INSTRUCTIONS

1. Get down on all fours and position your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
2. Kick back with one leg and squeeze the glutes.
3. Bend the knee, lower the leg and repeat.
4. Switch legs.

PROPER FORM AND BREATHING PATTERN

When doing donkey kicks, keep your core tight, your back straight and face down. Breathe out as you kick back and avoid raising your leg any higher than your hip. Keep your weight evenly distributed and breathe in as you lower the leg.

EXERCISE BENEFITS

Donkey kicks are a simple but effective exercise that targets the glutes and helps to tone, tighten and strengthen your buttocks. To give your glutes a great workout, combine a set of donkey kicks with a set of fire hydrants.

DEMONSTRATION

SETS AND REPS

As with any other exercise you should always start slowly and with fewer repetitions. As you gain strength, try to complete 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions on each side. If your goal is to gain muscle mass and get a bigger bottom, you can perform this exercise using ankle weights.

CALORIES BURNED

To calculate the number of calories burned doing donkey kicks, enter your weight and the duration of the exercise:

RELATED LOWER BODY EXERCISES

Try these other lower body exercises to strengthen, sculpt and tone your thighs, hips, legs and glutes:
Split squat
Squat
Glute bridge
Side lunge

WORKOUT ROUTINES