So, in part 1 I discussed how you can do a glute-ham raise at home with a partner.

David is now a member of my gym so he was able to get some footage of me doing a glute-ham raise on an ab bench. (Very crappy phone footage, but whatever.) We had to be kind of discreet filming because I don’t think it’s allowed in the gym. Sshh, don’t tell.

So first of all, find an ab bench that looks like this.

Make sure the ab bench you use has pads on the foot-holder dealie.

It should have cushions on the foot-holder thingies. I’d recommend putting a towel on the part where your knees will be resting because this exercise can be rough on your knees. Trying to describe how to mount this thing to do a glute-ham raise is kind of awkward. I think the most accurate way to put it is to think of the way you’d normally slide in to do an ab workout, but do it upside down. Just watch the video, haha.

I mentioned in my first glute-ham raise post that this exercise is HARD. So try it out if you’re feeling hardcore. One thing you want to watch out for is not leading with your butt too much. You want to be as straight as possible coming back up. I’m leading with my ass a little bit in the video, but it’s normal for that to happen to a small degree.

To make this exercise a little easier, you can put a bosu ball on the bench and use that to push yourself back up. It shortens your range of motion and gives you a little more momentum coming back up.

Also, I’m small and I have short legs, so this modification on the ab bench works for me. I’m not so sure how well it’d work for someone with longer legs. I’d get David to try it out but his knees are all scabbed up from a drunken fall.

And if you’re curious about what else I do for legs, here are some videos. Once again, terribly sorry for the horrible quality.


Me squatting 125 lbs for 4 sets of 4 reps. It’s not the prettiest squat ever, but this was pretty hard for me. I’m small, okay!


Romanian deadlifts. 3 sets of 8 at 120 lbs. These are actually pretty easy for me, but my biggest issue is my grip going out. I need to do farmer’s walks!

In other news, good weekend was good. I partied with cool people and ate an overly-teriyakied chicken sandwich at Vagabond. I had good ceviche (review to come soon!) I also saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Yeah, it was as cheesy as you’d expect it to be, and there were a few loopholes in the plot. It did, however, make me wonder how my pet bunny, Sumo, would feel about me if he suddenly got super intelligent. Despite his cuteness, he’s a pretty hateful little turd. It’s probably for the best that he stays dumb, lest he turn into an evil, brainy bunny bent on taking over the world.

He already thinks he rules the world.
So cute....so evil!

5 comments on “How to do a glute-ham raise part 2”

  1. I was lucky enough to see a personal trainer for a while back in 2008 (i think). I really really liked weight lifting & I totally miss it now! Your posts make me realize just how much I loved it!

    And your bunny is absolutely ADORABLE!

    • I’ve had him for about 4 years and I still can’t get over how cute he is. Although he does balance it out by being evil and anti-social 😛

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