Exercise Guide

Clamshell

Lying on your side with knees bent, opening the top knee while the feet stay together. Small, unglamorous, and one of the best glute medius exercises there is.

BeginnerStrengthPushIsolation
Form
Clamshell - Start position
Start
Clamshell - Mid position
Mid
Clamshell - End position
End

Illustrations by Bryl Lim for Workout Guide, after Everkinetic. Used unchanged under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Details

Primary Muscle

Glutes

Equipment

Bodyweight

Difficulty

Beginner

Category

Strength

Force

Push

Mechanic

Isolation

Secondary Muscles

Core
How to Perform
  1. 1

    Lie on your side with your knees bent to about 45 degrees and your feet stacked.

  2. 2

    Rest your head on your lower arm and keep your hips stacked vertically.

  3. 3

    Keeping your feet touching, lift your top knee as high as it goes without your hips rolling back.

  4. 4

    Lower under control and repeat, then switch sides.

Tips
  • Your hips rolling backwards is the cheat. Stop the rep at the point they want to move.
  • Add a band around your knees once bodyweight reps get easy.
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