What would be my best bet for an exercises (if there is one) that focuses primarliy on the glutes (and less on the hamstrings)?
Pull throughs. Heavy squats work the glutes very effectively too.
Another thread from another guy wanting to build his ass. Too funny.
Squats
Step-ups
One legged Deadlifts
Bulgarian Split Squats
Rack Pulls, Bent leg pull throughs, Wide Stance Squats, and Split Squats (for me, doing these with a long stride kills). And of course, the Butt Blaster machine. 
But if you can’t really fire your glutes properly, it makes sense to do some activiation work to “Get Your Butt into Gear.” That’s an article you should run a search for.
-MAtt
[quote]Matgic wrote:
Rack Pulls, Bent leg pull throughs, Wide Stance Squats, and Split Squats (for me, doing these with a long stride kills). And of course, the Butt Blaster machine.
But if you can’t really fire your glutes properly, it makes sense to do some activiation work to “Get Your Butt into Gear.” That’s an article you should run a search for.
-MAtt[/quote]
Yeah, that
Anything that’s heavy with a lot of hip extension will do ya well. I like flat backed snatch grip deads personally.
-Dan
[quote]sasquatch wrote:
Another thread from another guy wanting to build his ass. Too funny.
Squats
Step-ups[/quote]
LOL! If you don’t have one of these, wide squats.
Deep penetration!
[quote]stockzy wrote:
Deep penetration![/quote]
aka Pillowbiters
Hack Squat Machines always hit my glutes as hard as the quads, w/o the hams feeling too much.
My toes are out to the edge of the platform. I go down to just beyond parallel.
[quote]Matgic wrote:
Rack Pulls, Bent leg pull throughs, Wide Stance Squats, and Split Squats (for me, doing these with a long stride kills). And of course, the Butt Blaster machine.
But if you can’t really fire your glutes properly, it makes sense to do some activiation work to “Get Your Butt into Gear.” That’s an article you should run a search for.
-MAtt[/quote]Thanks, i will look for that article and see if it helps.
[quote]cskolnick wrote:
Matgic wrote:
Rack Pulls, Bent leg pull throughs, Wide Stance Squats, and Split Squats (for me, doing these with a long stride kills). And of course, the Butt Blaster machine.
But if you can’t really fire your glutes properly, it makes sense to do some activiation work to “Get Your Butt into Gear.” That’s an article you should run a search for.
-MAttThanks, i will look for that article and see if it helps.
[/quote]
The article is great but i was wondering if this is what we refer to when we talk about hip mobilty is it something different? For whats it’s worth, my hip mobilty is pretty terrible and it seems to really affect my ability to squat and use my quads effectively (poor hip ext. and extremely tight hip flexors i assume).
Will doing these drills help with that and set me on a path where i CAN squat and dead safely and effectively? Because for now, squats seem only to make my hip flexors tighter to thew point where it feels i pulled a muscle. I guess, in short, i would like to know if effectively/correctly strengthening my glutes will have a direct effect on my hip mobilty/lower back tightness/hamstring tightness.
I have been wanting to start a 5x5 program for some time now but i think i need to re-train my body to fire correctly. Until then , it seems every “big” exercise i do only exasperates my mobility/tightness issues.
1 legged squat row in my opinion works the best as far as the level of work the glutes get and the lack of work the hammys and quads get…
basic idea, but sink your hips down more and really reach toward the origin of the cable, (and dont use a band)