Melissa Kendter is sharing her legs and glutes workout – in her workout gear. In a new social media post the fitness influencer flaunts her amazing figure in a two-piece exercise set while at the gym. “Let’s not complicate it; here’s a workout to push the intensity and build overall strength & balance across all the ways you move. Varying the planes of motion, combining resistance, power and stability,” she writes.”Here we have primarily a unilateral focus to enhance athletic performance. Training with intent is key, because it’ll define how well you’re effectively working toward your goals.” What is her workout and how does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits.
Melissa maintains that you don’t have to sweat to get a good workout in. “I’m 35 now, but after I graduated college and before I started personal training I always thought you had to be super sweaty to get an effective workout,” she told Fit & Well. “Some people still love that, but I rarely sweat on my strength training workouts anymore.” She focuses her workouts around building functional strength and mobility, paying attention to form and controlling movements, while lifting heavy weights.
If your muscles don’t ache right after a workout, don’t stress. “You might ache at first, but once you’re in a routine you won’t be completely sore and demolished after every gym session, and nor should you be,” she says. “You want to be able to stress your body just enough that you’re able to get the proper adaptations, but you can still recover to feel good going into your next workout.”
“A lot of women get nervous when they hear the term ‘strength training’ because they think it won’t be for them or they won’t lose weight from it,” Kendter says. “But in actuality, strength training is what gives you that defined look. It won’t make you bulky or big, but it is going to improve your body composition.” She maintains that lifting weights is often more effective for weight loss than cardio. “If you have body composition goals, you need to strength train,” she explains. “You’re not going to become the Hulk, but you will achieve positive changes over time because strength training will build muscle and boost your metabolism long-term.”
“Some people hear the phrase ‘strength training’ and think ‘It’s not for me’,” says Kendter. “But strength training can be anything from just using dumbbells or a kettlebell to bodyweight exercises like push-ups. That’s all technically strength training,” she says. “It can be a scary word for beginners, but it actually encompasses so much.”
She also points out that you have to spend 60 minutes working out. “I used to think I needed to be in the gym for a long time to get results, which is the furthest thing from the truth,” says Kendter. “Now I love my 20 and 30-minute workouts, which can be just as effective.”
Here is Melissa’s Legs and glutes workout:
1️⃣ 4 sets: Hip Thrust with a slight pause into B Stance Hip Thrust (each side)
2️⃣ 4 sets: Lateral Lunge to Knee Drive (each side – control then power up)
3️⃣ 3 sets: Glute Bias Step Down (each side)
4️⃣ 3 sets: Bent Knee Adductor Lifts (each side – great for pelvic stability and adductor strength)