You probably remember the neon spandex. Or maybe the headband. If you grew up anywhere near a television in the late 80s or early 90s, the buns of steel workout wasn't just a fitness tape; it was a cultural phenomenon that took over living rooms across the globe. Greg Smithey, the creator behind the original 1987 VHS, didn't have fancy squat racks or $3,000 cables. He had a floor and a lot of repetition.
Honestly, we’ve spent the last decade obsessed with heavy barbell hip thrusts and heavy squats. Don't get me wrong—those are great. But there is a reason why physical therapists and high-level Pilates instructors are quietly circling back to the foundational movements found in those old-school tapes. It’s about time-under-tension and isolation. It’s about hitting the gluteus medius and minimus, those "side glutes" that most modern gym-goers completely ignore until their knees start hurting.
The Science of High-Rep Isolation
Most people think you need 400 pounds on your back to build a posterior chain. That's just not true. The buns of steel workout relies heavily on floor-based calisthenics—think leg lifts, fire hydrants, and donkey kicks. While these might look "easy" to a powerlifter, they target the muscles through metabolic stress rather than mechanical tension alone.
When you do a squat, your quads and lower back do a massive amount of the work. It’s a compound movement. It’s messy. But when you lie on your side and perform a controlled lateral leg raise—a staple of the Smithey method—you are forcing the gluteus medius to fire in isolation. A study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy actually ranked side-lying hip abduction as one of the most effective exercises for glute activation, often outperforming more "hardcore" gym lifts. It’s science, even if it looks like a retro music video.
You’ve gotta feel the burn. That’s the "steel" part. By staying in a narrow range of motion and pulsing, you create an acidic environment in the muscle tissue. This triggers hypertrophy in a different way than a heavy 5-rep set of deadlifts does. It’s about endurance and shape.
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Why the Original Method Still Matters Today
Let's be real: our glutes are falling asleep. "Gluteal amnesia" is a real thing. We sit for eight hours a day, which stretches the gluteal muscles and keeps them in a constant state of inhibition. When you finally get to the gym and try to squat, your lower back takes over because your butt literally forgot how to turn on.
The buns of steel workout acts as the ultimate wake-up call. It uses high-repetition floor work that forces neurological connection. You can’t hide. You can't cheat the movement by using momentum.
- Leg Lifts: These aren't just for show. Keeping the toe pointed slightly downward during a side lift rotates the femur and hits the glute fibers that create that "shelf" look.
- Donkey Kicks: Most people do these wrong. They arch their back. Smithey’s original cueing—though dated—emphasized a stable core, which is exactly what modern trainers call "pelvic stability."
- Bridges: Simple, effective, and lower-back friendly.
The original video featured Tamilee Webb later on, who became the face of the brand. She brought a level of precision that helped bridge the gap between "aerobics" and "bodyweight strength training." If you actually sit down and watch those old tapes, the volume is staggering. We’re talking hundreds of reps. That kind of volume builds a specific type of density that you just don't get from three sets of ten at the local gym.
How to Modernize the Buns of Steel Workout Without the Spandex
You don't need to hunt down a VCR. You can take the principles of the buns of steel workout and bake them into a modern routine. The key is the sequence.
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Start with the floor work. Most people save the "small stuff" for the end of their workout when they’re tired. Flip that. Use the old-school leg lifts and pulses as a "pre-exhaustion" technique. If you spend ten minutes doing side-lying pulses and fire hydrants before you ever touch a weight, your glutes will be screaming. By the time you get to your squats, your glutes will be the primary movers because they’re already "awake."
Vary the tempo. The original workouts were driven by the beat of the music. Use that. Do a three-second eccentric (lowering) phase, then a sharp, one-second concentric (lifting) phase. Hold the squeeze at the top for two seconds. This creates more tension than just mindlessly kicking your leg around while watching Netflix.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Progress
People think because it’s "just bodyweight," they can slack on form. Huge mistake. If you’re doing a donkey kick and your lower back is dipping like a hammock, you aren't working your glutes. You’re just compressing your lumbar spine.
- Stop swinging. Controlled movement is the secret sauce.
- Watch your hips. During side-lying moves, your top hip shouldn't roll backward. Keep it stacked directly over the bottom hip.
- Breathe. People hold their breath during the "burn," which spikes blood pressure and kills endurance.
The buns of steel workout was often criticized for being "spot reduction," which we now know is a myth. You can't choose where you lose fat. However, you can choose where you build muscle. While you might not "burn the fat" off your hips specifically by doing leg lifts, you are building the muscular structure underneath that fat, which creates the "steel" look once your diet is in check.
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Implementing the Routine
If you want to try this, don't just do it once a week. The beauty of bodyweight glute work is the recovery time. These muscles are big and hardy. They can handle frequency. You could easily throw in 15 minutes of these movements four or five times a week. It’s basically physical therapy that happens to make your jeans fit better.
Take the "Rainbow" move, for example. You’re on all fours, extending one leg back and drawing an arc in the air. It hits the glutes from multiple angles in a single rep. It's functional. It's brutal. It’s effective.
Final Actionable Steps
Stop overcomplicating your fitness. You don't always need a gym membership or a complex app. The buns of steel workout survived for decades because it targets a very specific, very stubborn area with relentless efficiency.
To start today, pick four movements: side-lying leg raises, donkey kicks, glute bridges, and fire hydrants. Do 50 reps of each, no rest between exercises. Switch legs. Repeat that three times. Your glutes will feel tighter and more "active" than they have in years. Focus on the squeeze, keep your spine neutral, and ignore the urge to quit when the burning starts. That burn is the entire point. It's the physiological signal that you're actually reaching the muscle fibers that usually stay dormant. Get on the floor and get to work.