Ok I'll admit, this one is geared more towards the ladies like my biceps post was geared a little more towards the guys. But still pay attention guys, glutes were voted the #1 muscle women like to see developed on a man. Keep that in mind.
Our pop culture right now is all about the glutes, big butts are definitely "in" and that seems like every ladies goal right now. I bet just about every time you hit the gym some "butt lifting" exercise has found its way into your program. Well I don't think I would be doing my job if I didn't throw my hat into the mix and give you guys some tips I give my clients who want to get that booty poppin'.
- Squeeze your glutes
This one should be obvious but it isn't always. Whenever you do leg exercises make sure you squeeze you butt hard each rep. This will increase the mind-muscle connection and help your muscles grow. You can even just squeeze your butt randomly to help too. Just stand up and squeeze your cheeks together as hard as you can.
-Do some activation drills
Ok let's get this out there; your glutes are not "turned off". Unless you have some neurological disorder then you glutes or always on. But, we can change the amount that they are turned on (as well as any muscle) with activation exercises. I, and other professionals, prefer the terms "up-regulate" and "down-regulate" in stead of "turn off" and "turn on". That much more accurate.
Anyway, I start any full body or lower body session with one glute exercise and one core exercise to up-regulate them. This can be banded monster walks, squats with a band, glute bridges, or single leg squats. Just a light exercise to get things going
- Lean forward
Want to increase the amount your glutes are working? Try leaning forward. Make sure it's a hinge forward and not flexing your spine, but give it a try, you'll feel it right away. This is great for lunges, monster walks, step ups, and other single leg exercises.
- Work from all angles
You can't just move up and down to get nice glutes, you have to go forward, backward, and to the side too (this is one reason we see a lot of under-developed glutes in CrossFit, but it's getting better)
Try adding side lunges, monster walks, extended ROM side-lying leg lifts, and diagonal walking lunges to get some lateral work in.
- Do single leg exercises
Because you butt muscles also stabilize your pelvis, standing on one leg let's you get even more work done. Single leg RDL's, step ups, lunges, split squats, single leg glute bridges, and single leg squats should all find their way into your program. Don't forget to lean forward!
- Do glute bridges
I've seen some people who are against these but I love them. Bret Contreras aka "The Glute Guy" has talked about getting his athlete some impressive glute development with hardly any squats and deadlifts, focusing on bridge and hip thrust variations.
Do them with on the floor or on a bench, with a barbell, with a band, with a band on your knees, or one leg at a time.
- Sometimes go full ROM, sometimes don't
During a squat, the highest glute activation is at the very bottom below parallel and at the lock out at the top. That's why I find it ironic that so many Instagram "trainers" do all of their squats and eliminate those two areas. I recommend full range of motion like this 95% of the time because it's just good practice as a human, but that means about 5% of the time it's ago to switch it up. When you don't do full ROM, you keep tension on the muscle longer and as we talked about earlier, more time under tension can lead to more muscle.
Give these a try and get me some feedback. I use all of these with my clients daily and I've gotten some impressive results in the past. Hope full this can help all your #bootygoals come true
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