Everyone wants a better bum right? I mean, who doesn’t want something like this.
So we all know a better looking booty is certainly high on the desirability list, but what if I told you that building a booty has a long list of other health and performance benefits.
Well, it’s true.
A strong butt will not only look great, but it will help you burn more fat, help you avoid injury, and it will get you better at whatever physical activity you choose to do.
3 reasons why you should train your glutes (besides the fact that they look great):
1. Burn more fat with a higher metabolism
The glute maximus (the major butt muscle) is the biggest muscle in the body. When you build some muscle in the butt, you increase the metabolic demand because you have more lean mass. This will lead to a higher metabolism and increased fat loss. Yay for strong booties!
2. Prevent Injury
Sitting, driving, living a sedentary lifestyle will lead to weak, sleepy, or completely tuned off glutes. When your glutes turn off, the lower back takes over the job. This extra stress on muscles not designed to bear the weight can lead to lower back pain and eventually serious injury. One simple way to avoid back pain is to have strong glutes.
3. Become more athletic
Just about every athletic movement comes from force produced by the hips, more specifically, yep you guessed it, the glutes! If you look at sprinting, jumping, throwing, rotating – all these powerful movements come from hip extension, which is the major function of the glutes. Train the glutes and you’ll perform better on the field, court, or whatever venue you play. Strong glutes = more badass performer!
3-Step approach to get your glutes going
Before jumping booty first into a glute training exercise program, you need to make sure your glutes are working properly. I want you to stand up tall and squeeze the living hell out of your butt. There you go. Meet your glutes. Now let’s see if they work. Follow this 3-step progression to train your booty.
1) Bridge – Do a bridge and tap your butt with your hand. Your butt should be hard as a rock. If all the tension is in the back of your legs (hamstrings), your glutes are off. Stay with bridges until you start to feel your butt turn on.
2) Bird Dog – Progress to using your glutes with movement of the legs. This bird dog exercise is a great way to teach the glutes to work without the lower back. Check it out here.
3) Hip Thrust – If you have a TRX, you can check out a slightly harder variation of the bridge, called the hip thrust.
(Skip forward to 1:30 to see the hip thrust)
Once you have these 3 basics down, then you can progress to some serious glute training. That’s when it gets fun! In the coming weeks, we’ll focus on 3 keys to glute training.
- Staying consistent with focused glute work at least 3x per week
- Adding progression (weight or difficulty) every week
- Using different angles and planes of motion to hit the glutes
We are going to be talking much more about glutes in the weeks to come, but until then can answer this question for me. How many of you felt that bridge exercise a little differently now that you were paying attention to your glutes? Let me know in the comments.
Have a good one,
Nick
