Michele Sotak (@musclesmichele) is a CPT and Life Fitness Master Trainer. Here, she shares the 411 on building a bigger, stronger booty.
We can all agree that training glutes – a.k.a. the booty, bum, derriere, etc. – has been all the rage lately. But do you consider yourself an expert on all things glutes? No worries if you don’t. There is so much to learn – and we’re here to give you a crash course.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when learning is the following: While most people refer to the glutes as one singular muscle, it’s actually made up of three different muscle groups. Function-wise, this trio your butt and are important components of your everyday movements. Strong glutes support the core, decreases your risk of injury, and improves posture.
Here's a quick breakdown of each glute:
The gluteus maximus: The biggest muscle of the booty that’s responsible for extending the leg backwards and rotating the pelvis and thighs.
The gluteus medius: This muscle is located on the top of the gluteus maximus and raises the leg out and to the side while promoting over-all body balance.
The gluteus minimus: This muscle resides under the upper part of the gluteus maximus and works with the glutes medius.
Now, let’s take a look at why the body’s biggest muscle isn’t giving you results.
Why Building a Stronger Booty Is Taking Forever
1. You're Not Engaging Your Glutes
This can be fixed by applying the mind-muscle connection. The more attention you focus on the muscle you’re working, the better the muscle contracts, which leads to results. By activating it properly, we also avoid overcompensating with other parts of the body.
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2. You Haven't Found Your Balance
Long periods of no exercise cause hip flexors to tighten and glute muscles to weaken. This may lead to imbalances as a result of lost strength and stabilization. Make it a habit to include single-leg exercises into your workout routine to evenly work both sides of the glutes and to prevent imbalances. Other moves to try: Single-leg lunges, deadlifts, hip thrusts, and fire hydrants.
3. Your Exercise Form Isn't Perfect
This one is self-explanatory. If you’re performing incorrectly, you’re risking injury instead of engaging your desired muscle groups.
4. Doing the Same Exercise Again and Again
To get the best results, you’ll need to keep the body guessing with challenging new workouts. Once you master an exercise, move onto a new one.
RELATED: Why Butt Workouts Are Important for Your Health
5. There's Not Enough Resistance Training in Your Routine
Weight training causes the muscles to grow more than other types of exercise because of the added resistance. The leaner muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day, which leads to faster and better results.
6. Ignoring Other Muscle Groups
See the above breakdown of the glute muscles to learn how to work these three areas. This leads to the next point: Angling. Not hitting the butt muscles at different angles can be detrimental to progress since there are three different muscle groups in our glutes that each require unique movements from every direction.
7. You're Not Eating Enough
You need to eat in order to build muscle. But what you eat is also important; make sure your diet contains a combination of the right macronutrients a.k.a. complex carbs, proteins, and the good fats.
8. You're Not Training Enough
Follow a strategy and do it consistently. Take actions that help to reach your goal every single day. And remember: Rest days are also important! Aid in your post-workout recovery by sipping on Vital Proteins Restore Collagen Shot.
