Do you know where most of the muscles are located on your body? This may be news to you, but it is your back side. Training your glutes, hams, and back as hard as your “show muscles”, like your quads, biceps, shoulders, and chest, will help support your overall physique while giving you an impressive back side.
- Tip #1 Always incorporate compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, and lunges.
Deadlifts are your best bet when it comes to overloading your glutes because you can use heavy weights. When performing sumo deadlifts with your feet wide, you place significant emphasis on your glutes. The trap bar deadlift is excellent for fatiguing your glutes with higher repetition and weight, as a result of your hand placement.
Full ROM (range of motion) squats will target the glutes far greater than partial squats. Don’t cheat yourself or your glutes with half reps! Two more ways to target the glutes with squats is to use a sumo stance, which is double your hip width, and a low bar squat which is placing the bar lower on your back.
Lunges & split squats are great for those who are tight through the hips and ankle joints. They allow you to develop flexibility, while equalizing strength levels between the quads and hams. Knees over toe will increase greater activation of your glutes and hams. If you are unable to perform lunges and split squats with full ROM, elevating your front foot will release the tension and allow more flexibility.
- Tip #2 Include single leg multi-joint exercises to target the posterior chain
Single leg training with exercises such as lunges, step-ups, and single leg deadlifts allow you to specifically target the glutes unilaterally. Incorporating these movements will lead to greater glute activation, equalizing strength levels between the left and right glute, and allowing for greater muscle growth.
- Tip #3 Train your glutes
Do you want to specifically target your glutes? Isolate them by incorporating exercises such as the glute-ham raise, barbell glute bridge, donkey kickbacks, and good mornings. A glute-ham raise effectively strengthens the hams at both the knee and hip joint by working its two primary functions, knee flexion and hip extension simultaneously. Barbell glute bridge and donkey kickbacks primarily target the glutes. Good mornings primarily target the back, glutes, and hams.
- Tip #4 Incorporate sprints and strongman to lose body fat in the hips and thighs
When I say sprints, I mean all out sprints, the kind that make you feel like your heart is coming out of your chest! Sprint training and strongman exercises, such as prowler pushes, help you build muscle while increasing the size and strength of the powerful, fast-twitch fibers in your legs. Farmer’s walk, sled pushes, and sprints burn a lot of calories during training which triggers EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) also known as the afterburner effect, in which body could burn calories for up to 24 hours. All the more reason to push yourself even harder when you see the prowlers outside. ;-}
We incorporate all of these movements to help you build a powerful and stronger physique. Building muscle will help you stay lean, allow you to eat more food and live a longer and healthier life. Muscle takes time to build so be patient and trust the progress because it’s not going to happen over night.
Get Fit Don’t Quit!