These days, everyone wants a shapely booty! Here are 4 tips to help you get a little more out of each glute workout.
1. Combine heavy compound lifts with high rep glute-isolation sets
To encourage muscle growth, strength training to cause muscle breakdown is necessary. If your focus is big, round glutes, then you’ll want to fatigue that area without overworking quads or hamstrings to encourage more muscle regeneration in the bum and avoid excessive gains in legs.
After your warm-up, start your glutes or leg day with a compound movement, meaning it recruits a group of lower body muscles. Some examples are squats and lunges, or utilizing the leg press machine. These exercises engage quads, glutes and calves. You can target glutes and hamstrings with stiff-legged deadlifts. These exercises should challenge your strength and exhaust your body during sets of 8 to 12 reps. 
To further fatigue glutes, high rep, light weight motions can be very effective, especially as a superset to compound ones. Some fantastic glute isolation exercises are glute hip thrusts, kneeling glute kickbacks, bosu ball squats and good mornings. A major benefit to using reduced weight is the ability to pay close attention to proper form and focus your energy on aggressively contracting glutes.
As you perfect your concentration you will work up to squeezing an extra few counts to increase the intensity of the high rep sets.
2. Apply force through your heels
Try squatting without any concern for where your bodyweight falls. Now repeat the motion but drive with your heels as you raise to a standing position. Keeping your body centred in this way ensures glutes are re
cruited as the primary mover rather than allowing quadriceps to dominate the exercise. Although it’s important for balanced lower body training, today’s trend for glute development leads women to be cautious about building all bodyparts in their quest for a head-turning backside.
3. Range of motion really matters!
Often half-reps or slacking with range of motion can still yield results – but not when your goal is world-class glutes! Sitting deeply into a squat, for example, should lead to a comfortable stretch in your glutes at the lowest position. Recruiting all the fibres for each rep ensures the full muscle belly is adequately fatigued and ready to rest, repair and grow! It also helps relax the muscle fascia that protects the tissue which allows for an increase in size.
It takes time and attention to increase flexibility so combine stretching with your weight training regime to gradually increase your range of motion.
4. Don’t be shy – Pop that booty!
Many of you are newbies to the gym and feel somewhat uncomfortable in the environment, but if you want real results you have to overcome this insecurity. Everyone is there to do their thing and there are less eyes on you than you think – trust me.
Glute exercises demand the muscle be flexed and stretched, which can include some sitting and bending positions that make you blush! Find yourself a corner to call your own if you can’t handle your backside to the world, but ultimately you should get used to the motions so you can incorporate heavier weight exercises that require the rack, such as good mornings and barbell squats. I recommend choosing wardrobe that you feel good in and locking eyes with yourself to tune out the other gym-goers.
The best tip is really consistency! Train glutes 1-2 times a week using these guidelines and you’ll quickly be on your way to a fabulous fanny!
Feature Photo: by Envision Photography
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