The big butt craze is in full swing. And it's not just fashionable, it's functional.
Having big glutes will give you serious strength and performance benefits, but building them doesn't come easy to everyone. You have to know how to emphasize your gluteal muscles if you really want a stronger butt.
Here are some simple tweaks for common exercises that will blow up your butt and make your lower body training truly ass-tastic.
To emphasize the glutes, hinge your hips and lean your torso forward. Keeping your torso upright will emphasize the quads during split squats and lunges whereas pushing your butt out by bending forward at the hips will place significantly more tension across your glutes.
Not sure what I'm referring to? Here are two videos of a split squat. The first one is a quad-dominant split squat; the second involves significantly more glute activation.
When leaning forward, it's important to maintain a strong back. Think of your body like an airplane taking off. Shoot for about a 45-degree body angle between your torso and the floor.
The full squat is a great glute developer all by itself, but you can add a little extra tension to the hips by placing a band just above the knees.
The band primarily activates the deep external rotators in your hips. Wearing one during squats serves several purposes:
This is one of the most-used exercises for glute development (2, 3). To get even more out of the hip thrust, make sure you go to full lockout and do a small posterior pelvic tilt at the top.
This will help you get the maximum squeeze and will prevent you from over-arching and injuring your back. For an even greater contraction, try to hold the lockout position for about three seconds per rep. You can also place a band around the knees for a little extra resistance.
Most lifters will unknowingly put the emphasis on their quads when doing the leg press. This isn't bad if quad development is your goal, but it's not ideal if glute development is what you're after.
One simple tweak to get more glute activation is to place your legs a bit higher on the platform. This changes the angle of the pull so that more stress is placed on the glutes.
Note: When placing your feet higher, you have to be extra careful not to round your lower back when lowering the weight. Make sure your back and hips stay in contact with the seat at all times to keep your spine safe.
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