Buttocks are HOT! And that’s why there is an increasing demand for fitness routines to train this specific body part. Many women are looking for the right exercises to train their glutes, but unfortunately, there is quite a bit of confusion about how to best approach these large muscles to achieve a strong and beautifully shaped backside.
In this article, we share ‘The 5 mistakes women make when training for tight, round buttocks’. Do you still believe that squats are the best exercise for firm buttocks or are you seeking refuge in group classes?
Read on to find out what can be improved!
By the way: check the following link for all glute exercises!
Anatomy of the buttocks
Okay, let’s start with some homework. Because that beautiful round backside doesn’t just happen. Firm, round buttocks, desired by almost every woman nowadays, unfortunately aren’t really stimulated to remain firm and round by sitting on your butt all day at the office. There’s little activation.
When women decide to work on their body weight and lose weight, those round and firm buttocks certainly won’t come. This will only result in more flat buttocks than round, large buttocks.
To shape the form of your buttocks, you’ll need to do a bit more to increase the muscle mass in your buttocks so that they continue to accentuate the feminine curves, even as your body fat percentage decreases.
Mistake #1: You’re not using your glute muscles.
The glute muscles consist of the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus and have important roles, particularly in providing strength, stability, and balance to the pelvis and hips. The gluteus maximus, one of the strongest muscles in the body, primarily functions to extend the thigh backward, akin to pushing off in a sprint, externally rotating the thigh, and abduction. Although it’s important to train all three glute muscles, the maximus (what’s in a name?!) has the most potential to make your glutes larger and stronger.
Many people have shortened hamstrings, hip flexors, and low back muscles. As a result, the glute muscles, which are antagonists to the hip flexors, lose their function. This phenomenon is also known as ‘reciprocal inhibition.’ The primary reason: sitting all day. When sitting on a chair, the hip flexors, which bend the hip forward, become shortened. If this happens for a long and repeated period, the muscles will adapt and thus shorten. As a result, the opposing muscles, the gluteus maximus, become weaker.
Training your glute muscles
Back, knee, and hip complaints are often caused by reduced glute muscle function. Athletes who don’t perform well often have a gluteus maximus that doesn’t function properly. As a result, when doing ‘glute exercises,’ other muscles take over the task, such as the hamstrings and low back muscles.
You see: when you do an exercise that stresses your glute muscles, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re optimally engaging them. For this, you first need to ensure that there is good function possible, then you can provide a good training stimulus. If you really want to work your glutes, you need to ensure that both the glute muscles themselves and the antagonists can perform their function well.
Mistake #2: You’re doing the wrong exercises
For most people, the glute muscles consist mainly of slow-twitch muscle fibers. This means they respond best to training stimuli where they are stressed with a moderately heavy weight and a fairly long duration, or time under tension. However, to maximize their development, you also need to target the fast-twitch muscle fibers. These muscle fibers have a lot of potential for strength and muscle mass development, so in addition to slow-twitch, it’s also important to train your glutes with low repetitions and heavy weights.
What most women do are exercises with only body weight. With this, you will never be able to create enough resistance to give your glutes the training stimulus they need to grow. This is also one of the downsides of the many training programs available for home use: you simply lack the weight to properly stress your muscles.
Moreover: the exercises popular in the gym may not be the best exercises!
What are the best exercises for the buttocks?
You achieve the most results by doing compound exercises that target your glutes from different angles. The most well-known exercise is the squat. Although I am an advocate of the squat as an exercise for the glutes, and indeed for the entire body, I will leave it out here. There are better exercises, and because the squat already enjoys a lot of recognition, I want to highlight other exercises instead.
Without going into too much technical detail: it’s about training your glute muscles at different angles. These are some superior exercises when it comes to training your glutes:
- Hip Thrust
- Glute bridge
- Deadlift
- Split squat
- (side) Step up
And the many variations thereof. Very important: every exercise should be able to be performed first with body weight, and you should feel your glutes working. There’s no point in immediately starting with a heavy weight if you don’t first know how to properly engage your glute muscles. If you don’t feel your glutes, you probably aren’t using them well enough.
Is it necessary to train in the gym, or can I do this at home? You can make a good start with just your body weight, and at least significantly increase your mobility and glute activation. However, if you want the best results, you need equipment that requires a visit to a gym.
Now that you’re familiar with these 2 mistakes, you may recognize what you could do better yourself. If you haven’t achieved the desired results yet, start doing the right exercises and mobilizing your hip complex. By better engaging and changing your glute muscles in the exercises you do, you will make better progress.
