Glute Training Deep Dive

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It's Time to Bring Your Glute Training Out of the Dark Ages

In today’s Glute Training Deep Dive we will learn about how to productively train the largest muscle in our body: The Gluteus Maximus (aka Glutes). Don’t worry the Gluteus Medius will get worked alongside too. Sure some will immediately think of certain famous actors and other visual vanity. While looks do matter, so does function. Through productive glute training, you will unlock many benefits of building a strong posterior chain.

I think it is wise to remember that FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. If you’d like a better looking rear end, then you must train the glutes seriously, like any other muscle, to get the look you are after. So let’s dive in and learn how to maximize your glutes for enhanced performance and appearance.

A quick reminder that my “Deep Dives” are presented in a long-form format and deliver extensive value to you, my beloved reader. These take me hours to conceptualize, write, and then edit so they are more enjoyable to read. My mission is that my Deep Dives will impact your life in a positive way. If you enjoy learning “why” you should do certain things and you desire the finer details and logic behind Exercise Science, then you will absolutely love the Deep Dives and reap many benefits from this information.

WARNING: If you have the attention span of a Caffeinated Squirrel and prefer flashy short-form videos that deliver cute little blurbs lacking any intelligence whatsoever then you may not enjoy my Deep Dives. To each their own. Now that we got that out of the way. Let’s get started!

Glutes: Another Matter of Intensity

I’d like to ask you a question for you to ponder before we start. Think of all the athletes you have ever watched compete and which ones stick out because they possess extremely developed glutes?

My mind went directly to the track and thought of short distance sprinters. How about you? If you have never watched short distance sprinters, take a short study and you will see exactly what I am talking about. Interestingly, although long distance runners are also performing a running motion they have much less developed glutes versus the sprinters. If you read my Deadlift Deep Dive, you learned about the importance of intensity. I will elaborate much more on intensity's vital role in a future Deep Dive.

SPRINTING

High Intensity

Short Duration

Type II Muscle Fibers

LONG DISTANCE RUNNING

Low Intensity

Long Duration

Type I Muscle Fibers

If something is performed at a very high intensity, you will not be able to perform it for very long. It’s just the nature of things. Type II aka “Fast Twitch” muscle fibers are developed through high intensity activities. Type II muscle fibers are much larger than Type I muscle fibers, but have very little endurance.

Type I aka “Slow Twitch” muscle fibers have lots of endurance, but little power and size.

If you aim to boost muscular development, which you must possess lean muscle to look tone and fit, you must focus on training the Type II muscle fibers in the weight room.

TYPE II MUSCLE FIBER

FAST TWITCH

HIGH POWER

LARGE SIZE

LOW ENDURANCE

TYPE I MUSCLE FIBER

SLOW TWITCH

LOW POWER

SMALL SIZE

HIGH ENDURANCE

SIDE NOTE: If your goal is to build visible lean muscle, it is absolute folly to go about it as an aimless endurance contest endlessly pumping set after set. You will quickly slip into overtraining as every extra unnecessary set digs a deeper recovery hole. Productive training is always brief, yet intense!

The reason why sprinters' glutes are so well developed is because, while sprinting, the glutes are performing a high intensity hip extension as the leg drives backwards propelling the sprinter forward. The most developed glutes come from the shortest races (e.g. 100 meters) because the intensity is the highest. Intensity is the Golden Goose!

Watch a clip of a marathon and then watch a 100 meter sprint and take note of the physiques. Very different. High Intensity builds a different physique versus High Endurance. Neither is right or wrong and both serve good purposes and goals. However, if you want your glutes to develop you must focus on high intensity training and building Type II muscle fibers. This is a non-negotiable fact.

What Does Productive Glute Training Look Like?

At this point you may be thinking, "well should we just all train (i.e. running max effort sprints) like Olympic Sprinters to build our glutes?" You could, but allow me to warn you of a danger: The act of sprinting at a very high intensity is an extremely high impact activity presenting a massive risk of injury.

Even World-Class Athletes, who’s whole life revolves around training and recovery, are likely to suffer injuries related to high intensity sprinting. It is very common to suffer injuries to the hamstrings, feet/ankles, and/or the achilles tendon from max effort sprints.

Luckily for you we can still train the glutes in a similar manner and minimize the risk of injury. How can we do this? First, you need to understand the “weak links” blocking your glutes from developing.

“Weak Links” Are Holding Your Glutes Hostage

Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges, Bulgarian Split Squats, etc work the glutes to some degree. The ability for Squats and Deadlifts to hit the glutes are very much dependent on a person’s build, leverages, and limb length. For example, Squats for some people are an okay glute exercise and for others they can be quite worthless for building glutes.

As intelligent human beings, we should all demand that we work our glutes, or any muscle, in an optimal manner only. We never want to waste our time and our precious recovery ability on any exercise effort that does not create change.

As aforementioned, these common exercises work the glutes to some degree. Being compound movements they also work many other muscles (e.g. quadriceps, hamstrings, etc). These other (smaller) muscles are in fact the “weak links” that hold back your glutes from developing optimally.

The trouble with these common moves is that you are only capable of performing these movements at the highest intensity of your weakest link of all of the muscles used in the exercise. Here in lies the problem: The glutes are your largest, most powerful muscle so like a kid in the toy aisle they are always left wanting more. They hardly ever, if ever, receive enough intensity/stimulus to spark growth and development. This is because your other “weak links” will reach failure well before your glutes do during common exercises.

For a vivid example, let’s look at the Squat. When you perform a hard set of squats your low back, quadriceps, and/or cardiovascular system will reach “enough” well before your glutes receive a sufficient stimulus to ignite the process of adaptation. With the nature of Squats (and I could add Deadlifts) it is not a very good idea to work to positive failure. Positive Failure is where you push the set (one set only, after warm-ups, is optimal), in a safe (controlled) manner, until you cannot perform one more rep in good form. Working to Positive Failure sensibly guarantees that you stimulated your body enough to spark an adaptation (i.e. get stronger, build lean muscle).

Consider: If all of your sets are performed at, or below, your body's comfort zone why on earth would your body change one iota?

Remember, your body must be exposed to a stimulus outside of its comfort zone to initiate the growth mechanism. The growth mechanism can ONLY come to fruition after a sufficient RECOVERY PHASE and then a sufficient SUPER-COMPENSATION PHASE. This recovery --> super-compensation process takes days to complete assuming the subject is consuming sufficient nutrients from a balanced diet.

Please don't misunderstand that this productive training sequence takes time to complete! Much longer than most realize. The masses over-exercise, drown themselves in the stress hormone cortisol, and get frustrated wondering why they aren’t changing for the better despite their "heroic" efforts. They are training like crazy, however, their formula is un-productive, or I might add, destructive. A person with chronically elevated cortisol will run into many major problems. I challenge you to do a quick research yourself on chronically elevated cortisol from overtraining. I plan on doing a future Deep Dive that elaborates on this STIMULUS —> RECOVERY —> SUPER-COMPENSATION process. Stay tuned!

At this point, you can probably piece together the optimal Glute Training Puzzle. Since the glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle in our body and they are being held back by the “weak links” that reach positive failure well before the glutes get stimulated enough to change, therefore, we must isolate the glutes and stimulate them by applying intensity in a safe manner. Luckily for you this is now possible!

Rise of the (Glute) Machines

At Weatherford Fitness, you have access to 7 different Glute Specialty Machines. All help to provide focused intensity in an isolated fashion on your glutes. As a Personal Trainer at Weatherford Fitness, I am thrilled to be able to utilize this knowledge of true Exercise Science (not the "scientific" bunk you read in magazines or online trying to sell you something) with the correct tools to maximize the results of your Glute Training ambitions.

These specialty machines help to ELIMINATE the “weak links” and allow you to train your glutes optimally with intensity. Unlike sprinting intensely, you can utilize these machines, spark changes, and at the same time minimize your risk of injury due to the much lower impact nature of the machines' functions versus high impact sprinting.

Glute Specialty Machines provide the best of both worlds: High Intensity Glute Training while Minimizing Impact/Risk.

Benefits of Glute Training

Helps Improve Longevity & Mobility

Now that you understand the “why” and “how” of proper glute training, we can explore the MASSIVE benefits of finally training your glutes properly. During aging, the gradual loss of lean muscle is a major concern with longevity and mobility. Since your glutes are the largest muscle of your body you must prevent them from wilting away like a drooping tulip. You must go ALL IN on holding on to your largest muscle if you wish to stay mobile. The glutes are a prime mover in walking and standing. So if your aim is anti-aging, longevity, and mobility you must make glute training a focus.

Helps Boost Metabolism

In hopes of not being redundant, since the glutes are the largest muscle in your body it can also affect your metabolism in a big way. We must consider that lean muscle mass constantly burns Calories around-the-clock during activity and during rest. It is not a mistake that people claim they have more trouble burning fat as they get older. This is likely influenced by their lean muscle mass dwindling way over time. Muscle is Metabolism! If your largest muscle is not trained properly, your metabolism will suffer to some degree. Training your glutes effectively can help boost your metabolism.

Can Help Improve Low Back and Knee Pain

Having wimpy glutes puts an enormous amount of strain on your lower back over time. If your strongest muscles (glutes) are dormant, your body will utilize smaller, less capable muscles to pick up the slack. This can lead to pelvic instability and low back pain from overused lower back muscles. It’s good to remember that your glute muscles can serve as the foundation of your spine and just like building a study house you must have a strong foundation first.

Did you know productive glute training can also help minimize knee pain too? If you have weak glutes, your knees will tend to collapse inward while walking or running. Stronger glutes can also help to absorb shock for the knees (and low back). Couple this with a more stable pelvis and you may see improvements in both knee pain and/or low back pain.

Sports Performance

If it’s raw performance you seek, targeted glute training is for you too. Look at all elite power athletes and you will see powerful legs and glutes. This is not by chance. Your glutes must be well trained to produce power efficiently from the lower body. You will run faster, hit harder, and jump higher!

Well Trained Glutes Look Good!

It’s okay to admit that all of us are vain to a certain degree. Let’s face it, well trained glutes look good in them jeans! As a man, my goal in life is to never have to wear suspenders on my pants. The outlook is looking good! In an attempt to not offend anyone, I will let you explore this particular benefit on your own. It is my professional opinion that healthy, well trained glutes will give you “the look” you may be seeking.

Conclusion

During this Deep Dive, we have explored how to approach productive glute training. We learned why sprinters have extremely developed glutes through high intensity sprinting. This proof of concept allowed us to see how we can access similar results while minimizing risk of injury.

For your glutes to actually change it is required that they receive a high intensity stimulus to spark the growth mechanism. Then they must be allowed ample time to fully recover and then even more time still to super-compensate (i.e. become stronger).

The premature exhaustion of the “weak links” will prevent your glutes from improving. The “weak links” will always reach exhaustion well before the glutes in common exercises (i.e. Squat, Deadlift, etc), therefore, we MUST utilize glute specialty machines to isolate the glutes. These machines help to eliminate the “weak links” that hold back your glutes’ development.

The glutes being the largest and most powerful muscle in your body will be able to withstand much more stimulus than any of the smaller and weaker muscles aka the “weak links.” This makes common sense and agrees with logic. To successfully stimulate the largest and strongest muscle you must remove the smaller, weaker “weak links” as much as possible.

We touched on the vast benefits of effective glute training. There are many convincing reasons to focus on this area. I will not endeavor the fool’s errand of trying to instruct the “how to” do these exercises over this medium. In my opinion, the ONLY way to successfully teach somebody proper movement patterns is in-person face to face. I’d like to encourage you to start adding at least some focused glute training to your workouts. If you find you need help learning how to use the machines properly or want to explore training with us please let us know. Nancy and I are both Personal Trainers at Weatherford Fitness and are happy to help you. You will see us around the gym! Come say "Hi!" anytime.

I hope you have received much value from this Glute Training Deep Dive. If nothing else, you may finally understand why your glutes seem stubborn and won’t improve no matter how many squats and lunges you do. Hopefully, the benefits section helped to skyrocket your motivation to make the leap and start utilizing the new glute machines. I wanted to say THANK YOU for choosing to take the time to read our blog. If you don’t mind, feel free to share our work on social media and with your friends in hopes that it helps them in some way.

My Public Service Announcement: Never, ever just blindly follow this advice or any advice from others without applying your own logic and reason. Praying, is a proven winner too. I believe in today's society we face a crisis of a lack of deep thought. People are programmed to conform to, rather than challenge, the prevailing narrative. ALWAYS THINK FOR YOURSELF! Ask hard questions and come up with your very own conclusion. My hope is that after your pondering and contemplation you will find this information in this blog very useful.

Until next time!

Beau Bradbury, CSCS, ACE-CPT

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