Glute Activation and Training: Revised

Property of zee boyfriend.

2013: The year dedicated to bigger, stronger, better glutes.

Admittedly, in the past I hadn’t given enough thought to my glute training.

Shameful.

Within the past year or so however, I’ve become rather glute-obsessed. I’ve been dedicating lots of research into ways of activating and firing the glutes properly so that not only can I lift heavy weights more efficiently and improve my athleticism, but I can aid in the development of my glutes as well.

Throughout the years, my glutes have gone through various phases. I went from no bum at all, to kind of having a bum, to not so much bum again (after my figure competition), to HUGE (like, in every which direction), and finally down to medium-sized, though more lifted, rounded, and better proportioned. Though I have no issues with very large badonkadonks, I like to make sure that in whatever size bum my body is carrying, it is shapely in all the right ways, and functional.

Example of progress: The following picture on the left was taken in April 2009, just 6 months before I joined my first gym. The picture on the right was taken today, after 3 consistent years in the gym.

Left picture: 116 lbs. Non-functional, weak, not-so-existent glutes

Right picture: 129 lbs. Functional, strong, better-developed glutes.

The thing that made the biggest difference for me was properly warming up the glutes by performing glute activation exercises before my lower body training sessions. By doing this, I made sure that in all my lower body movements, my glutes were being incorporated as much as possible. I thank Bret Contreras. He’s kind of like a glute god, that I pray to daily. Kidding. Kinda.

Before I paid proper attention to this stuff, I couldn’t really feel my glutes working as much in my movements. I forgot what it was like for my ass to be sore. I saw this as a problem, because I wanted to feel them working in movements. They are the largest muscle group after all, and if you’re a powerlifter or just someone who wants to get stronger, having your glutes fire properly in things like the squat and deadlift (even the bench) will make a huge difference. Not to mention, it’ll whip them into shape. Win/win!

Now, I feel my glutes working with everything I do. So I’d like to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained over the past year or so, to help you achieve similar results with your training.

In fact, I felt like demonstrating some movements myself to save on some surfing time, since it can be annoying trying to find some of the movements in pictures and I’m not sure how much everybody likes having their picture posted on random websites. (Then again, this is the interwebs)

Bear with me though, I only had my phone on me so the pictures are not going to be professional quality or anything. Just appreciate my willingness to take photos in a very awkward fashion.

Also, my dog dragged her toys/blanket out of her crate. She seems to like doing that as soon as I start trying to take pictures. She needs to learn some manners.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE #1: Glute Bridges

You will start in this position:

And from there, by squeezing your glutes, not your lower back, raise your hips up from the floor, contracting your glutes and hamstrings hard:

Oh look, a blanket magically appeared…

REVISED GLUTE BRIDGE:

Alternatively, you could do single-leg glute bridges to isolate each side more.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE #2:  Single-Leg Glute Lifts

I don’t even know if that’s the right name for these things, but it’s what I like to call them.

In fact, I don’t even know if these fall under the classification of glute activation. However, I’ve been including them in with my little routines with pretty good results, so I’d say they work. Though, you do need to make sure that you are really only lifting with the glutes and not the low back, or swinging, or rounding, etc.

This would be the starting position. Take note that at my leg is fully extended, and my toe is slightly behind my bent leg, but my hips remain squared:

Weeeeeeee

Alternatively, you can get on your elbows rather than your palms. I find it’s easier to tell when you are using too much back from a position on your elbows.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE #3: Bent-Leg Glute Raises

While these are similar to the last exercise, they’re not the same.

Hips remain squared, and it is a straight up and down movement. The movement comes from contracting your glutes to raise your leg, with no swinging or fast motions, and no rounding or hyperextending of the back.

Keep your stomach tight, and really squeeze the glutes at the top, and also while lowering. These can be done resting on your palms, or on your elbows.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE #4: “Hanging” Glute Bridges

Once again…no idea if these are called that but I’ll leave it that way for now.

You’re basically performing a glute bridge, but with your shoulders and upper back up on a bench, as well as your feet resting on another bench in front of you (or couch and coffee table, if you’re fancy like me).

You’ll raise your hips up once again, by squeezing your glutes and making sure the abs stay tight and the back is not hyperextending or doing the movement for you. You will bring your hips to a full lock-out position at the top.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE #5: Lying Hip Abduction

I thought I would forget about these when I put aside my pilates days. But it appears I have reverted back to them for warm-ups.

Though I am up on my elbow for these for the sake of taking a picture, it’s preferable that you are lying on your arm or propping only your head on your palm. (Hence, “lying” hip abduction)

Doopdeedoo

That’s basically it. Nothing fancy.

Of course, there are so many different things that you could do to activate your glutes. Some of my other favorites involved banded work. But anyway I think that these are some pretty good basic movements that you can do along with your hip mobility drills to really help you fire your glutes properly with your training.

Some other movements worth mentioning:

• X-band walks
• Side clams
• Fire Hydrants

As for stretching the glutes, I’ve also demonstrated some of my favorite movements. I can’t tell you enough how difficult it is to perform exercises while taking pictures at the same time without a regular camera. But these are basic start-up positions.

#1: Leg Crossover

In this movement, you could either keep the non-stretched leg straight or bent. I prefer it bent, but this will depend on your own flexibility and comfort. The main thing is that the leg that is crossed over is getting a very good stretch. You will want to bring in your knee as close as you can to your body, while rotating your upper body in the opposite direction.

#2: Bent-Leg Hamstring Stretch Part 1

So of course, with this stretch you’ll want to reach down, grab your toes and bring your upper body down as close as your can to your hamstring to feel a good stretch.

#3: Bent-Leg Hamstring Stretch Part 2

Keeping your toe pointed, and hips squared, grab hold of your calf or ankle, and bring your upper body down as close as you can to your leg. If that isn’t possible, you could place both hands on the upper leg and simple push down lightly on the straight leg.

#4: Seated Glute Stretch

Starting position:

From here, keeping your back straight and your abs tight, lean forward towards your bent leg. Stop when you feel a good stretch in the glutes.

TRAINING THE GLUTES

I made a post awhile back about glute training, but since then have made some serious changes as to what I include in my training to target the glutes more efficiently.

Exercise #1: Hip Thrusts

The KING of glute exercises. Bar none.

Example:

Exercise #2: High Step-Ups

Exercise #3: Box Squats

Glutes respond very well to high AND low repetition workouts. A direct note from Bret Contreras to me when discussing this topic:

“There are no rules set in stone, except that whatever rep range you do you need to feel the glutes working maximally. Some days 3 x 5, some days pyramids, some days 2 x 20, etc.”

So make sure you add in that variety with your sets and rep ranges when training your glutes, and remember that glute training is about not only lifting heavy, but also lightening the load from time to time and adding a couple more reps in. And of course, whether you are doing 3 reps or 20, you need to feel your glutes contracting hard in every rep. If you are not concentrating and creating that mind-muscle connection when training your glutes, you will be limiting how much you can really develop them.

Anyway, kind of short and sweet. Hopefully you can add in some of this stuff with your regular training, and if all of this is nothing new to you, perhaps it could be a refresher or a reminder to start doing them again.

Here’s to creating better glutes!

Squatting: Your Questions Answered

Hello world. I apologize this took so long to put together. It’s been a crazy week.

Originally I had written this and was in the process of getting ready to post it, but hadn’t saved my document. So I suffered the consequences and had to re-write it all, which admittedly I procrastinated on just a little…kind of like when you work for awhile on a project and have finally gotten it finished, you don’t really want to start all over again from scratch, if you catch my drift.

But anyway, I really wanted to do a follow-up post for my last Squatting 101 article. As I was thinking of different things to write about, I thought it might be a better idea to ask the readers what THEY would like to know about squats, and have their specific questions answered. I thought it might be a little more thorough, and I’m sure I’ll be back to follow up this post with anything else I missed in the future as well.

Enjoy, and hopefully you can benefit from the answers as well.

Q: Low bar or high bar?

A: This is ultimately a personal choice. Do I have a preference? Certainly. I will almost always choose a low bar position over a high bar. However, there is always a mid-bar position which is right in between both high and low bar, and I find it works well for most people. There is no shoulder/wrist pain complaints like a regular low bar placement might give, and you can still get the power that you would out of a low bar position, just that it will help you to stay a little more upright and you will have less of a forward lean.

All I can say is experiment with both. Low bar is uncomfortable at first, but once you get used to it you will be able to squat much higher weights, which is why it is a favorite amongst powerlifters. Eventually you will find your groove, just keep on trying different things and seeing what feels the most stable.

Q: What do you think about squatting with Smith Machine? Is it better to do it with dumbbells when you don’t have barbell available?

A: Forget Smith Machine squats. They have no place in a program, regardless of what you train for. The only thing I might use the Smith machine for is the occasional incline work for chest, but even then I haven’t used it in almost a year.

If there is no barbell available, then perform heavy single-leg work. Bulgarian split squats are excellent. Walking lunges are also great.

Q: Can you tell me about mobility/stretching specific to reaching proper depth on the squat? And some ideas for recovery as well.

A: Prior to squatting, ALWAYS begin with mobility work. I’m going to post a good video below for some hip mobility drills.

Other ones you can do are hip swings. You hold onto the bar or squat rack, and swing your leg high from front to back, for about 15 reps then switch sides. You want to keep the leg nice an loose and really open up and warm up the hip joints.

A good dynamic stretch prior to squatting would be to get into your squat stance, and then squat down as low as you can. From the position, use your elbows to force your knees out and get a good stretch in the groin area. Hold for a few seconds, raise the hips, and then come back down.

As for recovery, I love foam rolling lightly before training for a few minutes, and then again a couple of times per week. Pay special attention to your IT band, piriformis, hip flexors, and sartorius. These get the most wear and tear.

Sitting in the sauna for a few minutes is nice and relaxing too. You can also take contrast showers. They’re a bitch, but they feel great after. And of course, don’t neglect stretching after your lower body sessions.

Q: What are some stretches to help drop your ass straight down? I’m having hip issues maybe where the crease of the hips doesn’t like to go below the knees!

A: I haven’t personally seen you attempt to squat, so it’s hard to say what the issue is here. Most likely just tightness in the hip flexors, glutes, and hamstrings. Tight calves and ankles are also common issues. Make sure that you are doing mobility work before every lower body session, and stretching often.

Here are some good stretches for you to do a couple of times a week to increases flexibility and mobility:

 

Q: What are some deep squatting techniques?

A: Again, if you are having trouble reaching depth there could be a ton of issues at hand here. Perhaps you’re leaning too far forward, or coming onto the quads/knees rather than sitting back properly. The best way to tell is to take a video of yourself and see what’s going on. Are you sitting back properly, or dropping straight down? Do certain muscles feel tight when you are attempting to squat low, or does your lower back round?

Refer to the stretches and mobility work posted above, and keep in mind that the closer your stance is when squatting, the easier it is to reach depth. I’d suggest starting with a closer stance while building up, and then eventually determining a stance that is most comfortable with your leverages once you have gained some more flexibility. Remember to keep the toes pointed out, and to sit your ass back rather than straight down.

Q: What are some proper warm-up techniques?

A: Refer back to my videos posted about mobility work. Walking lunges and high knees in place are also excellent.

Q: I want to know how to progress- auxiliary exercises, and when to add more weight, and how much. For example, I’ve done a top set of 115×5 twice in two weeks, I feel like I should progress to more weight, but I’m scared. 115 is so hard, and I’m honestly never sure I’ll make the last 2 reps. And any tips for managing the fear?

A: I hate to be a parrot or to sound cliché. But “just do it”, is all I can say when it comes to overcoming fear. You have to find YOUR zone. That means blocking out everything going on around you, not thinking about the weight on the bar or how hard it is. Just connecting with your mind, telling yourself that you are going to do it, and just doing it. There is nothing to be afraid of. It’s when you’re afraid that you’re encouraging accidents!!

Of course, always make sure your form is on point, because there could be many reasons why you haven’t been progressing with the weight. But I have a feeling that you are holding yourself back from adding weight because you’re scared it’s going to be hard. And so what if it is? Just push it.

What I can suggest is moving it up to 120 and going for a set of 5. Even when it feels hard, you have to keep going. Unless something begins to hurt or starts feeling REALLY out of whack, then there is no reason to stop. Video your set to make sure you are reaching proper depth and that your form is okay. Depending on how the video turns out, you can then make an educated decision on whether to stay with that weight for awhile, or move it up.

Sometimes, all that is going on is our mind telling ourselves that we’re tired and that it’s hard, etc. The body is never tired if the mind is not tired!!

Q: When you don’t want or can’t squat very heavy-what about higher rep squatting for definition?

A: This makes not a lot of sense. Definition comes with more muscle and a lower body fat percentage. You have to overload the muscle if you want it to grow. And that means lifting heavy weights, and really pushing yourself. Especially with larger movements, keep the reps somewhat lower. I’d say if muscle gain was your only concern, still keep it to around 8 reps max. I do like doing some “widowmaker” sets from time to time, which is your 10RM done for 20 reps, but beyond that I believe that the optimal rep range for squats would be between 5 and 8. And those sets should still be hard to complete.

 

Q: I had a torn meniscus and I wonder if I should not be squatting because of it. But I love squats so that would be a drag.

A: This is a tricky question. I’m not a physician, so keep that in mind. How long ago did the injury occur? If it has been awhile and if you have been squatting without pain or discomfort so far, I should say you’re safe.

What I can suggest is to invest in a pair of knee sleeves, and start out very light (if you haven’t been squatting). If you’re going to squat make sure that you are definitely going below parallel, since anything parallel or above will put a lot of unneeded stress on your joints. The main thing you’ll want to watch is your form, and that you are keeping your knees out at ALL times during the squat, and not letting them cave or shoot forward.

I know a lot of people who have squatted when they had previously torn something in the knee. I wouldn’t suggest doing any kind of running though.

Q: How do you “feel” depth without using visual cues? And how do you breathe for a set of five?

A: Good questions!! “Feeling” depth took me a little while too. What I found helped was to do bodyweight squats to the right depth, and memorize the way you felt in that position. NEVER look at yourself in the mirror while squatting to check for depth. You have to take consistent videos and have people watch from the side to see where your hip crease is. Eventually with enough practice, you will get to that perfect depth. When in doubt, go lower.

As for breathing, you’ll want to think of it like this: when your car runs out of gas and you have to push it, what is your natural instinct before heaving? You take a big breath, hold it, and give it all you got. You have to do the same for each rep of squats. At the top, take a big breath and hold it. You may let out a little bit of air on the way up if you wish (this helps relieve some pressure so you don’t faint or anything, especially when wearing a belt), but never exhale all the way before you get to the top. After you lock-out, pause for a second, take another breath, and repeat.

Q: Could you touch a little bit on Front squats with clean grip techniques?

A: Certainly.

Front squats done properly with a clean grip require a good amount of shoulder and wrist flexibility. To prepare for front squats, do some shoulder mobility work and very light, short stretches for your shoulders and your chest. Shoulder rotations/dislocations are excellent prior to front squats.

You’ll want to keep stretching your wrists as well, either with your hand or the barbell. It will take some time before your muscles and especially tendons are used to being in this position, and it may hurt at first but you will get used to it.

With front squats, you want to make sure that the bar is resting on your DELTOIDS at all time. Not your wrists. You should work on your flexibility enough that you can get your elbows high enough to support the bar on your front deltoids rather than your wrists. You want to have the bar up high enough that it is nearly (but not actually) choking you.

Your fingers are there only to keep the bar in place. You are not doing any kind of supporting with your wrists, only stability.

This is an example of proper front squat form:

 

This is what NOT to do, and is an example of poor flexibility and technique:

 

Once you’ve un-racked the bar and allowed it to settle, take two steps back into a much closer than regular squat stance. Turn your toes out more (this is to help you get deeper, keep your knees out, and also get your hips through at the top).

Keep in mind that a front squat is NOT a back squat. NEVER sit back into a front squat. You want to sit straight down, and keep your knees out on the way up and down. Really force them out hard to make sure you are opening up the hips. When you rise, rise with your chest and elbows first. Your elbows must stay up at all times, otherwise the bar will roll and you will tip forward.

 

Q: I want to low bar squat but feel like I can’t get my arms into the right position. Maybe it’s a flexibility issue? Curious about different way(s) to properly position the bar.

A: As I mentioned earlier, the three different ways you can position the bar on your back is high bar, mid-bar, and low bar. You will have to experiment. Without knowing how you squat, it’s hard to say what the problem is. But with pretty much any squat, you will want to get your elbows under the bar as much as possible, and “bend the bar” over your back, so to speak. Elbows should not be flared up in the back (especially on the way up), and you should not try to purposely flare them.

Keep your grip relatively close, and work on shoulder flexibility. Especially if you are squatting low bar, this is important.

Q: I’m wondering about half squats for glute targeting. Also, I only have access to dumbbells. Any variations on ways to use them for squatting?

A: What I think of when I think “half squat”, is squatting down only to about parallel or slightly above. If this is the case, forget about it. If you want to do a half squat from a dead start those can be useful (i.e. barbell resting on bars and you training only the lockout position) though I can’t say they work wonders for the glutes.

If you want to do something good for your glutes, try some straight-leg deadlifts and hip thrusts. However, doing half squats will only put stress on your knee joints.

You can do a lot of great single-leg work with dumbbells. Think Bulgarian split squats, lunges, and step-ups.

Q: How do I explain to the guy at the gym that having your elbows pointing directly down at the floor so you get ‘push’ from your arms is wrong…? Or is it just a different method?

A:  Actually, this is one case where the guy at your gym was absolutely correct. Elbows should be pointed towards the floor, as I mentioned a few times in questions above. Flaring the elbows is unstable and will only cause the bar to roll and your chest to fall. Keeping the elbows underneath helps raise your chest and makes sure it stays raised.

Q: Should I squat with belt? Without? When if ok?

A: You can if you’d like. I always suggest going up as high as you can without a belt, and then using the belt only for heavier sets. Just keep in mind that you need to be stabilizing by pushing your abdominals out onto the belt to protect your lower back.

Q: I just want a simple routine to follow for focusing on building MASS that covers basics like how many reps/sets/and days a week are ideal. I know some of that depends on frequency and intensity, but you are a female who has achieved good results so I’d like to hear which method got you there.

A: The tricky thing about leg training is that every single person is going to get results with different methods. I know some women who built their legs just by running track and lifting only moderately heavy weights occasionally. And then I have known women who could only build their legs with higher repetitions and so forth.

What worked for me was an increase in frequency as well as intensity. When I talk about intensity, I am referring to weight percentages, not just how hard I’m working. The most reps for my larger lifts (aside from when I ran Smolov) was about 5. I also added in assistance work which never really went over 10 reps. Mostly 6-8. So I was training legs 2x per week with high volume and high intensity. However, I’ve found that certain muscles (such as the glutes) respond to a variety of different intensities as well as reps. So some days I will train it from 4-6, and other days I will do 10+ reps, and so on.

Seeing as I don’t have the means to assess your own individual needs, what I can give you is a basic idea of how to switch things up and put on some muscle (providing your diet is also set to achieve the same goal)

1)            Train legs 2x per week. Glutes can be trained 2-3x per week.

2)            Have a quad dominant and a hamstring dominant day.

3)            Keep your volume and intensity up (but slowly build the volume over a period of time)

4)            Train HEAVY.

5)            Keep most larger compound exercises between 5-6 reps, and everything else from 6-10 reps, drop sets, and widow-maker sets (10RM done for 20 reps) occasionally.

6)            Keep working sets between 3 and 5.

7)            Train 4x per week (upper/lower splits work well for most)

Remember: experimentation is KEY. You must try different things to see what really works for you. But this is a good base to build pretty much anyone off of.

Q: How do you get past your fear or putting more weight on the bar… I find that the heavier I squat the more I psyche myself out by thinking about how much weight that is. I try not to but I still do!!

A: There is no one way to get over it. But what I can say is that your mindset is crucial to the outcome! You have got to just block out whatever is on your mind. Don’t even look at the weight on the bar. The moment you start over-thinking it is when you get anxious, over-psyched, and you end up missing the lift.

Eventually, you have to look at every increment as easy stuff. You cannot be scared of the weight. You can either control the weight how you want, or let the weight control you. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how bad you want it. You want something really bad, you’ll do whatever it takes to get it. You have to get under the bar and not just lift the weight, but OWN it. That’s how we get stronger.

 

Q: Do you have some tips on the ‘drive up’? My form on the way down is apparently pretty good, but I’m told I don’t ‘drive up with my hams’ enough. The problem is when I start focusing that I do the whole thing too fast and then the squat is generally just messy.

A: Perfect sense, actually. Unfortunately, there is no easy way around this. You have to start focusing on it, otherwise the squat will continue to get messier and progress will stall. You don’t want to raise your hips too fast, otherwise your chest will drop. But at the same time you want to make sure that you are really squeezing the glutes and hamstrings to help power up the weight out of the hole. Glute activation prior to squatting is a must.

Mark Rippetoe was a fan of the eyes down, hips driving up first way of squatting, but I have never been a fan and have always found that to be inefficient. One thing that really helped me to activate my glutes and hamstrings in the squat and also learn how to power through to the top with the hips is to do wide-stance box squats, sitting back to the point where your knees are parallel to your shins, so that it debilitates your quads and puts them at a big disadvantage.

Now, these should not replace your regular squats, only add as a supplement.

The tendency is to rock forward off the box, which is how you know you are using more of your quads than your hamstrings and glutes. You want to power off with your glutes and hamstrings to bring you back to a standing position. This can even be done at home with just your bodyweight.

Here’s some good examples:

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I hope that clears things up for those who asked the questions as well as some of you wondering similar things. If you have any other questions feel free to drop me a comment.

So, You Want To Get Strong? – Part II

In my last post, we covered attitude adjustment, understanding of max effort, and programs. Moving on, we have the next steps I feel that everyone needs to take when first beginning weight training. A lot of this can also be used as reminders for those of us intermediate or advanced lifters that need an extra nudge in some areas.

STRETCHING, WARM-UPS, FOAM ROLLING, AND MOBILITY WORK:

Never, NEVER neglect any of these. Why?

Because if not, you will end up developing over-tight muscles which can lead to tears and other injuries, and you will also develop scar tissue, which can inhibit pain-free movement and overall mobility.

Mobility work is one of the most important things you can do for musculoskeletal health. It’ll help loosen and warm up your muscles, joints, and ligaments before training, or if done at any other time of the day can help support recovery and free movement, as well as flexibility. Trying to train without properly warming up is detrimental and is one of the easiest ways to injure yourself. It’s very easy to neglect warm-ups or to forget them, so you must make a conscious effort from the beginning to make mobility work, flexibility work, and foam rolling a habit in your training regimen. It’s just as important for getting stronger as eating and sleeping.

The areas that need the most flexibility/mobility work would be the hip flexors and the shoulders. I think that regardless of whether you’re training upper body or lower body, both hip and shoulder mobility drills should be done as part of a warm-up. Shoulder discomfort can be developed by squatting without properly warming up the upper body as well. And tight hips are extremely uncomfortable to bench with.

Some of the best hip mobility drills you can do are demonstrated in the video below:

A great shoulder mobility movement that I do before any training session are shoulder “dislocations”, or rotations:

For the shoulder movement, you can use a towel, band, or plastic bar. Begin with arms very wide apart, and keep the elbows locked. Attempt to bring it all the way around (like in the video). When you reach your limit, which would be when you can’t go any further without serious discomfort or moving your elbows, hold the position for a few seconds and return to the starting position. Do several of these rotations, and you’ll notice you can go a little further back every time. The point is to not do a static stretch, but to do short dynamic stretches to warm up the shoulders. The goal here being to eventually be able to rotate completely from back to front without discomfort. Once you can do it from a wide hand position, move your hands in a little more each time. By the time you can do complete rotations with hands only shoulder-width apart, you basically have perfect shoulder flexibility.

Hip mobility work is essential for improving your squat and deadlift. It’ll allow you to get lower in squats and prevent hip pain and injury. Do hip mobility drills every time you are about to begin a lower body training session. No static stretching though.

As for flexibility work, I am a strong believer that flexibility is conductive to a well-rounded athlete. Neglect stretching, and not only do your muscles get too tight, you will not be able to develop your muscles and mobility as well as you could if you stretched regularly. Making it a habit and sticking to your stretch sessions is only a few minutes sacrificed for a lifetime of save and effective lifting. Your hamstrings especially are very tight, and by not stretching the fascia you are limiting growth in your hamstrings. Also a lot of strains, tears, and aches can be prevented if proper stretching was made a priority.

I would say that full stretching sessions should be a part of any training program, and done from 2-3x per week. And that doesn’t mean two or three stretches held for 20 seconds each. I mean all-out stretch sessions, where the stretch is held for a minute or more. Lower body stretching is the priority, especially if you plan on doing a lot of squats and deadlifts. Calves, hamstrings, quads, hips, glutes, ankles, and the groin area all need to be stretched on a regular basis.

Foam rolling will help roll out kinks you may have in your muscles, and will help prevent scar tissue from developing, as well as breaking down existing scar tissue. It’ll loosen up the muscles, since as stated, tight muscles can promote injury. It’s basically a soft tissue massage that you can do yourself. You’ll notice less aches and pains and better recovery once you start making foam rolling a priority as well.

A pain-free body is a happy, strong, and healthy body.

CARDIO/CONDITIONING:

Conditioning is another important part of any training program. Other than helping with recovery, circulation, and cardiovascular health, conditioning will help you perform better and improve your workload capacity. If you are trying to gain weight, keep the conditioning sessions a little less frequent, but still included once a week or so. Those who aren’t trying to gain weight can afford and extra session in their schedule.

Some of the best conditioning workouts are done with a prowler, sled, tire, or sledge hammer. If you don’t have access to any of these, you could also do bodyweight drills, skipping, light barbell complexes, sprints, or kettlebell work. Keep the sessions short but intense.

CHOOSING ACCESSORY WORK:

When it comes to choosing exercises to help assist your main lifts (squat/bench/deadlift), you want to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. You don’t want to overdo the accessory movements, but you also don’t want to skimp out either because they’re going to have a large influence on getting you stronger.

Depending on the program you’re on, it’ll call for more or less accessory movements. For a fresh beginner on a 5×5 program, keep it simple and aim for movements such as hyperextensions, front squats, straight-leg deadlifts, close-grip bench press, incline press, seated rows, DB shoulder press, glute-ham raises, one-arm DB rows, and curls.

Yes, curls.

I have a love/hate relationship with these. Even though I feel tool-ish standing around curling, you should never exclude them from any strength program. They’re important in developing and maintaining strength in your biceps and from preventing tears. I’ve seen WAY too many people neglect proper bicep training because they feel as though they don’t need it since they’re “not a bodybuilder”. The moment you neglect training a body part, you either get weaker or you get injured…or both.

The exercises stated are good movements regardless of what program you’re on. If you’re doing something more along the lines of WSB4SB, you have more freedom to add in different exercises such as leg curls, lunges, box squats, flat presses, pulldowns, etc.

And what I mean by getting the biggest bang for you buck, is choosing movements that are tried and true to get you stronger and assist your main lifts in a big way. The smaller accessory exercises can be saved for when you are on a more advanced program when you need to think about specialization. For now, focus on less is more, and just put in your whole effort when performing these movements. You don’t need much more for now.
You never want to waste your time with exercises that aren’t conductive to your goals. You might really like leg extensions, but they’re not really going to get you strong.

TRAINING DIFFERENT BODY PARTS (REPS, SETS, etc.):

Understand that this section is a personal opinion, and keep in mind that different things will work differently for different people. Based on my own observations of myself and others, this is what I have found to be most effective, so take it as you will. Note that these are not meant to be recommendations for size gain, but solely for strength purposes. However, that doesn’t mean one cannot gain size/muscle using these recommendations if their nutrition is on point.

Remember never to train to failure on accessory movements. You want the weight to be heavy, but you also want there to be a rep or two left in the tank by the time you put down the weights. Higher reps have their time and place, but I think for most movements, the best strength gains are going to happen when training in the 5-8 rep range. Keep in mind this is regarding accessory movements only, so that excludes your main movements. Even 3-4 reps for certain movements can also be beneficial for strength gain, and can be used for some heavier sets, just not over-done. You don’t want to burn yourself out by trying to max-out on accessory work, but you don’t want to go too light either. Keeping the reps mostly between 5 and 8 will allow you to use a heavy enough weight that you can get stronger off of, but not so heavy that you’re working until failure, breaking down form, and sacrificing performance from your main movements. For those of you who do want to have hypertrophy in addition to strength gain, these rep ranges still work well providing your nutrition is on point as well.

Working sets can range from 2-4. I don’t suggest going too much beyond that, unless you are on a particularly high volume program. You can see plenty of results off of this kind of set range.

Also, here’s a great article by Jason Ferruggia regarding rep ranges:

“Are You Sabotaging Your Gains with the Wrong Rep Range?”

Tip: Kai Greene once mentioned in a video that while he is performing a movement and he wants to focus on a particular body part, he consciously thinks about lifting with THAT particular muscle. It’s called a “mind-to-muscle connection”. And believe it or not, this really works. You’ll notice a hell of a difference when you start to really think about moving the weight with the muscle you are concentrating on, rather than just thinking about the movement itself and nothing else. You’ll be able tou activate and incorporate that muscle/group a lot more if you concentrate enough on it.

 

FORM:

We could all learn a thing or two from a baby’s squat form!

It’s best to establish good habits from the very beginning. When I first started my programs, I wasn’t focusing on my form or technique. That actually set me back pretty far when I got to working with a coach that had higher standards for my technique than I had initially set for myself. So I could have actually been a lot farther along than I am now, had I known what I know now back then.

At the same time, I was extremely stubborn back then, so even when I was being corrected, I didn’t take the advice to heart as much as I should have. It’s crucial that in the beginning you take constructive criticism from others when warranted. Many times other more experienced people see things that you may not see, and it’s not that they’re trying to be hard on you, it’s that they’re trying to help you improve.

My best piece of advice is to acquire a camera, and video yourself as much as you need to in the beginning. Then, get it critiqued by someone who knows what to look for and who can spot out weaknesses and how to fix them. The lift will always feel different than it looks, so it’s important to know how the lift feels AND how it looks. How else can you fix your form if you don’t know what you need to fix?

I had written two posts on deadlift form and squat form which can be beneficial to read. One thing that really helped me was to go over certain steps quickly in my head before performing the lift so that I could remember. You don’t want the movement to be robotic, but you also don’t want to just let everything out and have the movement go to shit because you stopped focusing on keeping your form tight. It really is crucial for developing overall strength and preventing injuries. If you don’t get injured right away from poor lifting form, that doesn’t mean what you’re doing doesn’t need to be changed, it means that you are lucky enough to have not gotten injured…yet. But just because you’re new to training, doesn’t make you invincible. Take precautions and do things right from the start, and you will have much less to correct down the road.

DIET:

You can’t build a house without bricks. You also can’t build a body without calories. this doesn’t mean that because you are on a strength program is it a free-for-all (unless you are deathly thin and really want to put on some weight). It means that you eat for performance. If you have physique-specific goals as well, just keep it simple. If you need to gain some weight, eat a little more. If you need to lose some, eat a little less. If you’re a good weight, eat at maintenance but perhaps switch up your macros slightly so that it is performance-driven nutrition. You might even experience a recomp this way. The important thing to keep in mind is that you’re not going to build strength and muscle off of a big calorie deficit.

I say that if you are not very overweight, save the fat loss for a little later, OR keep a very small deficit. Another option would be to lose the fat first, and begin the program after you have taken a few weeks off from dieting and are back to maintenance calories. Prioritize a goal before moving on to the next one, as it is very difficult to achieve two things at once and get the most out of both.

Protein is a big staple, of course, but there is no reason to eat over 1.5g per lb. of bodyweight in my opinion. Higher carbs on training days can be beneficial, with lower carbs on conditioning/off days. You’ll want to play around with your carb levels to see what works best for you, but most people like cycling carbs. Keep fats in your diet always, as they’re very important for maintaining healthy hormone levels.

SUPPLEMENTATION:

While I don’t believe sports and health supplements are necessarily ESSENTIAL, I feel as though 95% of people don’t get all the nutrients they need from their diet already, so supplementation can be very beneficial.

What I would consider staple supplements would be:

• Fish oil (important for reducing inflammation, lubricating the joints, promoting insulin sensitivity, and improving cognitive function)
• Multi Vitamin (provides all the daily nutrients that you need for proper overall health and performance; will improve energy levels)
• Creatine (great for improving recovery, muscle endurance, and strength)

Optional supplements:

• Pre-workout drinks
• BCAA
• L-Carnitine

PATIENCE:

Results don’t always happen over night. Everything takes work, and you’ll have days where things feel heavy and off. Just don’t give up! Stick to the program and keep your goal in mind, always. It’s a journey, not a race, and if you try to rush bodily changes your body is going to fight against you. It’s just like trying to lose weight. You have to expect that it’s not all black and white, and you will need a lot of experimenting, trial and error, and time to find exactly what works for you.

Above all, keep a good outlook with your training. A positive attitude is a winning attitude, and in the end, the most successful person is the one who believes in himself enough to keep pushing despite difficulties he faces. And believe me, you will face them. Just be stronger than whatever life throws at you and you will come out on the other side triumphant rather than defeated.

Happy training!!

So, You Wanna Get Strong? – Part 1

Squatting 101

I’m happy that my last post “Deadlifting 101” got as much positive feedback as it did. For those of you who read it and could pull some ideas and information from it, I’m glad!

I got several requests after that article to do a squat tutorial. Since I had mentioned awhile back that I will do one, I will live up to my word. I will try to condense things and break them down as much as I can without you falling asleep in front of your screen, but the squat is a lot more technical than the conventional deadlift, and requires a little more explanation in order to completely grasp how the movement is supposed to be done.

So bear with me.

(PLEASE NOTE: While I understand the mechanics, how-to’s, and science behind a squat, I still have things to work on myself! It is hard, and if you’re not someone who “gets it” right away, don’t worry. It takes a lot of practice to remember the cues and have everything work together in a fluid motion. No lift is ever immaculate or perfect, and there are always technical flaws and things to be worked on. We are constantly learning. The important thing is that you know how it’s done so that you can correct problems when they turn up.)

THE SET-UP

First things first. If you’re one of the people who is in a rush to get under the bar and finish the lift, slow the fuck down. Rushing the set-up is the biggest problem a lot of people make. They will duck under the bar and lift it on their back within a second, which is when the grotesque chest dropping and upper back rounding occurs most frequently. Slowing things down and taking time to make sure you are very tight at the start will ensure that you stay protected and solid throughout the entire movement and look a little less like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

A lot of people don’t know how to set their hand width properly. They’re either way too wide, or not wide enough. I say that if you are not a very large person or don’t have a particularly muscular upper back, keep your grip width more narrow to create a shelf with your traps for the bar to rest on. If you are a much larger person, you can afford to have your arms a little wider. Unless you’re a 300 lb. super-heavyweight with a very muscular back (in which case you wouldn’t really be reading this tutorial), there is no reason to have your hands all the way at the end of the bar. It’s just silly and won’t help tighten your upper back if your back is not big enough for it. The best thing to do here is to play around with different hand widths before squatting your regular weights to see what distance makes your back the tightest.

A trick I learned recently from a fellow powerlifter is to set your hand width on the bar BEFORE getting under, so that when you dip down to get the bar on your upper back, everything is much tighter. I used to dip under the bar and set my hands after, but I found that doing it beforehand and not changing the position of your hands kept my back a lot tighter and made it easier to keep my chest up. Ladies, if you have long hair I suggest putting it in a bun or a braid kept to the side to make sure this is easier for you.

You’re going to want your upper back VERY tight. So tight in fact, that you could hold a pencil between your shoulder blades. You want your back to remain this tight throughout the entire set. As you tighten your back and get under the bar, raise your chest and make sure it is out and high. This is a huge priority, because it’s what will prevent you from doing a good-morning on the way out of the hole.

That's a tight back.

Don’t flare your elbows up behind you. Try to keep your elbows tucked under the bar as much as possible, and avoid bending your wrists. Remember, your hands are there to keep the bar in place, not to support the weight. Too much wrist bending can result in injury or tendinitis. If you have a problem keeping your wrists straight, wear wrist wraps to increase the pressure and keep them in line. I have to do this as well, and a lot of squatters also do this especially if they squat low-bar.

Bar placement depends on personal preference. I find that low bar squatting (bar on the rear delts) causes more forward lean,and involves more of the lower back, as well as putting a lot more emphasis on the glutes and hamstrings. It is harder to get very low in a squat with a low bar placement (though this is remedied by maintaining great hamstring/hip/glute flexibility). For a lot of people it helps them lift more weight, and it’s popular amongst powerlifters. A high bar placement is set at the top of the traps right below the neck, and is also referred to as an “Olympic style squat”. It helps you stay more upright and get lower, but a lot of people find that they squat less weight with an Olympic style than with a low bar style.

Then of course, there is always the in-between, where it isn’t quite low bar and not quite high bar. All in all, it’s really down to preference, and the only real WRONG bar placement that you can have is putting the bar too high up so that it’s resting on your neck and spine rather than your traps, which is just begging for injury. Find what suits you and your leverages and stick with it. Try not to go back and forth between low bar and high bar squats.

Moving on…

Get completely under the bar when you are setting up. Do not unrack it with one leg back and one leg forward (common error). Your neck and traps should be pushed back into the bar when you are setting up. You want to really keep it back in there and tight. Arch your back slightly, take a breath, and un-rack the bar. Let the weight settle COMPLETELY on your back before you walk back. Do not just unrack the bar and start walking back, or you will begin to come loose. Again, slow down.

After you have waited a second or two, you want to step back with as few steps as possible to make sure you remain tight and to conserve energy. The rule is 3 steps. Some beginners until they find a groove for their foot width will need a few more steps and some shifting to find their proper position, but this should be minimized as much as possible. Remember, use as few steps as you possibly can.

Foot width, like with the deadlift, is determined primarily by preference. While some people will choose to have a wider stance, some people will also prefer a much closer stance. What I don’t suggest for a raw lifter is to squat in a sumo stance. There is no real reason for this, and it will take too much of a toll on the hip flexors. It’s also much harder to get lower, and this is mainly a squat stance used by equipped powerlifters.

A general rule of thumb is to have your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes pointed out slightly. The toes pointed will help take stress off the knees, and will also help you engage your hamstrings and glutes more so that you can get your hips through at the lock-out. The more narrow your stance, the more emphasis is placed on the quadriceps. Which is why I personally prefer something in between narrow and wider, so that I get a good balance of quad, hamstring, and adductor involvement. Stance takes experimenting to see what works best for you. Choose the stance that works best for your leverages and level of comfort (to a certain degree).

THE START

So now that you are in position with the weight on your back, it’s time to start the breathing. A lot of people neglect this part and will simply start dropping down into the squat. They don’t realize how important taking deep breaths and holding them before the descent is when it comes to staying tight throughout the rep.

The breath should always be taken deep into your stomach. Don’t breathe through the chest. Not only will the breath be shallow but it will be harder to hold, and your core will not be very tight. If you use a belt when squatting, you will want to take a deep breath and push out as hard as you can on the belt.

I prefer to take two quick breaths before finally taking in a really deep one and pushing against the belt. Remember that the entire time I am standing there, I am just as tight as I was when I first un-racked the bar. Never let your muscles relax while you are breathing.

THE DESCENT

After you have taken your breath in, hold it, push your abs into your belt very hard (or if you are not wearing a belt, just tighten your stomach). Push your neck and traps into the bar, arch your back, sit back, and go down.

You should set your point of focus the same as a deadlift. NEVER look completely down or in the mirror. Set your focus straight ahead and slightly down, or slightly up. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position and focus on one spot.

When you’re squatting, you have to push your knees out to the side as much as you can. As Dave Tate said, think of trying to spread the floor with your feet. Push against the side of your feet and open up. This is very important for proper hamstring and glute activation through out the movement.

You don’t want the squat to be a 2-3 part movement. As in, one part of your body goes down, and then the other, then the other, etc. Like the deadlift, it should be a fluid movement…down and up. Your knees and hips should be moving at pretty much the same rate.

Do not worry about knee travel unless your weight is coming onto your toes. If your knees are the first thing to come forward and you feel the weight shifting to the front of your body, it is because you are not sitting back enough, and you are transferring the load to your upper back and quadriceps, rather than your glutes and hamstrings.

Remember that the body will ALWAYS compensate for a weak muscle by supporting the weight with the stronger muscles. The body does not know what good form is, it only knows that there is a heavy ass weight resting on it, and it needs to lift it somehow. The key is training yourself to use certain muscles primarily. Your glutes and hamstrings can support a lot of weight if you train them to, and those are the muscles that most of the lifting should be done with.

Always break with your hips first, not your knees.

THE ASCENT:

Just like on the way down, you will want to keep your knees out. This will help you lock-out the weight better and will prevent that common sticking point mid-squat when you just can’t seem to get your hips through. Many times if I failed a squat mid-way, it was because I was not utilizing my hamstrings as much as I could have, and my knees were pointed forward which made it hard for me to get my hips through. So it’s important that you stay focused and remember to keep your knees out so that your hamstrings can be worked to their fullest capacity.

You will rise with your chest and head first. Imagine a string being attached from your chest to the ceiling, pulling it up. If you let your chest drop, that is when the bar rolls and the weight gets shifted to the front of your body rather than the back. If your chest is up, everything will stay tight, and will prevent forward lean.

Don’t raise your hips too fast, because this can also cause you to do a good-morning on the way up. Just like you descend in a uniform motion, you should come up in the same way. Drive your hips up to lock out the weight. You really have to squeeze your glutes very hard and force your hips forward. The lock out needs to be done with your hips, not your knees.

If you’re making a squat max attempt or near max attempt, I think it’s important to let out some air once/if you reach a sticking point on the squat, since your goal is not to pass out during the squat from holding your breath too long. Let out some air in a hiss when you hit that spot.

 

COMMON PROBLEMS AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM

1. Butt “winking”. This is when you reach a certain point in the squat where your lower back rounds and “winks” at the bottom. This can be dangerous, and you can injure yourself badly if you’re not careful. It’s caused by a number of things, including (but not limited to) inflexibility, lower back weakness, loss of your arch during the movement, and loosening of the lower back during the movement. My suggestion to correct this problem is to incorporate more PC work such as good-mornings, SLDL’s, hyperextensions, rack pulls (below the knee), and lots of hip flexor/hamstring/glute stretching.
2. Losing the arch. Pretty difficult one to overcome, and takes a lot of practice and concentration. You have to really be focused and know how it feels to keep the arch throughout the entire squat. Once you lose that arch, your back can get quite loose, which can cause the winking mentioned above, back rounding, and good-mornings out of the hole. You will need to strengthen your mid-back and lower-back muscles and also practice holding your arch for longer periods of time. Build your back with the assistance exercises mentioned above, as well as practicing your arch with lighter weights until you can build up to holding it completely when the weights get heavier.
3. Bar rolling on back. This is caused by your upper back not being tight enough. If the bar is securely on your back, there would be no reason for the rolling.
4. Knees caving in. This comes from mainly from a lack of hamstring and glute strength, and can be corrected with the proper assistance exercises. I recommend SLDL’s, good-mornings, GHR’s, hip thrusts, and wide-stance box squats. You also must concentrate on pushing your knees out throughout the whole movement, like I mentioned earlier. Mobility work and glute activation work is also important before beginning your squats.

 

QUICK TIPS:

• Think of “bending the bar” over your back. This will cause immediate tightness and help you keep the bar in place on your upper back.
• Do whatever it takes to help you get that weight up when it feels tough. Some people like to breathe out air with a hiss, while others let out a loud grunt. If it helps you lift it, then go for it. I don’t care, and most other people don’t care either. If they complain just throw them over your back and squat them for a clean set of 10.
• Start out with mental cues. Think, “Head up, chest up, arch back, hips back, knees out..etc” if it helps you to remember. If you can’t think of all that at once, get someone to yell at you “hips back!” or “knees out!” to help you.
• WEAR FLAT SHOES. I cannot stress this enough. Barefoot, even. Unless you have squatting shoes, which is just as good. Stop squatting in goddamn sneakers. Invest in a cheap pair of high-top Chuck Taylors/converse and squat in those.

Have fun, and remember to be patient with yourself. It takes time to master the technicalities of the movement. Always keep a learning attitude about you though, and remember that it is a work in progress. Don’t try to rush things or they get sloppy. Go at your own pace, and practice with lighter weight if you need to.

Also keep in mind that when performing a 1-rep max effort attempt on a squat, there are going to be more technical flaws than a weight you could do, say, for 3-5 repetitions. In the case of a competition, sometimes there are more errors in form simply due to the fact that the athlete is doing whatever he or she can to get the weight back up.

However in training, you should strive to keep your technique as clean as possible to prevent injury and ensure that you have a long life filled with many more days of squatting pain-free.

In training, 95% of the time it will be form over weight. You’re training your body, not your ego.

Deadlifting 101

The deadlift is by far one of the easiest compound exercises to learn, in my opinion. Then again, there are technicalities to it that cannot be avoided, and if done improperly, deadlifts can leave you in a lot of pain due to strain or injury.

So while it’s not a difficult lift in theory (pick up the weight, put it down again), there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.

I’m going to break it down in points, and hopefully you can note an issue that you may be having as well and how you can fix it. This post will be covering conventional deadlifting.

THE SET-UP

Everyone has a certain stance that suits them best. I have seen some people pull with feet no more than an inch apart, and I have also seen people pull in a semi-sumo stance, with their arms still on the outside of their knees. The key here is finding a stance that works for YOU. If you do not know exactly what that is, a good starting point is having your feet hip-width apart, or a little bit narrower.

If you are a slow puller off the floor (i.e. harder for you to lift the weight the first 2-3 inches rather than locking out), you should aim to have your feet a little straighter in front of you, at least while in training. Doing so will help you be a little faster off the floor. Pointing your toes out slightly will make it a little easier to engage your hamstrings and get your hips through at the top, which will support your lockout if you have the opposite problem (weak lockout, strong off the floor.)

After you have gotten your foot width decided, the next step is to see where the bar is relative to your feet. You want the bar right over the middle of your foot. You do NOT want to start with the bar already at your shins.

Next is your hand placement. Place your hands just outside your knees. I find that the closer my arms are to my legs, the tighter everything feels. I also use a mixed grip, which means one hand under and one hand over. It’s much easier to lift heavier weights with this grip rather than double-over-hand. Especially if your grip is weaker and you are still building it up.

Some people prefer to bring their hips down and hold that position for a few seconds before pulling. In my opinion and in my own experience, this is very inefficient. I like to make use of a bit of stretch reflex at the bottom before I begin pulling, since it helps me engage everything and make sure that my muscles are tensed and ready to go rather than relaxed. So after I set my feet, I always set my hands, and then I do not dip down until I am ready to pull. I find that waiting in the pulling position before you begin limits the amount you will pull, because your muscles are not as tense and there is no “bounce” in a way.

SO. Set your hands first, and bring your hips down to pull only right before you start to make sure that you are engaging everything properly with no muscles relaxed.

THE PULL

A big problem some people have that can result in bad injury is retracting their shoulder blades before they begin the pull. This is an absolute NO, and should never be done. When you stand up your shoulders are going to come back anyway. Retracting your scapula before pulling will only lead to injury.

Now that everything in the set-up is correct and you have your hands in place, bring your hips down just low enough so that your shins touch the bar. This is where you should be pulling from.

However, there are those of us who are a little bit at a disadvantage due to leverages, and sometimes you get what is known as a “high hip puller”. I am one of them. Even bringing my hips down until they touch the bar is not always enough sometimes. What I suggest in this situation is a little bit of a “dip” at the bottom.

What I mean by dipping, is to bring your hips down a little lower than you would normally pull from, and then “bounce” them up to the correct height. The second you feel that your hips have met the appropriate height, begin your pull.

Here is an older video of myself as an example:

And for those of you who are even higher hip pullers, a larger dip may be more appropriate at your discretion. Here is another example from my friend Robert Trettin:

Again, this is what I do because I have a short torso and long legs, so it works well for my leverages. If you have great deadlifting leverages and can pull without having to dip down, then that’s awesome. If your hips are too high at the start, try dipping down like I suggested. It makes a world of a difference.

Remember to keep your chest up and out. Take a deep breath and hold it. Arch your back. Your head should be in a neutral position. Fix your gaze on a spot in front of you and/or slightly down. Slightly up is fine, and I find that looking up as I’m locking out can help sometimes. Never look straight down on the floor when you pull because you will throw yourself off, and of course, never look in the mirror.

As you begin the pull, you want to keep the bar as close to your body as possible and try as much as you can not to let the bar drift in front. Ever see those guys with bloody shins after a deadlift? That’s how close the bar needs to be to your body. Keep it in at all times.

QUICK TIP

What I like to imagine, is that I am not pulling the bar off the floor, but rather I am pushing myself into the ground. This automatically tenses your glutes and hamstrings, engaging them in the movement. If you concentrate of pulling the bar off the floor a lot of the tension tends to shift to your upper back, taking your legs out of the picture. Your legs play a big role in deadlifting, so make sure that everything is fired properly.

Also, when you feel like you’ve been grinding it for an hour, it’s probably been closer to a couple of seconds. Next time you feel like failing it when you’re almost there, just give it a couple extra seconds (provided your form is at least passable). It may be all you need to lock out the weight.

FINAL NOTES:

Everyone has different pulling styles, and it takes time to find your own groove. The best thing to do is play around with different widths, hand placements, etc. and find which one suits you best.

Most basics have been covered in this post, and pretty much anyone can benefit from at least starting with this form, and from there tweaking it to match their own bodies perfectly.

Never be one of those people that trains AROUND their weak points. If you have lagging body parts, build them. If you don’t have good flexibility to get your hips lower, then stretch. Don’t be one of those guys (or girls) that says “Oh, I’m not flexible enough for that, I’ll just do it this way” or “My hamstrings are weak, so I have to pull more with my back”, etc. All I hear is a bunch of lame excuses for your ineffective training. Admitting to your weaknesses is one thing, so long as you make a constant effort to improve upon them. Admitting to them and then doing nothing to strengthen them is what’s the wrong thing to do.

Hope this helps. Happy deadlifting!

Baby Got Back: All You Need To Build Yourself a Proper Ass

My 41" glutes. Built with steak and squats.

Glutes.

There’s just something magical about them.

“How do I get a nicer butt?” is my most frequently received fitness-related question to date. It seems most women these days are having troubles with it. Too small, too wide, too flabby, too saggy, you name it.

First of all, let me set something straight: There are certain genetic advantages when it comes to having a nice derriere, but that does not mean that it’s impossible for you to fix yours. Even if it does look like it was run over by a freight train.

So what are the two components of a lifted, round, well-shaped behind?

1. Body fat.
2. Muscle.

Don’t make excuses for your lack of glutes, and don’t make excuses for other peoples’ glorious asses by saying “It’s just photoshop!” or, “She probably had plastic surgery!”

Believe it or not, some women work HARD to get a nice rump. So don’t be so quick to judge just because yours isn’t quite there yet. It only makes you appear insecure.

However, admiration is permitted.

——————————————————————-

TRAINING YOUR GLUTES

The way I’ll do this, is I’ll go over my favorite exercises for glutes (in no particular order of importance), and give you videos and specifics on how they should be done.

Make sure to do ALL your hip flexor mobility work and glute activation as a warm-up before you begin your exercises.

Exercise #1: Barbell Back Squats

Yeah, everyone knows this one. But not everyone does it properly. If you’re one of the people who stops at parallel, or even just an inch below…you may want to consider switching it up.

With a back squat, stopping at parallel or just barely below puts most of the emphasis on your quads, and your glutes are not as engaged as they could be. Squatting until you are below parallel (the lower the better!) will put the emphasis on your glutes and hamstrings.

The more narrow your stance is, the more focus is put on your quads. Keep your legs shoulder width apart, with your toes pointed OUT (so you can get your hips through better).

Exercise #2: Straight-Leg Deadlifts

These need to be on EVERYONE’S agenda when they’re training legs. In my opinion, SLDL’s are the ultimate hamstring exercise.  These can be done unilaterally, or with both legs.

To do these properly and take the focus off your lower back, you NEED to push your hips back as far as you can until you get a very large stretch. I prefer a close stance, but you can make them sumo to switch things up. You need to keep the bar as close as you can to your legs, and keep your back straight.

Go down as low as you can while feeling a big stretch, and then come back up. Do not let your lower back round.

If you are short like me, you may need to use smaller plates to get a better stretch.

Exercise #3: Glute-Ham Raises

Don’t give me excuses for this one.

Yes, they hurt. And they are very difficult. But they’re also excellent.

I don’t believe in using bands or other assistance for GHR’s. I think that with enough practice, you will get them down. Keep the negative portion (descent) as SLOW as you can possibly manage. This is done by keeping your arms to your sides, and squeezing your glutes and hamstrings very hard on the way down.

Once you feel like you are losing tension, catch yourself with your hands and use a light push to get back up to the start.

When you’ve mastered these, you’ll be able to do them with no push-off. By then you know your hamstring strength has increased dramatically. My record of handless GHR’s was 3, and that was with a 5+ second descent.

Exercise #4: Bulgarian Split Squats

I’m not the biggest fan of these, only because they annoy me to no end. However, I know they work, so I do them.

The further you place your leg in front of you, the more emphasis is going to be on the glutes. The closer in, the more it targets your quads. Go down as FAR as you can go.

Exercise #5: Box Jumps

High box jumps. Start with lower boxes and build up. If you want to mix it up, try doing these while holding a 10-45 lb. plate.

Yes, occasionally you might miss the box and bruise your leg.

Actually I’m not even gonna lie, if you miss the box with these it’s one of the WORST training pains you’ll ever experience, aside from actually breaking/tearing something. But, it fades quickly and you just get a  bruise/bleeding leg. Sexy.

Anyway..

Moving away from the gory aspects of it, this is an excellent conditioning exercise. It’s amazing for building explosiveness in your legs, and it DOES help with glute development as well, especially as your box gets higher. I would do these on a day separate from your leg training. If you fatigue your legs before by doing box jumps, your other exercises will suffer. If you fatigue your legs with weights and try to box jump…well…you’ll end up face-planting unless it’s a very low box.

So…do these on days off, or on conditioning days.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Wide-Stance Leg Presses, Wide-Stance Box Squats, and Good-Mornings.

Box squats: also great for the glutes and hammies.

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STRETCHING

Never neglect your stretching after training. Here are some good stretches for the glutes and hamstrings:

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CARDIO:

My favorite “glute cardio” is Tabata squats, uphill sprints (NOT on the treadmill), and kettlebell stuff. Keep cardio to 2x per week, and high intensity.

15-20 minutes of all-out, balls-to-the-walls, please-just-give-me-a-second-to-gasp-for-air work will be plenty.

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THAT’S IT.

Seriously.

Nothing fancy. It’s what my glutes were built off of, and what yours can be built with as well.

I’m sorry if you came here expecting me to prescribe you a pill, magical exercise, special food combination, or special rep/set scheme for your training. Building glutes has nothing to do with that. However, it has EVERYTHING to do with consistency and HEAVY weights.

I prefer to stick with the basics when it comes to training. People think they need ten different exercises in order to fashion a fine pair of cheeks, but that’s really not what it takes. What it takes is dedication, and REALLY pushing yourself. If you stop every time it gets hard or whenever it burns, you’re not going to get anywhere.

Your glutes are some of the most used muscles in your entire body. In order to get them to respond in the way you want,  you have to overload them, and train them very hard and dilligently.

REPS:

These exercises are best when done in the 5-8 rep range. One exception being GHR’s…you do those for as many as you can get without dying.

The other exception is the box jumps. Working in sets of 2-3 is my preference, sometimes going up to 5.

Now when I say “5-8 reps” that means your MAX for the given amount of reps. Not 5 reps with a weight that you could probably do for another 15. I mean…using a weight that you will ONLY be able to grind out a set of 5 with.

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DIET AND YOUR GLUTES

Now that you have training covered, let’s go onto the diet aspect.

Depending on your genetics, you may or may not store fat pleasantly in that area. If you are someone who just has a very small butt, it will come down to eating more (yes) and training with the above exercises. If you are someone with a very large ass already but it’s not well-shaped, you need to focus on losing body fat while doing these exercises. Once down to a lower level, you can then start slowly putting on weight again to give your body raw material to build the muscle with.

Sorry vegans, but cows are the ultimate glute food.

Really all it comes down to is growing some muscle. Even when I was very lean, I had a well-shaped rear because even though the fat wasn’t all there, the muscle was. You need to build the glute muscles, otherwise they will continue to stay flat, or misshapen due to the excess body fat and lack of lean muscle tissue.

Yes, I have a fair amount of body fat on my glutes. But because I have a great muscle base underneath the fluff, when I gained weight it went on very evenly. Thus, despite me gaining a lot of weight, it is not misshapen.

So in short:

• Lose excess body fat (if you need to), and then focus on very slowly raising your calories until they are about 200 above maintenance, and train HARD with the exercises suggested.
• If you have no body fat to lose and you are small, do the same thing, but just skipping the dieting aspect.
• If you have saggy glutes, the same thing applies. You NEED to build up the muscle so that the skin and fat evens out.

In your ass-gaining endeavors, I would prescribe you a diet of LOTS of lean protein (don’t be scared of red meat), plenty of veggies, some fruit, and healthy fats. Keep starchy carbs post-workout.

This is the glorious 1/2 lb. of steak that I had post-workout.

Above all, have fun with it. Building a great set of glutes is a process, just like anything else. But when you’ve found your groove and done the work, the results will speak for themselves.

Now go out there and build yourself an ass.

Property of my boyfriend.

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Glute-related questions? Leave me a comment!