The glute commandments
At Ladies Who Lift, we want each of our clients to get strong, live healthy, and build knowledge in the gym. But do we also want them walking around with the best booty of their life?! Of course we do! Because there is nothing wrong with aesthetic goals complimenting your strength training accomplishments! And lucky for us- many times these things can go hand in hand.
Glute goals are some of the biggest requests our coaches get here at Ladies Who Lift. When we program with this request in mind, we are almost always going to follow the same set of rules, or these 5 Glute Commandments if you will.
When reading this list it's important to remember that whether your goal is to “tone,” “lift,” “firm,” or “grow,” your peach- it is all going to come back to the same thing- building muscle. Whether you get slimmer or thicker will largely depend on your overall caloric intake, protein intake, and overall energy expenditure. But your strength training will remain largely the same.
4 movement patterns for well rounded glute training
The glutes are made up of the Gluteus maximas, gluteus minimus, and gluteus medius and in order to get a well rounded booty, you will need a well rounded strength training program.
A mix of the following 4 movement patterns is what LWL suggests*. How many of each one of these types of exercises you perform per workout will largely depend on your training split.
squatting (or other deep hip flexion, knee dominant movements like lunges)
hinging (such as deadlifts, rdls, and kettlebell swings)
thrusting (hip thrusts, glute bridge, etc)
abduction based movements (lateral band walks, 30 degree standing abduction) will be necessary in order to hit all of the above sections of the glutes.
*We recommend no less than 3 squat, hinge, and thrust variations. And no less than 2 abduction/ week variations at the bare minimum.
the importance of unilateral movements
While bilateral training might be a bit more sexy and more instagram worthy- it’s important you don't neglect your unilateral movements. Single leg training is brutal, we know, but when it comes to building strong legs and strong glutes- unilateral training is necessary!
Training one side of your body at a time will help you to build core strength and stability, and great joint integrity- both of which are important when it comes to your depth and ability to work in a larger range of motion (the importance of which we will touch on later).
Single leg training will also help to fix any glute imbalances whether in strength or size. You will have a lot of carry over into your bilateral lifts, allowing you the ability to better progressively overload (another important factor in glute gains we will be touching on!).
Our favorite glute focused single leg movements include single leg deadlifts, single leg hip thrusts, walking lunges, and rear foot elevated split squats.
MOVE WITH CONTROL/TENSION/WITH PROPER DEPTH
If I have said it once, I have said it a million times (and I will keep saying it!) It is not enough to simply move, we must move well. And to move well you must be moving with control, with tension built into your body, and with good enough depth to allow the work to occur in the proper muscles.
Going up and down, back and forth, bouncing, moving with speed, and “just getting through it” is not enough! And it is what I see a lot of people doing far too often in their strength training routines. Straight up- it will not get you the aesthetic results you want, or help you develop the strength you need!
TENSION refers to how long a muscle is under strain during a set. The longer it is under strain, the more tension is built, and the more your muscles are stimulated to grow and get stronger. This is not to say you need to move at a snails pace, but rather that you should move carefully through your movements and emphasize control through every single part of those movements.
CONTROL is closely related to tension. Control implies that we are moving the weight, and not the other way around. Every exercise has a concentric and eccentric portion to it- move with authority through each. If we do not, it is likely you are working with your joints, and not your muscles and will cause more injury than muscle stimulation.
DEPTH will be related to moving in a full range of motion. Full range of motion, especially for lower body based movements, might be different for everyone- but everyone should be working within their proper range of motion, as well as working to increase their active range of motion with mobility work.
The glutes are most activated at the bottom portion of a squat, but if your mobility and range of motion only allow you to squat a quarter of the way down, you are not able to utilize that exercise optimally for your glute development goals.
We would want to get to a place where we can squat to at least parallel, if not lower to the point where our hip crease is lower than our knees. Going through a full range of motion will result in better muscle balance, joint stability, proper activation of the working muscles and overall better movement quality.
Glute building rep ranges and weight
As Brad Schoenfeld noted, this is “why bodybuilders are more jacked than powerlifters”
A variety of lifting techniques as well as loads and rep ranges will be optimal for muscle growth. Contrary to popular belief, a variety of lifting techniques as well as loads and rep ranges is optimal for muscle growth. . And to grow those glutes- you want to be utilizing all of them
LOW REPS, HEAVY WEIGHTS
Lifting closer to what is considered your one rep max is going to stimulate what we call
“MECHANICAL TENSION” Mechanical tension is that feeling you get when lifting a very heavy weight where it feels like that muscle may almost rip. Mechanical tension will equate to muscular force-which will most often be produced at higher weights with lower reps Mechanical tension is one way we should program for glute growth and muscle development. It will be best utilized in compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
MODERATE REPS, MODERATE LOADS.
You can perform a wide variety of exercises with moderate reps and moderate loads. This would be a great place to explore unilateral work, or accessory work. It is also a great place to experiment with creating “MUSCLE DAMAGE.” Muscle damage, very general speaking, will relate to that delayed onset muscle soreness you feel 2 days after a lifting day. Soreness can come from a lot of different places. It may be that you are just new to a particular exercise, or have never lifted at this new weight before, or haven't trained in a while. In this instance, we are speaking to the muscle damage coming from working with emphasized eccentrics, and increased range of motion-so think time under tension training, or working with deficits.
These are great lifting concepts for muscle development, and can be utilized well with a weight you feel you can lift for 8-15 reps.
LOW WEIGHT, HIGH REPS.
Ready to feel that burn?! With this rep range and load we can explore METABOLIC STRESS, which is that feeling of “the pump” or “the burn.” Metabolic stress is that burning feeling we have all felt at some point in our training- likely during something like hip thrusts or lateral band walks. For metabolic stress to occur, we need to keep blood pumping into the muscle so we will not take breaks between reps, we will keep a constant cadence. Metabolic stress is usually obtained through shorter rest periods, higher reps, and due to those combined-slightly lighter weights.
the importance of progressive overload
Progressive overload simply means you are doing more over time. In order for a muscle to change, you must force change upon it. If a muscle sees no reason to level up to the new stressors you are putting on it, it won’t, and it will remain as is.
Progressive overload most commonly comes in the form of increasing your weights over time. But can also come in the form of increased frequency, increased reps, greater range of motion, adding pauses, or adding more time under tension. Whichever you choose- the goal is to continually increase the demands you are putting on your body and force change upon it!
And there you have it, Ladies Who Lift’s Glute Commandments! Want a program that customizes your own booty goals?
FAQs
Q: What if we are working out at home? How do we apply progressive overload?
A: Yes! Progressive overload is still possible at home. Progressive overload can also be applied via increased reps, increased frequency, paused reps, decreased rest periods, increased range of motion, etc. see more information on applying progressive overload here
Q: How frequently should I train my glutes?
A: research suggests that, when it comes to hypertrophy and targeting growth of a certain muscle group, that your training frequency of that muscle should be a minimum of 2 days a week.
10-15 sets per week of that targeting muscle is recommended. See more information on training for hypertrophy here
Q: How Long does it take to grow bigger glutes?
A: it very much depends. Muscle growth will be determined by many factors including consistency & frequency of training, effectiveness of programming, effectiveness of effort, proper technique, genetics, diet, stress, and more.
about the author
Rae Reichlin created Ladies Who Lift after watching many of her female clients have the physical and mental breakthroughs they never thought possible through learning to lift properly and with confidence.
Having experienced it herself, Rae understands the fear, apprehension, and misinformation, that can sometimes come along with lifting and getting stronger, and wanted to create a space and environment where women felt comfortable to come together to learn and perfect this method of training.
Ladies who Lift promotes empowerment through pushing one's own boundaries, and being there for others who are trying to do the same. By educating women about each of their bodies needs and impressive capabilities Ladies who Lift aims to leave clients ready to lead happy, healthy, connected lives.
Rae’s certifications include NASM, PRECISION NUTRITION, FMS, PRE/POST NATAL, & STICK MOBILITY.
