Are You Guilty of these Glute-Building Mistakes? — Jessica Dolias IFBB Bikini Pro

Ah, that round, high, peach shaped booty. Something many of us women desire and something that seems so hard to achieve... You want to learn how to build this dynamite derrière, but you just don’t know where to start… OR… You’ve been training your Glutes for a while now, yet, you’re frustrated because it seems like all of this training is just going to waste! You’re only seeing growth in your legs, or your Glutes somehow seem to be getting smaller?, or nothing seems to be happening at all. Well, there’s a chance you may be guilty of one or more of the following reasons that are preventing your #bootygains, and I’m here to help you fix them!

Here are 5 Reasons that Pancake has not transformed into a Peach yet…

1. You’re not training your Glutes enough.

When trying to increase muscle mass, the most commonly known method is to train a particular muscle group once or maybe two times per week using heavy loads and moderate repetitions. True, however the Gluteus muscles have a rather unusual architecture whereas they respond to both high and low levels of force, high and low levels of repetitions, and both high and small ranges of motion. So in order to reach your full peach training potential, you would actually want to use a strategic combination of all of these methods, multiple times each week.

2. You’re training too much.

What?! I thought you just told me to train my Glutes frequently? Yes, the Gluteus Maximus may be able to handle a great deal, but, especially as it is the largest muscle in the body, it still needs its time to recover in order to grow. Since our Glutes' response to various types of training is growth, you would want to follow a program that incorporates heavy compound exercises, moderate load isolation work, and higher rep lightweight exercises, - but you will still want to make sure there is enough time between each style of training for recovery. Like all other muscle groups, the same thing applies to your Glutes - they need rest and and time to recover (grow).

3. You live in the Squat Rack.

When you scroll through your social media feeds or fitness ads that show a woman with this perfectly round and defined bum, many times there’s a tagline that reads “Do your Squats” or “Squat to Build your Glutes”, or something of that nature emphasizing squats. This is of course going to send us women running to the squat rack to get our barbell back squats in as much as possible, so our bums can look just like that fitness model’s. The problem with squats? So many other muscles are involved in the squat, predominantly your quads and hamstrings, so you are not targeting your Glutes directly. Some women are able to build their backside in the squat rack alone, but in order to truly achieve maximum results and build that booty faster and more efficiently, you’ll need to also step away from the squat rack and incorporate different exercises that have the highest percentage of Gluteus muscle activation.

4. You’re not changing things up.

Our bodies are smart, VERY smart. They adapt to any demands placed upon us, as a way of survival really. When a new stress is placed on the body, the body responds with a way to protect us.(i.e. when lifting a heavy load, our muscles are broken down, but then repaired to become stronger and/or larger to be able to handle that amount of load more efficiently). If you are doing the same exercises for too long and not either increasing your weight load, incorporating different repetition ranges, changing focus and timing on eccentric vs concentric motions, changing up exercises, etc., then the stress being placed on your muscles will no longer be enough to stimulate a new adaptation. This means that either nothing will happen, or you can even starting losing muscle mass (Ah!). By following a training program that incorporates these new forms of “stresses” frequently enough (but not too frequently) to keep the body constantly adapting to these demands, that is when you will continue to see the results you are looking for.

5. Your body's in, but your head isn't.

To truly maximize your results and build that #booty, its about more than simply going through the motions. You can be doing what are some of the most effective Glute-growing exercises there are, but if you are not establishing a true connection between your mind and the muscles you are working, then that effectiveness will be limited! I'll sometimes joke about how I've been able to build up my own Glutes by saying my brain and my booty became best friends, but as silly as it may sound, it's so true. You need to really feel every movement to get those Glute muscles to grow to their peach potential.

So what should you be doing?

You should step away from the Squat Rack and incorporate a variation of exercises in order to target your Glute muscles from different angles.

You should be changing up your repetition and weight ranges to give your muscles a new adaptation to avoid a plateau and show continuous growth.

You should be performing a combination of Glute-targeting heavy compound, accessory/isolation, and cardio exercises for greater muscle building and conditioning.

You should train your Glutes two to three times throughout the week, allowing enough time in between for needed recovery.

You should incorporate cardio-based workouts that target your legs and Glutes to help with shaping and tightening in between your resistance training workouts.

And you should be following a healthy diet plan, tailored to your body, in order to achieve true results.

Are you ready to truly start building the booty you want?

Check out my 8 Week Glute Transformation Program and start building that booty.

Learn More

References

Fahey, T.D. (1998). Adaptation to exercise: progressive resistance exercise. In: Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science, T.D.Fahey (Editor). Internet Society for Sport Science: http://sportsci.org. 7 March 1998

Gluteus Maximus: https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/muscles/gluteus-maximus/

George S. EverlyJr., Jeffrey M. Lating. The Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Stress Response - Springer. 17 October 2012