1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 In this episode of the podcast, we are going to be talking about 2 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,560 big butts and I cannot lie, sorry, I had to do it. 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,440 Specifically, we're going to be discussing how to train for a 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:12,720 bigger booty. Whether you are a guy looking 5 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,400 for glute gains to help with your performance and strength 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,080 because the glutes are one of the most important muscles for 7 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:20,960 generating power and force, which is crucial for strength 8 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,960 and performance. Or you are just the lady in the 9 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,600 gym looking for booty gains because you want a bigger and 10 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,360 more round butt. Well, today I'm going to give 11 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,400 you my three-step system that I have used to help countless 12 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,800 clients maximize growth in their glutes, and I'm going to teach 13 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,400 you how to implement it for yourself today. 14 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,200 The greatest things in life all start with a challenge. 15 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,280 You must accept that everything is hard before it gets easy. 16 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,120 Every, every, every, everything you want in life begins with a 17 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:50,960 hard path. Let's dive in. 18 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,760 First, we have to understand what are we doing when we are 19 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,080 targeting the glutes, meaning the movement patterns. 20 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,320 So the first step is really learning the right fundamental 21 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,640 movement patterns, the primary exercises that are going to lead 22 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,120 to targeting the glutes. We want to isolate the glutes. 23 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:09,960 We want to put more volume to the glutes. 24 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:11,720 We're going to train the glutes more frequently. 25 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:13,920 All of these things, which I'm going to cover here in a minute. 26 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,920 But first we have to understand how do we even target the glutes 27 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,400 properly? And some of you might see me go 28 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,000 through these movement patterns and recognize certain ones that 29 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,560 stand out more to you because that has worked well for you. 30 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,760 Or when you do that exercise, you feel your glutes more. 31 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,680 However, just because you might feel your glutes more doesn't 32 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,600 always mean you're training optimally for glute gains, which 33 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,240 I'm going to to explain as I go through these three movement 34 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,080 patterns that are going to be the fundamental or the the 35 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,200 primary movement patterns that target the glutes best. 36 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,000 So the first movement pattern we want to target and focus on for 37 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,560 the glutes is going to be hip extension. 38 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,160 This is when we're primarily shortening the glute muscle. 39 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,680 Now we're not going to go into the different heads of the 40 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,200 glute, glute Max, glute, me, things like that. 41 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,760 What we're really going to talk about today is program design. 42 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,240 So I want to 1st just lay out the movement patterns that you 43 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:05,640 need to understand so you know where to place them throughout 44 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:07,320 the week in your weekly training split. 45 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:09,280 We don't need to get into the deep dive science. 46 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,520 We just need to give you practical information that you 47 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,840 can literally put into your training program and start 48 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,840 growing your glutes right away. So the first movement is hip 49 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:19,760 extension. This is when we're shortening 50 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,000 the muscle. And so you'll feel this 51 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,120 primarily at the top of something like a hip thrust, for 52 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,160 example. This is when we're bridging to 53 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,440 the top. Our hips are in complete 54 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,720 extension, so we basically have a flat line from our shoulders 55 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,520 all the way to our knees, which are in a 90° angle to the 56 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:37,720 ground. So we're driving our heels into 57 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,720 the floor, bridging our hips up to the ceiling, locking out the 58 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,080 hips, squeezing the glutes. That is when you're going to 59 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,800 feel the glutes the most. Now, this is a shortened 60 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,360 position for the muscle. We know based on tons of 61 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:52,960 different research on tons of different muscle groups now that 62 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,240 the length and position is going to be more beneficial for 63 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:57,920 growth. So although the hip thrust still 64 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:02,720 should be a primary exercise in your plan, it is not necessarily 65 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,640 the most optimal for stimulating hypertrophy. 66 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,280 So to stimulate hypertrophy, we want to lengthen the muscle. 67 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:12,320 And you're going to get this on a hip thrust, especially if you 68 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,000 use something like a hip thrust machine. 69 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,680 The hip thrust machine is set up in a way where the platform is 70 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,760 typically angled, the bottom is a little bit lower so you can 71 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,720 unrack and bridge, and you can get pretty low. 72 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,880 So if your gym has a hip thrust machine, definitely use it. 73 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,880 It is one of the best ways to both stretch and shorten the OR 74 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,600 stretch and contract or lengthen and shorten the glutes 75 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,840 themselves. When you're using a barbell, the 76 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,040 plates are going to hit the ground before you get into a 77 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,960 deep stretch with the glutes at the bottom of that movement. 78 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,320 And so it kind of limits how much hypertrophy we can have in 79 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,720 the glutes from a hip thrust. However, I will say this, Brett 80 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,400 Contreras, the glute guy has a lot of content on this. 81 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,720 He invented the hip thrust. He invented the hip thrust 82 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,040 machine. He's been on my podcast as well. 83 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,320 Very informative guy, really, really good and I like his work. 84 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,320 He has shown in research that the hip thrust is better than a 85 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,160 lot of exercises. It's one of the best exercises 86 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,400 you can do. I do not know if they use hip 87 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:06,720 thrusts machines in all the studies. 88 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,120 I got to doubt they did because that hasn't been around forever 89 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:11,920 and they started studying this stuff a while back. 90 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,040 But none the less, it is debatable. 91 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,079 Not everybody's going to get in that length and position. 92 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:19,240 And the reason I say this is because we need to have this 93 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,840 movement to emphasize that shortened position of the glutes 94 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:25,280 in hip extension. But we're also going to need to 95 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:28,800 choose exercises that guarantee we can put the glutes in a 96 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,240 stretch position no matter what gym we're at with no matter what 97 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,360 equipment is available. And so we have movement #1 hip 98 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:36,800 extension, shortening the muscle. 99 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,560 This is going to be something like a hip thrust #2 is going to 100 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,080 focus on that stretch position. And that is hip flexion. 101 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,760 This is when we're lengthening the muscle. 102 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,080 So we have a few examples here. You can use a squat, and as you 103 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,040 see in the bottom of this squat, my glutes would be in a 104 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,400 stretched position because my hips are completely flexed. 105 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,400 Now I have platform based shoes, lifting shoes and I have a very 106 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,520 upright torso because of how long my legs are, they're not 107 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,440 very long at all. So I'm a very quad dominant 108 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,760 squatter. So I'm still not going to get as 109 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,720 much glutes from this and I'm going to be targeting more quads 110 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,360 and that's how some people are. If you have a longer femurs or 111 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,200 you don't elevate your heels and you can sit back into it and 112 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,320 create a really big stretch on the glutes in this deep squat, 113 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,840 you absolutely can see a lot of growth. 114 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,040 And This is why there is a lot of people who swear by squats 115 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,720 for glutes and there's a lot of people who squat all the time 116 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,640 and have huge quads and no glutes at all. 117 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,440 The reality is, is that everybody's limb lengths are 118 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,480 different. And so your posture and the 119 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,600 length of your tibia and your femurs is going to really 120 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,480 dictate how much glute you get in a squat. 121 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,200 But the point with this is we need to choose a movement in 122 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,200 general that creates hip flexion. 123 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,520 So the hip bending as much as we can to create that big stretch 124 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,960 on the glutes at the bottom of a movement. 125 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,640 And we want to emphasize that stretch while under load because 126 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,760 that's what research shows to be the most hypertrophic position 127 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,920 in any range of motion. If you can't do a squat and get 128 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,320 into a glute dominant position because of limb length postures, 129 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,080 the thing that I mentioned, you could do something like as seen 130 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,280 here, Coach Holly is doing a split squat variation. 131 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,560 So she has her rear foot elevated, but she's modeling 132 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,640 more of like an RDL position. She's sitting back into it and 133 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,360 let instead of letting her knee roll forward a ton, when her 134 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,600 knee rolls forward a ton, we're going to get more stretch 135 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,600 emphasis on the quads because there's going to be more knee 136 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,440 flexion. When there's knee flexion, all 137 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,120 that stretch and tension goes to the quads. 138 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,440 It's going to be great for quad hypertrophy, but for glute 139 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,480 hypertrophy, we want to have less forward knee movement and 140 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,960 more hip backward movement. So she's sitting back into it 141 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,320 towards the box that she has her other foot on, and that is 142 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,680 creating a very large stretch on her glutes and that's going to 143 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,640 cause a lot of tension in the stretch position for the glute 144 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,360 muscle, leading to more hypertrophy. 145 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:51,960 Then we have another example of the RDL. 146 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,520 You can do a stiff leg RDL and it's going to be a lot more 147 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,960 glutes. Or you can sit back and as you 148 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,040 can see here behind the plates, my knees are bending quite a 149 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,880 bit, letting my hips travel back. 150 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,520 You can even put a band around your waist that pulls you back 151 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,720 if you need to, so that you get both stretched and shortened by 152 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,520 driving your hips forward against the band, creating a 153 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,520 hard contraction at the top. But regardless, what we see here 154 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:15,960 is I'm sitting back into it and I'm going to get a big stretch 155 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,160 on my hamstrings, of course, but also clearly on my glutes 156 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,880 because I'm trying to reach my hips far back to stretch the 157 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,600 glutes under load. So those are all great examples 158 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,440 of hip flexion creating a lengthened and stretched 159 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,400 position on the glutes in the range of motion of those 160 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,880 exercises. And the last movement is hip 161 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,080 abduction, right? This is again a shortened 162 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:37,680 position. We're shortening the muscle. 163 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,280 We're going to target a little bit more of a different head on 164 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,200 the glutes compared to something like a hip thrust in that 165 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,080 shortened and hip extended position. 166 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,880 And with this we're abducting which is moving away from the 167 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,640 midline. So if our midlines here and 168 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,160 we're abducting moving away, taking away, we are moving 169 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,840 outward, right? Good girl, bad girl machine is 170 00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:59,840 what we mostly call this. And this is where you just 171 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,520 pushing your legs in and out and that resistance is driving your 172 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,800 legs in and you're pushing that resistance out, creating hip 173 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,880 abduction and firing the glutes in that process. 174 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,560 This is primarily going to cause a shortened range. 175 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:17,360 You could do this standing as well if you have a ankle strap 176 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,960 that you can attach to a cable machine, which would allow you 177 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:21,960 to have a stretch position. And I highly recommend that 178 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,720 because now I can stand, I can do a single leg hip abduction 179 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,120 and let the cable pull my leg laterally and actually cross my 180 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,159 mid line causing it to stretch. With a hip abduction machine 181 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:37,440 where you're bilateral with two legs, I can only go till my legs 182 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,000 are put back together and that does not cause a stretch 183 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,840 position by crossing that midline again while under load. 184 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,480 Now that we understand the movement patterns and exercises 185 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,640 associated with those movement patterns, and again, I say 186 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,760 movement patterns, not exercise selection because you have to 187 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,320 know the movement and then find the best exercise for you. 188 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,720 I have another video talking about how to find the best 189 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,760 exercises for you and it goes over numerous metrics and things 190 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,440 that you can assess to make sure that you're choosing exercises 191 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,800 that agree with your body, your mind, muscle connection, how you 192 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,880 can progress them properly. You need to take what I'm saying 193 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,560 here with the movements, flexion, extension, abduction, 194 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,880 and then watch a video like that to figure out what works best 195 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:20,480 individually for you based on those movement patterns. 196 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,640 Step 2 we're getting into is increasing frequency. 197 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:29,120 Frequency is how often you train and exercise or target a muscle. 198 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,680 In the case of body composition, bodybuilding, hypertrophy, we're 199 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:34,920 going to be talking about muscles, not exercises. 200 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,680 If you're a power lifter, you need to have a high frequency of 201 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,120 barbell bench press, not because you're targeting the chest, but 202 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,880 because you need to be at the skill of bench pressing for your 203 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,240 competition. When we talk about bodybuilding, 204 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,360 we need to have a higher frequency of training the chest 205 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,280 with barbell exercises, but also chest flies, machines, things 206 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,040 like that. And so in the case of building 207 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,560 your glutes, that's how we're going to look at it. 208 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,760 We want to increase the frequency at which we train our 209 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,240 glutes. What research has shown to be 210 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,480 optimal is going to be anywhere between two to three times a 211 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,080 week. There has been some research 212 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,840 that shows even four times a week can be optimal or can be 213 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,840 ideal. However, for looking at a 214 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,480 program design method in in just looking at some practical terms, 215 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,560 not inside of a study, but actually working with real 216 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:20,760 people. Two to three times almost always 217 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,960 works better based on how often people can get to the gym, what 218 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,400 kind of training sessions they're doing between full body, 219 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,560 upper, lower, things like that, and also their energy in the 220 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:33,000 gym, how much fatigue is generated throughout a session, 221 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,680 so on and so forth. So looking at targeting the 222 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:38,720 glutes with optimal frequency, we're going to train them two to 223 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:40,480 three times per week depending on the split. 224 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,840 We're going to target the glutes first in every training session 225 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:45,640 when we do that. And the reason for that is 226 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,880 because we don't want to have other fatigue metrics causing 227 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,840 the exercises we do for our glutes to be underperformed or 228 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:55,800 have a lower volume because we're already fatigued. 229 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:01,320 Example of this would be simple. We could do a hamstring curl and 230 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,320 a RDL targeting the hamstrings and then we go to do our hip 231 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,440 thrusts and our hamstrings are firing and it's taking a lot of 232 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:10,440 attention away from the glutes. Our mind muscle connection is 233 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,600 going to be more poor because we can't target the glutes. 234 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,000 When our hamstrings are so pumped and fired up, it's hard 235 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,280 for us to lose that connection to target the glutes. 236 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,480 Whereas if you did the hip dust first, you're going to easily be 237 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:23,760 able to isolate the glutes because it's the first exercise 238 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,600 and muscle group you target. And then when you go to the RDL, 239 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,000 you might actually get the benefit of targeting the glutes 240 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,240 a little bit during that RDL. And there's nothing wrong with 241 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,680 that if your goal is to build the glutes. 242 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,160 Now on the other side, if you do a full body program and you 243 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,360 train your back and your chest and shoulders and all this other 244 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:41,920 stuff, you might go to do the glute training and you just 245 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,640 can't lift this heavy, which also might happen in the prior 246 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:46,240 example. But in this example, you're just 247 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,160 metabolically and neurologically fatigued. 248 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:50,240 You're just tired. You've been training, you've 249 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,880 already done 5 or 6 sets of other exercises, and then you go 250 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,520 to do the hip thrusts and your load drops because you are 251 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,400 fatigued in general. So rather than being fatigued 252 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,720 going into it, be fresh going into it because it's the most 253 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,400 important exercise because your main goal is to build your 254 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:04,840 glutes. The next thing to focus on here 255 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,680 is making sure you perform two to three exercises in any given 256 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:10,840 session. I would probably start on the 257 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:12,560 lower end of it. Start with two. 258 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,200 You don't need to do 3. It's better to do three to four 259 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,040 sets of two specific exercises per session than it is to do one 260 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,040 to two sets of three exercises. More variation on exercises is 261 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,200 not better unless you've already maxed out your volume landmarks, 262 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,280 which we'll get into next. But the big key here is choosing 263 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,720 2 to three good exercises for you in each of those sessions. 264 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,760 That is going to happen two to three times a week, and you're 265 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:36,880 going to spread those movement patterns we talked about out 266 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,840 throughout those sessions. So session one we might have a 267 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,920 hip abduction and a hip flexion movement. 268 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,080 Then session two we might have another hip flexion and a hip 269 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,400 extension. And then session three, we might 270 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,200 just have a hip flexion or we might have a hip flexion and a 271 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,880 hip extension movement. And the reason I say hip flexion 272 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,920 each of time is because the length and position of the 273 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,040 muscle, as I said before, is the most beneficial for hypertrophy. 274 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,720 So if we're targeting the muscle three times a week, we want to 275 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,360 make sure each of those sessions has at least one exercise that 276 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,640 causes a stretch on the glutes. And then we'll fill in the other 277 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,200 one to two exercises with a hip abduction or a hip extension 278 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,040 movement. This allows us to spread the 279 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:16,880 movement patterns out. We're doing two to three 280 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,800 exercises in each of those sessions, which is happening two 281 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,160 to three times per week. And we're really just trying to 282 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,920 focus and emphasize the glutes first in every single one of 283 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,760 those sessions to make sure that we're fresh and we can increase 284 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:34,160 the load on those given days. And the third step is going to 285 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,160 be progressing volume. And so there is a popular term 286 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,160 called the volume landmarks, which has been made popular with 287 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,480 Mike Izzertel, another person I've had on the podcast to 288 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,000 discuss this. And essentially we have this, 289 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,120 this really it's like a bell curve, but we have 10 on the 290 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,080 lower side, 20 on the higher side, meaning 10 sets per muscle 291 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,160 group per week and 20 sets per muscle group per week being the 292 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:00,200 range of sets per week we want to use to target the glutes for 293 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,720 optimal growth. I say it's a bell curve because 294 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,760 a lot of times we'll start as a beginner in a place where we 295 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,200 have closer to the 10, then we move to an intermediate. 296 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,960 We might get closer to the 20, but as we get stronger and we 297 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,960 get more skilled at lifting and targeting the muscle and the 298 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,560 muscle and fatiguing it, meaning training to maximum failure, we 299 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,040 might actually have to drop those sets again because we're 300 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,760 stimulating more, stimulating the muscle more than we were 301 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,000 able to when we were an intermediate or beginner. 302 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,000 But for the most part, just know that 10s on the low end, 20s on 303 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,600 the high end, you're going to fall somewhere in there and you 304 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,360 might have to get all the way to 20 and then come back down a 305 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,800 little bit if you notice a lot of damaging training or just low 306 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,880 recovery from that higher amount of sets per week. 307 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:45,600 And so when we're looking at this, we want to make sure we're 308 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,320 progressing it. So you're going to start at the 309 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,640 low end, 10 sets per week for glutes. 310 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,000 So again, if you're training the muscle group two to three times 311 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,840 a week, just take the exercises you're doing in those two to 312 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,200 three sessions and make sure you're doing around 10 sets 313 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,240 total for the week. If you're an intermediate, go 314 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,240 closer to 15. If you're advanced, you can go 315 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,880 all the way up to 20 per week, then you're going to increase by 316 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,640 one to three sets, especially if you're on the lower end. 317 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,040 So if you're in that 10 to 15 range, you can absolutely 318 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:14,520 increase by one to three sets per week. 319 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,880 And you're going to do this every mesocycle and it's going 320 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,480 to be based on recovery and growth. 321 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,080 And so by mesocycle, I mean block of training. 322 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:23,400 So if you have a block of training, let's say four to six 323 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,920 weeks, which is pretty ideal and in common for a hypertrophy 324 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,760 program, we're going to have a set number of sets and a set 325 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,840 amount of volume per week for the glutes for that entire four 326 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,120 to six week program. So that we can actually see if 327 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,880 it works, if it's enough, if it's not increased by 1:00 to 328 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,720 3:00 throughout the week, spread evenly across those sessions and 329 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:44,960 reassess at the end of that block. 330 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:46,640 How was your recovery and how was your growth? 331 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,480 And then last, you're going to simultaneously increase your 332 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,400 load as often as you were able to. 333 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,280 So in those sessions, if you can add 5 lbs, if you can add a 334 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,120 couple reps, whatever it may be, you're going to do that because 335 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,720 volume is also tonnage sets times reps times load. 336 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,720 So you don't only have to increase reps or only increase 337 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,200 sets per week to grow. You could also increase load. 338 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,640 Really what we should be doing here is increasing whichever one 339 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:16,320 we can because all of them are going to work in our advantage 340 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,440 to build more muscle. The sets per week is probably 341 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,560 the most difficult because it takes more total work and it 342 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,480 causes more fatigue and it might make you spend more time in the 343 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,920 gym, but it might also stimulate the most growth of all those 344 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,840 options, which is why we want to aim for that at the end of every 345 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,280 block. And then in between those 346 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,080 blocks, day-to-day session to session, we're going to be 347 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,200 trying to increase the load or adding an extra Rep or two here 348 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,160 and there when we are able to. And there you have it. 349 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,400 That is 3 specific steps to really take this glute growth 350 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,200 goal of yours and make it as simple as possible. 351 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,240 You want to make sure that you are using the right exercises. 352 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,960 You want to train them with a high frequency, so two to three 353 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:57,600 times a week. And you want to make sure that 354 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:01,040 you are tracking your volume on a weekly basis and progressing 355 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:05,440 that volume block to block. If you do this, I promise you, 356 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:07,640 you are definitely going to grow your glutes. 357 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,359 They're going to get stronger and you are going to see 358 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,920 noticeable size difference. So make sure you're either 359 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,599 taking progress pictures or you are measuring with a measurement 360 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:18,440 tool so that you can see the gains you are making when doing 361 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:18,800 this.