A lot of people are working to achieve a toned booty, but it's not always easy, and there are many myths about glute training and the advice is constantly changing. It’s hard to know what will really get you the results you want. To help out, we’re debunking some common booty-building myths.
1. Squats are the most effective glute exercise
While squats are a great compound movement that incorporates your entire body, they’re not the only exercise you want to perform when trying to grow a booty. Squats mostly target your gluteus maximus, hip flexors and quadriceps.
Your glutes are made up of three different muscles: the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus. In order to build muscle and grow your glutes, you need to work all three.
When training, try to include exercises like hip thrusts and deadlifts as well as some plyometric exercises like jump lunges and donkey kicks in addition to your squats.
2. No pain, no gain
The after-burn, also known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), can be an indicator that you got a great workout. But it’s not the only indicator. A common misconception is that your workout was only productive if you're sore the next day. Keep in mind that glutes are the biggest muscle group in the body, so they can handle a lot!
As long as you feel the burn during your workout and push yourself, it’s ok to not feel the soreness. It certainly doesn’t mean your workout was unproductive.
If you have a difficult time activating your glutes, try starting your workout with a series of glute activation exercises like banded hip thrusts, banded crab walks, glute kick-backs, and banded hip abductors. You’ll see the best results from your workout when your glutes are properly engaged and ready to work.
3. Only train once a week
Like any fitness goal, consistency is key. Your glutes can handle a high volume and frequency of workouts because they are such a large muscle group. By training your glutes 2-3 times per week, you're increasing your efficiency and are more likely to see results.
Remember, it’s also important to give your body rest days. In order to maintain intensity in your workouts, your body needs time to rest, recover, rebuild, and train other muscle groups.
4. Heavy lifting is required
Studies have shown that the glutes hold a combination of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch fibers help you move quickly for shorter periods of time, and slow twitch fibers help you move more slowly for a longer period of time.
Slow twitch fibers are used for endurance, while fast twitch fibers activate with bursts of energy.
This means that when it comes to training glutes, you should focus on a combination of heavy, low-rep moves and lighter, high-rep moves. By incorporating both training styles, you can grow your glutes more efficiently.
5. You can spot-reduce fat
Not only is this not true for your glutes, but it is also a myth when it comes to any area of the body. To lose fat, you have to lose it from everywhere, and it typically comes down to genetics.
Your body burns fat from your energy stores, and before they can be burned for energy, they must be broken down to enter the bloodstream. Once there, the broken-down fat cells are used as fuel when you exercise. But they can come from anywhere in the body, and aren’t specific to the area being targeted or exercised.
While you can’t necessarily choose where your body loses fat, by targeting muscle groups, you can choose where you look more toned and defined.
There may not be one ‘best’ movement for growing your backside, but the key is consistency in whatever you do. You may be using optimal training techniques, but if you’re only doing so once every couple weeks, you’re not going to see the results you’re hoping for.