I reckon a lot of guys saw this article and scrolled past it. But if you’re here, you’re about to learn why your butt is a bootyful asset.
Why Your Posterior is Important
-
Reduced Back Pain: Strong glutes help support your lower back by evenly distributing load throughout it. This means your back won’t break when you’re carrying something or even when you’re sitting down.
-
Improved Posture: The cheeks are positioned central to the spinal column and at the base of the pelvis. Maintaining their strenght will allow for proper alignment of the pelvis, spine and shoulders, thereby improving your posture. Good posture also improves your balance.
-
Reduced Knee Pain: Your ankles, knees and hips are connected in one chain, and at the top of it all is your butt. So an injury in one part of the chain, can cause issues in other parts as well. For example, twisting your ankle can cause issues upward at the knee or hip as well. A weak and unstable bum can cause your thigh bone to rotate inward too much, and since everything is chain-connected, your knee caps can move out of its normal path.
-
Improved Athletic Performance: Your butt helps with something called “forward propulsion”. This is anything that involves moving forward such as walking, running and jumping. Additionally, whenever you squat, bench, deadlift, row or even just doing curls, you are using your glutes to stabilize (whether you realize it or not). Stronger glutes, means stronger all around.
As always, I simplified these points a lot, so if you want you want to read more, you can by checking out this article by bestcare.org.
Exercises To Build Your Behind
These exercises always left my bum burning and helped me build up my gluteal strength.
1. Lunges
This exercise will finish you and leave your butt sore the next day. This an excellent bodyweight exercise for building and shaping the entire upper leg and glutes. If your strong enough, you can increase the muscle growth stimulation by carrying dumbbells or kettle bells in each hand.
Pro Tip: Make sure your knees never touch the ground to keep constant tension on the muscles.
2. Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
This exercise is a leg day staple for me. Not only will it build your glutes, but it will also give your hamstrings density and definition. RDLs can be done with bodyweight or ,for more stimulation, use a bar, dumbbells or kettle bells in each hand.
Pro Tip: Play around with the wideness of your foot stance to find the most comfortable position for you. I usually stand with feet at shoulder-width apart, but never beyond that.
3. Hip Abduction Machine
If you’re gym has this machine, it’s perfect to isolate the outer hips and glutes. There’s no need to worry about form as the machine handles that for you and you’ll feel the butt burn as you start.
Pro Tip: It’s easy easy to confuse this with the Hip Adduction Machine. “Abduction” targets the glutes, “Adduction” targets the inner quads.
4. Glute Bridges
An easy bodyweight exercise you can do at home. It also targets some of the quad muscles. Even though it’s convenient, it will effectively hit your glutes and leave you sore, especially if you’re new to it.
Pro Tip: Make sure your arms remain flat against the ground even as you push your hips upward, and at the top of the thrust, make sure to squeeze the glutes.
5. Hip Thrusts
Glute Bridges taken to the next level. This is a strength-based version of the glute bridge and is tops for building the glutes. You’ll need a bench, a barbell and ideally a thick towel or bar pad to cushion your hips against the weight of the bar.
Pro Tip: To find the best position, do a practice thrust without any weights - you’re legs should form a 90 degree angle at the top of the thrust. You will notice that your shoulders and upper back roll off of the bench at the bottom of the thrust - this is normal, just make sure your bench has enough padding to minimize discomfort.
Note: Your glutes will also be stimulated through compound leg exercises like squats and leg press.
So there you have it, stop sitting on it and go build it bru!
