The Importance of Glute Training:
Written by: Tiffani Cox-Kuchyt, Personal Trainer at EMPOWER Personalized Fitness Raleigh and Durham.
Booty, badonkadonk, junk in the trunk, caboose, buns, back with a crack, lazy lump, rump shaker are all adjectives that people use to describe the biggest and strongest muscle in the human body. Besides for looking good in a pair of blue jeans, why are strong glutes so important? How long has it been since you’ve trained this group till that deep burn in the muscle belly lets you know you’ve done something right?
Lets start with the basics…
Your glute region is actually made up of three different muscles: glute maximus, glute medius and glute minimus. All three muscles work in harmony to abduct your thighs; anterior fibers medially rotate while posterior fibers laterally rotate at the hip. Inferior fibers also stabilize the extended knee by tightening the lilotibial tract. Strong glutes that are able to stabilize and rotate will improve your quality of life and your athletic performance.
We live in a chair sitting culture that has weakened this powerhouse. Affecting our ability to maintain proper leg alignment, stabilize our pelvis and spine creating weakness in our kinetic chain causing injury. Delayed activation will affect performance and leg strength. For athletes this could mean slower response times and affect the amount of power that can be generated for explosive movement.
Over the years I have had to address the glute region in different ways and for a variety of reasons. As a competitor clients have asked about developing the ascetically pleasing round firm look. However, I’ve also addressed the need for athletes to improve their glute activation, and the elderly’s need to function independently for as long as possible. Below are a few guidelines I have used to assist clients in reaching their goals over the years and my favorite glute workout to help you reach yours.
- Never neglect your hips and back when training your glute muscles.
- Athletes need to build a glute specific training day into the their program; again do not neglect the hips and lower back.
- Vary your training intensity. Performing exercises with heavier weight at 1-8 reps per set and then lighter weight workouts at 10-15 reps. This is another way of making sure you are developing all three muscles concurrently.
- Do not forget about the glute minimums and medius. Pick exercises from all three planes of motion as well as rotationally. This is important for developing your ascetic’s look and strength.
- Explosive plyometric and sprints are fantastic glute builders.
All right readers, as promised my favorite glute workout. If you know me at all you know this is my favorite muscle group to train. Please give it a shot and don’t hesitate to contact me at Empower Personalized Fitness in Durham or Raleigh for further training, advice and instruction.
Click HERE to download The Importance of Glute Training workout with Tiffani!
Holiday Challenge: Lets perform this workout 1x a week (my glute day is Tuesday….what’s yours?) for the next six weeks and see what new adjectives we can use to describe our backsides! I hope to see you in the EMPOWER Raleigh or Durham studio soon!
Good Luck and Happy Squatting,
Tiffani
Questions? Comments? Leave them below!
