Hi everyone, I am trying to gain muscle mass particularly in my legs and butt area so am doing sets of squats, lunges, and other exercises for these areas. The trouble is I don't know if I am working on my glutes effectively as I even after performing the exercises to exhaustion I will feel muscle fatique in my legs the next day but not in the glutes. Are there any tips on how to properly isolate this area as when doing squats, lunges, etc I can only really feel the burn in my quads. Any advice is much appreciated.
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Question on how to properly work the glutes.
- Thread starter lyncar
- Start date
deadlifts, rack pulls and hip abductor machine will help you feel the glutes the next day.
also make sure you're contracting the glutes on these. you pretty much can't avoid it on abductor, but you can definitely fail to incorporate the glutes on deads, squat and rack pulls, leaving only the lower back and hamstrings doing the work.
you really have to THINK about using the whole posterior chain on these moves. clench the butt, pull the hips forward...at the top fo the move.
also make sure you're contracting the glutes on these. you pretty much can't avoid it on abductor, but you can definitely fail to incorporate the glutes on deads, squat and rack pulls, leaving only the lower back and hamstrings doing the work.
you really have to THINK about using the whole posterior chain on these moves. clench the butt, pull the hips forward...at the top fo the move.
For squats, go down to below parallel and think about driving up with your hips. As you get to the top, clench the gluts together. Focus on clenching them together as you reach the top of deadlifts, as well.
Lunges don't do much for glut max, though they activate glut medius and glut minimus a fair amount. I would say that Bulgarian Split Squats are a better all-round glut exercise, however. Lunges focus on the quads, whereas split squats use a different distribution of the weight, causing more hip movement, hip drive-through, and reliance on hip stability.
I also recommend bridges and/or hip thrusts to focus specifically on the gluts. Again, clench the gluts together, like you're using them to hold onto a check for a million dollars.
Lunges don't do much for glut max, though they activate glut medius and glut minimus a fair amount. I would say that Bulgarian Split Squats are a better all-round glut exercise, however. Lunges focus on the quads, whereas split squats use a different distribution of the weight, causing more hip movement, hip drive-through, and reliance on hip stability.
I also recommend bridges and/or hip thrusts to focus specifically on the gluts. Again, clench the gluts together, like you're using them to hold onto a check for a million dollars.
Often times what I see with general populations (including myself) and even high level athletes is that some individuals can not actively recruit the muscle fibers of a specific muscle group. First check to see if you are firing those glute fibers isometricly. If you can not feel or palpate your glute muscles contracting in an isometric fashion than chances are that during a compound movement such as squats and lunges you will not fire them efficently enough to produce good results and your other prime movers such as hamstrings and quads will pick up the slack. Test yourself by lying on your back with your knees bent to 90 degrees. Perform a bridge. If you feel a cramp or more muscle output in the hamstrings then you know you are not getting enough output from your glutes. If that is the case start small with simple glute squeezes to educate those muscles on firing.
Good luck with training
Good luck with training