Men and women are looking for strong, round glutes. No one wants to be called Gluteus Laximus.
The most popular butt-builders include barbell squats and glute bridges. Not terrible moves—however…
Both exercises have limited range of motion for the powerful butt muscles…
Especially the glute bridge. And the strength curve is wrong on that exercise. As you drive your glutes up from the floor, the rep gets harder, not easier as it should…
Ideally you want early phase loading and late-phase unloading—hardest at the stretch, easiest at contraction where the muscle is weakest.
Full range of motion and proper strength curve gives optimal muscle-fiber activation…
Another negative: Adding weight is a hassle and uncomfortable too—unless you have mattress on your groin…
As for the squat, it has a limited range of motion as well, but not as bad as the bridge. At least the strength curve is correct—harder at the bottom stretch, easier as you get to the top.
Even so, you’re sharing the load with the quads and the spinal erectors, which are a limiting factor.
Also, the line of force is such that to sufficiently load the glutes, you compress your spine like an accordion…
I have a jacked up vertebrae from heavy squats long ago, and I’m not happy about it. I now have to be careful not to throw out my back while brushing my teeth.
So what is the “ideal” butt-blasting alternative to squats and bridges?
The 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole IDs the hip-flexion machine as the ideal glute move.
You do get complete range of motion, for sure. In the photo, her knee would come up higher than pictured, and then she would drive the pad back behind her as she straightens her leg.
So with this move, there’s no sharing the load with any other muscles—at least not to any great degree; however, most of these machines have continuous resistance from start to finish…
That means the strength curve is not as it should be. The resistance needs to tail off as the leg moves back. Even so, it is an excellent exercise, better and safer than the other two…
My go-to glute-grower in my limited home gym is the step-back lunge. Here’s a shot of me doing it (pay no attention to the flesh-colored yamika on the back of my head).
The range of motion and strength curve are good, but you have to make an effort to simulate the hip-flexion machine action by pulling yourself up with your glute muscle on each rep. Imagine driving your foot back as you come up…
Otherwise you will shift too much emphasis to your quads. Also, since the shot was taken, I now use two risers. That height increase provides more range of motion…
As you can see, neither of these exercises is perfect. If I trained in a commercial gym, I’d do both, usually at different workouts…
In my limited home gym I often add one-leg glute bridges. And I do all of my sets for all exercises for one side, then all sets for the other…
That allows me to keep the rests short for progressive-muscle-fiber activation—and more m-ass creation…
For my complete workouts, ideal move for each muscle, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently, see Old Man, Young Muscle.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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