Building your glutes is an increasingly popular goal for gym-goers, but despite the prevalence of jutting your hips in every direction, not everyone seems to know how to do the right exercises to properly accentuate your butt. Luckily, physiotherapist Dr. Andrew Lock is here to help make incorrect glute training a thing of the past. So, here’s what you need to know:
Lock is a respected IFBB Pro League judge and Australian bench press record holder. In a recent Instagram post, he explained that to effectively train your glutes, you first need to understand how humans evolved. You see, before we worked sedentary corporate jobs and sat through lengthy meetings that should have been sleep-inducing Zoom calls and emails, we were hunter-gatherers who had to spend the majority of our waking hours on two legs, or if we had a chance to catch food. “The function of the gluteus maximus is to enable us to walk,” says Locke. “The strength of the gluteus maximus as a muscle, its position of greatest strength, is right here in the upright position.”
HOW TO CORRECT YOUR HIP THRUSTERS:
Understanding how the human body works can help you work your muscles properly and replicate external stresses through specific exercises like the hip thruster. Dr. Locke points out that the hip thrust was invented to engage your glutes while keeping them in line with the rest of your body, just like you do when walking. “With the hip thrust, you’re loading the most in a straight line,” he explains.
People often make the big mistake when attempting the hip thruster by adding too many weight plates or pushing too hard, but never reaching the top of the movement. But fortunately, that’s an easy mistake to fix, says Dr. Locke. If you can’t get the hip thrust to the top of the movement and form that all-important straight line, you’re probably working with too much weight, says the big man. “To get to the top position you actually need to be in your strongest position, but because you were too weak, the cut went too low.” Instead, you need to reduce the load so you can get to that line.
TRY SUPINE BANDED ABDUCTIONS:
If you’re looking for a joint-friendly way to complete this line, let Locke’s colleague, Dr. Dani Antonellos, demonstrate a great way to work on your form while building strength and muscle without using dumbbells. Try it for yourself: In lying band abduction, you lie on your back on a bench, but your butt is in the air higher than the edge, supported by your legs and feet. “It puts your body in the most effective position,” Locke says of targeting your glutes. “Dani has a straight line from her shoulders to her hips to her knees. It’s an evolution of training.” Dr. Locke explains that this is also one of his favorite exercises for rehabbing patients and athletes. To get the most out of this exercise, we recommend placing your chin on your chest. This activates your abdominal muscles and relieves stress on your lumbar spine. “Then, add abduction and rotation to increase the contraction of your glutes.”
