Bring Up The Glutes

It's been a busy few weeks so apologies for not posting more, but that's how it goes. The opportunity came up to be a Master Instructor for Equinox, so had to take (and ace) an exam on short notice.

But back to business Men's Health UK ran another article I wrote for them in the strength test series. This one concerns the legs, and in particular the posterior chain. I find most guys really lacking in this department so without further ado:

Your glutes and hamstrings form part of the posterior chain, which is the foundation of any great athlete. Says personal trainer Chris Bathke, “The gluteus maximus and hamstrings function together to extend the hips and flex the knee, so isolation movements such as the leg curl are inferior when it comes to building some real strength. This test will introduce you to one of the toughest lower-body movements out there.”

The glute ham raise

Using the lat pulldown station, kneel on the seat pad facing away from the machine with your feet anchored under the pad normally used to place your knees under. Place a bench in front of you at about arm's length. You can also do a manual version by kneeling on the floor and having a partner hold your ankles down.

Keeping your stomach and glutes tight throughout, lower yourself slowly until parallel to the floor, or until you can't hold yourself up anymore. Catch yourself at the bottom with your hands on the bench. Then raise yourself back up to the starting position by contracting your hamstrings and glutes and drawing your body back up to vertical. “You can use a slight push off with your hands at the bottom when starting, but eventually you'll want to use only your legs,” says Bathke. Do not allow your hips to shoot back at the beginning and try to keep a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. If you bend at the hips, you're doing it wrong.

Build it up

The test is to do 8 perfect reps. “This means that your hips should be level with your body the entire time, that you can lower yourself all the way down with no hands, and that you are using your arms only for the slightest push off at the bottom,” explains Bathke. If you can't do 8 – and chances are you won't at first – then start with 3 sets of 5 once a week. Each week add a rep until you can do 3 sets of 8 and try to use less upper-body assistance each time.

Raise the bar

“Soon, you'll likely notice your performance increase in every lower-body exercise, so start adding in deadlifts to really bring up the posterior,” says Bathke. “Once a week begin your session with bar-bell deadlifts.” Start with 3 sets of 8 with a weight you can do for 10 reps maximum, and focus on proper technique. After four weeks do 3 sets of 5 with an 8-rep maximum. “Seek to increase the weight in 2kg increments each week for the next 4 weeks, then retest what you can do for 8 reps.”

Stay tuned for the back test...

Get Some Meat

Eric Cressey has a great article on T-Nation today concerning working the most important movement patterns for most people - namely those that work your back, hamstrings, and glutes.

We all know most guys tend to do some curls, bench, and hit the showers and completely neglect movements that will REALLY give them some results, both strength-wise and with the ladies. And strangely all the women I've trained never complain about having a nicer butt.

It seems everyone gets big benefits by working the other mirror muscles. The posterior chain muscles are also responsible for keeping your back healthy and posture good despite most of us spending alot of time at desks and on a computer. Funny how that works.

to quote:

Eric Cressey sees it all the time.

"A lot of lifters show up at my gym for the first time with virtually no meat on their hamstrings, glutes, and upper back," he told me on the phone last week. "And those muscles have the biggest potential for overall strength and growth! What's more, these lifters are as weak as they look."

I take a quick mental image of what my hamstrings and back look like. "Yeah, my hamstrings are my major weak point," I admit.

"I just kind of expect it when someone walks into my facility," continued Eric. "I see around 70 athletes per day, many of them at the elite level. And because of their weaknesses, even the ones who think they're strong aren't gaining nearly as much muscle as they could.

"And if you hammer the muscles of the upper, middle and lower back, as well as the glutes and hamstrings, you'll not only see muscle growth there, you'll see it virtually everywhere in your body," Cressey says. "But first, these muscles need to be primed for growth by activating high-threshold motor units as often as possible and with the right volume."

Recruiting high-threshold motor units — the muscle fibers that have huge potential for building strength and size — is of course a matter of lifting heavy weights (at or above 80 percent of your 1RM).

So if you aren't doing so right now start doing more chinups, rows, KB swings, deadlifts, and single leg exercises. You will feel and see the results. It's that simple.