Subject: Why you NEED to train your glutes...looks, health and sports performance!
|
In my experience, glute training is generally not on most people's radar unless they specifically WANT to train for a better looking butt. Yet, I can't think of ANY single muscle group that can have a bigger overall impact on how your body looks, feels and performs (in everyday life and in sports) than the glutes! They're really the unsung hero of the body. And I'm not just saying that because I have a book on glute training that I just relaunched ;) Training the glutes for looks, sure, that's an easy one to figure out...and there is nothing wrong that as a major goal! In fact, I wish more people had that as a major goal simply because it would help them develop their glutes for HEALTHIER bodies. Here's the thing most people DON'T realize...the glutes are a CRITICAL muscle group for your body in many ways and a lot of people are living their lives in unecessary pain, discomfort and weakness because they don't know how to properly activate and work them. And "normal" leg training, while it can certainly help, does NOT fully engage the glutes, especially if the person has a hard time activating them in the first place. The thighs will take over in a heartbeat. In addition, when the glutes are weak (especially if you find yourself sitting a lot and your hip flexors are tight), it can lead to lower back pain and poor posture. Strong glutes that the body knows how to activate can reduce lower back pain and just help you MOVE better. Here's how you can see this in action...next time you're walking down the street, watch how people walk...you'll probably notice the people who propel themselves forward have better glutes than those who just shuffle along, letting their legs swing forward with each step. Just don't be creepy about watching people walk :) Then we come to sports and athletics... Next time you watch a football game, you can see just by looking at these guys who's going to be the strongest running back...the guy built like Maurice Jone-Drew who looks like a Clydesdale horse with a helmet on. And he runs like a combination of a freight train and a bowling ball, knocking people over and bouncing off everybody else. This is an example of a guy with POWERFUL glutes. And glute power is absolutely CRITICAL to just about any sport you can think of...even GOLF (if you want maximum power on your drives). Tennis? Venus Williams. And the list goes on...
Don't think for a second that training your glutes is all about looks. It isn't. Specific glute training and learning how to properly activate them is a KEY component to overall health and everyday strength and movement. It's not about doing cable extensions or the Butt Blaster machine at the gym...REAL glute training makes use of bridging, squatting, lunging and deadlifting movements that develop OVERALL strength in your whole body and teaches how to actually USE your glutes in these movements for maximum power. If you want to squat more weight, train your glutes. If you want to deadlift more weight, train your glutes. Heck, even if you want to BENCH PRESS more, train your glutes! (the glutes contribute to the leg drive out of the bottom of the movement) If you want to learn more about glute training, my book "Gluteus to the Maximus" is a GREAT choice (I'm trying to be modest here, but it's not working ;). I cover more than FIFTY exercises, and a host of programs you can use to work the glutes hard and learn how to activate them properly. You don't have to focus all your training on the glutes...these exercises and programs can be worked into just about any program and they'll pay off BIG dividends in your overall health and strength. And if you're not quite ready to a buy a full book on glute training yet, no problem. Here's a list of ten exercises for glutes that I currently have on my site...a little something to get you started with: 3. One Arm Gripping Dumbell Squats 4. Shoulder Barbell Split Squats 5. One-Legged Glute Deadlifts (GREAT exercise if you have knee issues) 9. Bent-Over One Leg Dumbell Bulgarian Split Squat 10. In-Set Superset of Dumbell Split Squats And Forward Leans This is just a SMALL sample of the kind of stuff you'll find in the Gluteus to the Maximus book. I've got these exercises and a TON more in the book. Bottom line, glute training may not be as glamorous as biceps (I don't expect anyone to drop their pants when somebody asks to see their muscles), but it's SO much more critical than most people believe. If you've got back pain, it can help fix it. If you want to get better at sports, it can do it FAST. And, of course, if you just want a better butt, you'll definitely get it :) Get your copy of Gluteus to the Maximus now! Nick P.S. The price will be going up TOMORROW (Saturday) at midnight, so if you're interested in this, definitely check this all out before then. I'll send a "last chance" reminder tomorrow, too. Plain link from today's email to copy and paste into your browser:
|
