what are your favorite butt exercises?
- Thread starter double D
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Squats, Bulgarian squats.
Deadlifts, no question...also, be aware that if you have a gluteal dysfunction (which the vast majority of the population has, due to poor posture, compensation patterns, etc), meaning that you have poor neural activation of the glutes, it doesn't matter what exercises you use: you won't be able to utilize the glutes properly and you won't get the most benefit of the movement/exercise. Activation exercises such as supine glute bridges, hip corrections, single leg RDL's, etc can help this, as will appropriate mental focus.
It's part of the process, absolutely...but basically, it's the "age-old" question: did faulty posture cause muscle imbalances/dysfunction, or did the muscle imbalances/dysfunction cause the faulty posture?
By actively working on your posture, you'll begin to improve your muscle awareness and activation, but this has to be done consistently, both in the gym and outside the gym. This is the bodybuilder "focus on the muscle" advice, but it's sound advice. Improving muscle function doesn't happen over night, but I've seen vast improvements in posture and activation in as little as 1-2 weeks with clients that have actively paid attention to what (and how) they do things
Another good way is to watch the hips (I find this to be especially true for deadlifts, but it happans sometimes in squats as well): weakness/dysfunction (or even synergist firing delay) will show itself by causing your hips to "jump" up before the upper body moves...the reason that this *may* happen is to place the hamstrings in a better length-tension position (as well as position of greater leverage) to cause hip extension, rather than the glutes. This may also be cause by overactive quads, which will cause knee extension before concurrent hip extension from the glutes...this will also allow the back extensors to produce extension at the lumbar spine, rather than hip extension. All of that adds up to less contribution from the glutes.
Moral of the story: pay attention to your form...your body's trying to tell you something!
Thanks bipennate and Goergen1! I worry about my posutre actually LOL. When I stand (right or wrong to do) I always try to hold in my stomach in and hold my shoulders back, it forces me to stand straighter.
I work with a woman in her 50s and she has horrible, hunched-over, posture. Everytime I see her I just want to pull her shoulders back LOL...I don't want to look like that.
I work with a woman in her 50s and she has horrible, hunched-over, posture. Everytime I see her I just want to pull her shoulders back LOL...I don't want to look like that.
You may have actually been talking about this anyway so I might be misunderstanding you, but if you're "sucking in" your stomach (as in trying to get into a pair of jeans that fit 10 years ago
), try bracing your abs instead (basically flexing the abdomen instead) if you're not: much better for your back and posture Also, hold the shoulders back and down, which tends to be pretty difficult for most people...normally, people pull their shoulders back by shrugging them upwards, because that's what they're used to doing, but you actually want to do the opposite by pulling them downwards, as if you were trying to put your hands in your back pockets. If you're not doing those things (and maybe you are and I just can't read), that will make huge improvements!Welcome to my world!