Build The Mind Muscle Connection
This is the most important tip I can give. If you aren’t feeling the muscle you want to grow being trained, it won’t grow optimally. Our muscles need to be firing properly to grow, and that depends on our central nervous system having a connection to fire that muscle. This is particularly true for the butt, because when do any of us actually spend time cueing that muscle and squeezing it? Not to mention, we sit on it all day and never need it to fire.
Try This: PRIME the muscle you want to grow. “Priming” means connecting with the targeted muscle so the mind muscle connection is at its strongest leading into the main lift. It’s about focusing really hard on the contraction of the muscle at the top of the movement. If you find you have done squats, lunges, or any leg workout and never really felt your glutes firing, then priming is perfect for you.
3 Prime Movements: do these in a circuit fashion (one after the other), 5-10 reps each, with 90 seconds rest, THEN go into your main lifts (Squat, Sumo deadlift, etc.).
- Floor Bridge
- Frog Pumps
- Bulgarian Split Squat
Notice how these exercises look a lot like what influencers tell you to do. The difference here is we are just using it as a primer. It’s not enough resistance on its own to grow your butt, but it will compliment the bigger lifts that DO grow your butt the quickest.
If you want detailed instructions on how to do these, check out Mind Pump’s video on a further look on how to make your butt grow.
Choose The Right Exercises
Which brings me to my next point. Now that we know those IG style exercises are more ideal for priming the muscle, but not growing, the next question you should be asking yourself is which exercises are the best ones for growing?
Try This:
Best Exercises - squat, sumo or regular deadlift, different lunge variations, and hip thrusters.
These should be the staple in any girl’s butt routine. If, and only if, after doing these exercises constantly and frequently, you still haven’t maxed out your butt growth, THEN should you focus on more isolating movements. Hitting the targeted muscle from different angles is key. Make sure you get a FULL range of motion on these exercises. Doing partial reps is leaving gains on the table.
Progressive Overload and Frequency
As I mentioned before, the only way to get your butt, or any muscle to grow is progressive overload. That is, doing more weight than you did last week. So if you’ve been spending your last three months using the same resistance band, you haven’t given your butt any reason to grow.
Try This: Using those exercises above at 3 sets each, with a rep range of 6-12. Make sure each week that you are able to either do more reps than the week before, or 5lbs heavier than the week before. You may have some weeks where you plateau (in which case either try again one more time next week, or take a deload week at 50% volume and give it a chance to recover), but over the course of a couple months, you should be doing better overall than when you started.
I also recommend spreading your volume. You’ll get much more out of your butt session taking those 4-5 exercises and spreading them over 2-3 workouts versus trying to do it all in one day. Think of it this way. By the time you get to that 4th or 5th exercise, do you think you’d be able to do it with as much weight than if you put it on another day when you were fresh and could start with that exercise?
Our body also sends a signal every time we workout to grow those muscles. If building your butt is a priority, it’s better to send that signal 2-3 times a week to grow instead of just once, and with less weight.
That’s it! Try those tips out and let me know how much quicker your butt gains come along!
