How can my bum look bigger in this?

This week I was asked…

“Does using heavier weight to train your glutes make them bigger?”

Here is my response…

It can do yes.

For years we thought that in order for muscles to grow we needed to use a rep range of 6–12 and for the weight to be 60–75% of what you could lift for one rep.

Now we know that almost every rep range can make a muscle bigger.

• Heavy weights of 80% plus of your one rep max weight for 3–5 reps
• Moderate weights of 60–70% of your one rep max for 6–12 reps

Or even weights below 50% for high reps (this increases the size of slow twitch muscle fibres which are better for endurance rather than fast twitch fibres which are associated with strength and power).

Stuff to know

Your body needs a new stimulus once in a while to continue to grow. There are lots of different ways to train your glutes, hip thrusts, split squats, barbell squats (depth is important here – if you don’t go to at least parallel you won’t get much glute recruitment) clams, step ups, back extensions, RDLs, you name it.

Bret Contreras is a good person to follow for effective exercises and is an authority on glute training in general.

Progression is key. Try to stick to a program for 4–6 weeks and look to progress each week. That could be increasing the weight for the same rep range, doing more reps on the same weight, doing an extra set or even adding an extra session.

Recovery. This starts with your training. Try to finish most sets with a couple reps left in the tank. Your last couple reps on the last set should feel like a grind. You hear a lot about recovery and often people forget it’s important, try to get your feet up after training and aim for 8 hours sleep per night.

Nutrition. Make sure you are getting enough calories, there are plenty of ways to calculate your calorie intake online but bear in mind that you are an individual and you may require more or less calories than predicted.

Assuming you are getting enough calories, next we need to make sure you get enough protein. 1.5 grams of protein per day to 2 grams per KG of your bodyweight is best. So for example if you weigh 70 kg aiming for up to 140g protein per day is going to put you in a good spot to grow.

Good luck and if we can help please get in touch by completing the quick online form further down this page.

Spence.