Fitness
GLUTEUS MEDIUS
GLUTEUS MINIMUS
GLUTEUS MAXIMUS
Looking To Tone Up Your Booty? We've Got Your Back! BY CHRIS PREGONY | ILLUSTRATIONS BY GRACE DOWNEY
Just because you weren’t born with a prominent pair of glutes doesn’t mean you can’t have them! The glutes are a muscle just like any other, so this means that it can be grown through resistance training. Although the glutes are one of the largest muscles in the body, it is an area that can accumulate fat. Trimming the fat off can only come from a modification of diet. There is no “perfect diet,” so find the one that works for you that you can stick to. We are going to focus on growing the muscles that make up the butt to make it firmer. Using concepts in biomechanics you can focus directly on the muscles you want to work. What muscles make up the butt? There are a few, but we will focus on the main ones. First and foremost is the gluteus maximus. This
24
WELLNESS360 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
functions as a hip extender. Hip extension is basically when the thigh moves behind the body. The other two big ones are the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. These function to stabilize the leg as well as move the leg away from the body. Understanding these muscles will give us a better idea of what movements will be most beneficial to grow the glutes. Another concept that is important to understand is that muscle tissue responds when stress is placed on it. We place stress on our muscles every day by just walking or standing. That stress alone isn’t enough for the tissues to grow. Think of exercise as medicine. If you take too little, you won’t
have the desired effect. If you take too much, then you could “overdose.” Muscles are the same. Too little and you won’t see a change, too much and you could cause injury. So, you must choose the appropriate “dose” when you decide to do resistance training. So how do you know you are doing enough? Being sore isn’t necessarily a good marker. I suggest starting with a weight you can comfortably perform 15 repetitions with and see how your body responds. As you get more accustomed to the movements, you want your last rep to be so difficult you almost can’t complete it. For purposes of simplicity, keep your rep range between eight and 15 and sets between two to five. You can get a lot done working within that range.
