Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Great
Glutes
Revealed
www.getglutes.com
+ Preface:
By kellie davis
Our goal in this eBook is to help
you differentiate fact from fiction
when it comes to building great
glutes. As you train and improve
through fitness, its often hard to
step back and ask, Why isnt this
working?
You often blame yourself for not
trying hard enough, or for having
plain ol bad genetics. Sadly, as
women weve been conditioned to
think this, but Bret and I are here
to challenge the way you view
trainingespecially training your
glutes.
Regardless if you are young or old,
an avid athlete or weekend warrior,
or have great or not-so-great glutes
naturally.
2
Activation is
key to great
glutes.
+
glutes starts with whats
already out there. With
years of exhaustive research
behind him, Bret was able
to come up with the 52
greatest myths known to
glutes.
Its silly to think that building your The first step to finding the best
booty could be so complicated.
exercises and methods for strong
3
Disclaimer
Please take note that the information in
this eBook, unless noted specifically,
Build your
best body at
any age.
Training Myths
The glutes get shaped sufficiently through cardio
Cardio does not activate the glutes sufficiently for meaningful muscle growth. The very
genetically luck girl might be able to get away with just doing cardio for amazing glute
development, but 99% of us average folks need to do shaping exercises.
A 2007 study at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital found the following results in terms of
glute muscle activation from typical cardio activities:
Cardio Method
Gluteus Maximus Activation
Treadmill (jogging)
48.9%
Elliptical
32.6%
Treadmill (walking)
24.3%
StairMaster
24.0%
Recumbent Bike
6.0%
These levels of activity are not sufficient for glute hypertrophy.
Traditional bodyweight
circuits can shape the glutes
sufficiently
Many women like to race-walk or just walk fast in order to get their buns in gear. While
levels will reach around 20-25% of MVC for this task, its just not sufficient for glute
shaping. Theres nothing wrong with walking, but dont expect to wake up one day and
possess amazing glutes from walking around all day long.
the hip.
Band.
The glutes should only be trained once per week for maximum
shaping
The gluteus maximus is an incredible muscle, which is capable of
outrageous performances if given a chance. It can and should be trained
heavily on multiple days of the week. For optimal results, I believe that
training the muscle four times per week is required.
The glutes have to work hard during movement
Research shows that the glutes are not highly active in daily tasks such as
during walking, stair stepping, or getting up from a chair. It is thought
that this phenomenon is due to an evolutionary mechanism that spared
metabolic cost by failing to engage the large gluteus maximus muscle and
instead relying on the more elastic and metabolically efficient hamstring
musculature for hip extension.
10
The adductor machine works the inner thighs, not the gluteus
maximus. Even the lower glute fibers do not get worked during this
exercise.
11
12
13
If I walk on an incline
treadmill or do the
stairstepper Ill strip fat off
my glutes
The myth of spot-reduction has
been around for ages, and despite
the fact that its been debunked, it
still prevails. Working your buns
will not cause localized fat
storages at the glutes to melt
away. Instead, fat from the entire
body will be used for energy
production.
14
Physiological Myths
The glutes are a fast-twitch muscle group
A study by Sirca and Susec-Michieli in 1980 involving 21 glutei maximi showed that although
there was considerable variability from one person to the next, the number of slow twitch
fibers always exceeded the number of fast twitch fibers. On average, the gluteus maximus
contained 68% slow twitch fibers and only 32% fast twitch fibers.
However, these results differ slightly from a study by Johnson et al. in 1973 where 36 autopsy
samples showed that on average the gluteus maximus contained 52% slow twitch fibers and
48% fast twitch fibers.
15
The gluteus maximus controls the way the head of the femur tracks
inside the acetabulum (hip socket). If the gluteus maximus is weak, the
femur will jam forward in the socket and create anterior hip pain. If the
gluteus maximus is strong, it will exert a rearward pull on the femur and
prevent insults to the anterior hip from occurring.
The glutes arent as important as the hamstrings or quads in
sprinting and jumping
Though you may feel the quads working the most when you jump and
the hamstrings working the most when you sprint assuming you run
for long enough distances the glutes are critical for explosive tasks as
they are very large muscles that can contribute considerably to
propulsion. More important, the glutes keep the quads and hamstrings
healthy by bearing a large brunt of the load during movement, which
prolongs productive training and prevents injury.
The glutes function just fine after typical injuries
Following lower body injury, the glutes will be inhibited. Different
receptors pick up signals and inform the glutes to chill out. This serves as
a protective mechanism and prevents the glutes from maximally firing
which could reinjure the afflicted area. As you rehabilitate the injury,
special care needs to be taken to rejuvenate glute activation so power and
strength levels can return to normal.
What the knee does during exercise has nothing to do with the
glutes
When the knees stay bent, the hamstrings are placed in active
insufficiency, which means that theyre shortened and cannot contract
with maximal force. Since the hamstrings cant produce sufficient force,
more work is placed upon the glutes to get the job done. This is why bent
legged hip extension exercises such as bridge patterns work so well in
hammering the glutes.
16
another.
17
18
perfection.
19
20
Nutritional Myths
I cant eat carbs or fat if I want nice glutes
This misconception is absurd. A healthy balance is always the best approach and you can
always find ways to eat a little bit of what you want in life. We dont need to torture ourselves
to look our best, and there are proper amounts of all macronutrients that will yield the best
results. These proportions can vary depending on your physiology and goals, but suffice to
say we all need certain things like essential amino and fatty acids, so protein and fat are a
must. But even carbs are useful especially during certain periods of the day such as right
upon waking and immediately following a workout.
21
22
Great
Glutes
Revealed
Kellie
Davis is a
sport
nutrition
and fitness
writer,
personal
trainer,
and a
Magna
Cum
Laude
graduate from Florida Gulf Coast University.
She is a partner in Getglutes and owner of
MotherFitness.com.
www.getglutes.com