What Are The Best Glute Exercises?
One question I asked all the time as a longtime gym owner and Austin personal trainer, is what are some of the best exercises a person can do. Guys usually want to know what the best arm or chest exercises are, and women tend to want to firm up their butts, thus the ensuing question of what are the best glute exercises?
Anyone who’s serious about improving their physique, or just certain areas, will have to understand right off the bat, that there are no absolute best exercises for the masses. For example, the best glute exercises for you may not be at all effective, or even safe for someone else. With the different genetics and imbalances we all have, it is necessary to figure out what will work best for you personally as opposed to buying in to some theory that a particular exercise is the best, bar none. The reason that doesn’t work, as stated, we all have different imbalances. If, for example, you have a tight psoas, a subsequent rotation throughout your hips, tight piriformis and TFL muscles, you aren’t going to be recruiting many fibers from your glutes no matter what exercises you perform. You will be quadricep dominant, and your efforts of a toned rear end will fall short. Meanwhile, the person next to you may have none of those imbalances, but rather a tight levator scapulae, which isn’t going to hinder their recruitment of gluteal muscle fibers. The best exercise for glutes for these 2 people are going to be totally different.
If you do suffer from tight hips, the first order of business before you begin squatting, lunging, leg pressing, etc, is to remedy the imbalance. In other words, loosen those muscles as well as their stabilizers first, and in time, you will be able to use them effectively and efficiently. To those who have a very stable and flexible hip complex, the answer is still going to vary depending upon the individual. For example, if you are solid, stable, and flexible throughout your hip flexors, glutes, etc, but you have a slightly atrophied erector spinae muscle, you will not do well to squat with a weighted bar on your shoulders until you have fixed the imbalance, or you will simply amplify it.
There are many possible answers to give when someone asks what the best glute exercises are. Squats, lunges, leg presses with a high and wide foot placement, reverse gluteal curls with dumbbells, and so on. You can always find a way to use a certain muscle group if you put your mind to it. The problem is, if you know a squat is beneficial for gluteal development, but you aren’t a candidate for squats for any of the aforementioned reasons, is a squat truly one of the best glute exercises? Obviously not, in your case. If you want to truly maximize your workout and physical potential, consult with an experienced and qualified personal trainer so you can identify what will potentially hold you back, move past it, and get the most out of your workouts while minimizing your risk of injury.
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Andy
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