3 WORST Exercises for Building Glutes
The first blog post I wrote on GLUTES covered which exercises you SHOULD do… and now that you know the BEST way to train your glutes, I want to discuss the WORST things you can do if you are trying to build shapely, strong glutes… This may sound familiar because it is basically the prescribed way to lose weight by both medical professionals and the diet industry:
EXERCISE MORE and EAT LESS
This is may be an acceptable equation when just trying to lose weight and get healthy, BUT if you are trying to LOOK as healthy as you are, this isn’t the formula you want to follow by simply increasing your cardio.
The “calories in – calories out” equations skip all of the important steps in muscle building. I covered this point in my previous blog post… you don’t actually get stronger WHILE you are working out… when you work out, you are actually causing microscopic tears in your muscles. AFTER you workout, the food you eat serves as building blocks to REPAIR your damaged muscles. THIS IS WHEN YOU GET STRONGER AND BUILD MUSCLE.
If you follow the general, “workout more, eat less” thumb rule, you run the risk of not properly fueling your muscles… therefore wasting that time you just spent working out. If you are in a constant state of depletion, your sexy glutes will never develop.
Believe it or not, unless you BUILD something under the layer of body fat, just shedding body fat will NOT reveal strong, round glutes. You HAVE to have something to work with (muscle mass) before you can have rounded glutes.
Then there is the “more is better” cardio myth. When we perform cardio, we are burning off the nutrition we actually DO take in… again causing a constant state of depletion and minimal muscle growth.
Which leads me to a list of the 3 worst cardio exercises for BUILDING LEAN, SHAPELY glutes. Please don’t misunderstand me or think that I am attacking the sports of swimming, spinning, or running. I simply want to point out that performing these cardio exercises in excessive amounts can take you further away from your PHYSIQUE goal IF trying to BUILD glutes is your goal (all about being honest with ourselves and what our goals are… appearance… performance… sometimes they don’t line up perfectly.)
Different goals… Different training… Just like if I told a triathlon or marathon coach I
Want to know what fitness models do to train glutes?
wanted to perform at a higher level, they would most likely tell me that I am carrying extra “dead weight”. All of the extra muscle I carry wouldn’t exactly help me in a long distance run where I am literally carrying the extra weight of my added muscle mass.
The same goes for working towards a physique goal. You will NOT be adding SO much muscle that you are not going to perform well in all areas of your life (your endurance sports will actually IMPROVE through your cross training), but I wanted to take this opportunity to point out why doing more of these 3 activities may not get you to your physique goals.
Swimming: Spending excessive time in the cool water actually increases our appetite post workout which may pose a challenge in sticking with a nutritional plan to lean you out.
Swimming is also a non-impact activity… great for your body overall but will not lead to developing glutes.
Spinning: I recently read an article on how spinning can actually CAUSE you to gain fat around your thighs and glutes… I HAD to dig deeper to see how this was possible and came across this blog post written by a spin instructor.
“And finally, if you are one of the class members who spin with very little resistance on the bike at really fast speeds and think that because you’re dripping in sweat and tired you’re getting a great workout, then think again – the high speeds with minimal resistance actually fatigue the neuromuscular junction that’s responsible for the rapid firing of the muscles, (through the depletion of a chemical called acetylcholine) rather than fatigue the actual muscles themselves. This result is a perceived level of fatigue rather than an actual level of fatigue – so basically you think you’ve worked harder than you actually have!!” READ THE FULL BLOG POST HERE: http://thenortheasthub.com/blog/gym-class/
Running: MY FIRST LOVE… and I still go out and run 6-8 miles once a week or so but as a regular activity, long distance running can take away from glute development due to the mechanics of running and our ability to become efficient in our stride… using momentum to propel us forward and pretty much taking our glutes out of the equation. If you have ever started running long distances on a regular basis, you may have noticed that “booty shrinking” feeling as your miles increased.
Excessive running can also cause damage to our metabolism IF we don’t train smart. Check out what I mean in this post:
http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/women-running-into-trouble/
Do I have your attention on the more cardio is not better? Believe me… THIS was HARD for me to overcome… I was a cardio queen for YEARS and the thought of decreasing my cardio gave me anxiety. Until I did it and am leaner than I have ever been. And just as I type this blog post, I have a brand new goal on the horizon for 2014… and it is endurance based so I will be increasing my cardio but this time I am doing it in a very smart way… No more “MORE IS BETTER” for me:).
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/#axzz2iXDJdwP4
If you need a plan, we have one… the SKFitLife 12 Week Online Fitness Challenge comes complete with:
☀️ 3 Months of Weight Training
☀️ 12 Weeks of High Intensity Interval Training Routines
☀️ 30 Day Glute-Friendly Meal Guide with Linked Recipes
☀️ Online Support & Accountability
If you are looking for additional coaching options, click here.
