~ 𝕱𝖑𝖚𝖝 𝕮𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖃 ~ Issue (19) Protein powder recs, why 'booty bands' don't do much + how to activate your glutes, tips on bouncing back from injuries, and more

Your glutes aren't sleepy. They just need to be spoken to in their own language.

~ 𝕱𝖑𝖚𝖝 𝕮𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖃 ~ Issue (19)

A weekly interactive health & fitness library.

This week’s digest:

🔥 WORKOUT OF THE WEEK! 🔥

“Your glutes aren’t firing.” “You have a sleepy glute”. “You need to strengthen your glutes”. If you are new to doing any form of consistent strength training, there is a high likelihood you will hear this statement from a pilates or yoga instructor, physical therapist, or personal trainer. Some of this may be true and some of it may not be. If you’ve ever wondered what those ‘booty bands’ you see influencers using actually do, this post is for you (spoiler alert: they don’t do what the influencers say they do: they won’t sculpt your butt). In my experience, it is very rare for a client to have glutes that “don’t fire” unless they have a serious neurological issue. What this actually tends to mean is that they haven’t learned how to consciously train their nervous system to contract their glutes along with the other muscle groups necessary for hip extension (the pelvis moving forward or the leg moving back to meet the pelvis). What this means is there probably isn’t anything inherently wrong with the glutes, the brain just hasn’t built fluency with contracting this tissue on command. We want to think of our brain as a computer designed to send a nearly infinite variety of algorithmic programs to the muscles that move our limbs. These algorithm will be fine-tuned based on how often we run these programs (movement patterns). The glutes are firing, only the other muscles that move the pelvis, spine, knees, and feet are overcompensating and doing the work the glutes should be doing. Here’s a 5 min warmup you can do on your leg day or before a class that will teach you how to activate your glutes, and more activation means a bigger or more defined butt:

First, some quick education: this video will give you a quick introduction to why those booty bands are used BUT, you don’t actually need to use them — simply trying these cues with one a few times will train you to learn the motor commands needed to engage your glutes.

Rest 10s between exercises, and perform 1 round of all exercises as a warmup before moving on to your heavier deadlifts, squats, or other leg exercises.