# gluteal muscles



## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

I am an active female of 46. I am a Masters swimmer and do a lot of endurance training (3-4 km intensive swimming 5-6 times a week). I also do core strength exercises twice/three times a week for 40 minutes.

My overall musculature is fine - my stomach muscles (have a "sixpack"), legs, arms, back - well, all is hard and well toned and younger women envy me. However, my butt is flat, no matter how much I would practice.

I used to do weight-lifting workout twice a week for the past 3 years for my butt. It did not help. Then I had to stop for a few months, because I had biceps femoris chronic pain (due to my back-kick practice). After the break I could see that my butt became a bit more saggy (double fold under left cheek - the one on the side of my injured biceps femoris).

Three weeks ago I resumed butt strength exercises. I do deadlifts (10 kg 3x20 lifts a day) plus bridges and "superman" exercise twice a week. No progress at all.

I thought it could be age and general loss of muscle mass due to age, but, it is not that issue, for the rest of my body is, as I said, indeed, well toned and muscular.

Please, tell me what is wrong? Or, what should I do to improve my butt?

I am becoming obsessive - avoid sitting posture, but it does not help.

I read an article that it happens that some people suffer from inactive glutes and then quadriceps and hamstrings take over the function of butt, which makes all butt exercise ineffective. Can it be the case? What shall I do to make my butt strength training effective.

BTW - running does not help either.

And one more thing - I weigh 52 kg at 170 cm. Suffer from eating disorders, but try to eat a lot of proteine food to enhance muscles. I know that proteine does not cause weight gain so I feel safe with it


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## superdrol (Aug 9, 2012)

Squats, lower the reps and up the weight, sets of twenty deadlifts won't be building much strength, build the strength with sets of five on these and deads and you'll grow your glutes, use low bar squats as these work the posterior chain more, start with just the bar which is 20kg and do as many as you can be that 1 or 3 upto five, when you get to five add a little weight, this will build strength initially, then you could swap to a slightly higher rep (8-10 maybe)setup once you have some strength built up and drop the weight

theres also loads of other flute exercises, but squats are a go to id say for glutes

also you can get fat eating protein!! Total calories determines fat gain or loss, protein is slightly less likely (and it is slight!!) to become fat than say fat but it's marginal and in a 1000 cal surplus you'll still get fat from extra protein vs extra carbs or fat

your probably just eating at maintenence calories! Don't forget maintenence isn't a figure, it will be a band and either side of this band you can gain fat or lose calories, so for example you may not lose or gain weight from 1100-1400 calories

if you have eating disorders it's probably holding back your muscle gains including your bottom, just because you can see your other muscles doesn't mean youve built then, just than you have no fat on them... you are old enough to know your own body, but if you have body dysmorphia you'll never build glutes to die for as you won't ever gain muscle... sorry  Just being honest! You will need to gain weight to grow your glutes, it's a fact! You'll be healthier and look better for it! Aim for 1lb a month which is easily doable with next to no fat gain and they'll come, I bet you've not gained any perceivable weight in years and kept it without a panic attack and then cutting??


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

Thank you so much for advice.

I did not know that lower number of reps with more kg works better. It is a very important point - thank yuou!

If it comes to weight gain - actually I lost some 4-5 pounds during the past 3 months. 

If it comes to squats - I used to do them and was frustrated because the only thing that was activated was my quadricep. The more squats I did the more toned and bigger my quads were. No impact on my glutes. That is why I started dead-lifts. Was there anything wrong with how I was doing squats?


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## Sphinkter (Apr 10, 2015)

marta anna said:


> I am an active female of 46. I am a Masters swimmer and do a lot of endurance training (3-4 km intensive swimming 5-6 times a week). I also do core strength exercises twice/three times a week for 40 minutes.
> 
> My overall musculature is fine - my stomach muscles (have a "sixpack"), legs, arms, back - well, all is hard and well toned and younger women envy me. However, my butt is flat, no matter how much I would practice.
> 
> ...


 Build the glute muscle like you would any, by getting stronger in lifts that use them. So squats, lunges, romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, rope pull throughs. You dont have to do all these in one session - you could do something like:

Squats

Romanian deadlifts

Split squats

Hip thrusts

On one day, then:

Deadlifts

Leg press

Walking lunges

Rope pull throughs

On the other. Throw in some core and calf work on both days and youve got a decent workout there.

10kg deadlifts for 20 reps arent going to do anything tbh. Try sets of 8-12 on romanian deadlifts and focus on adding weight to the bar while maintaining good form.

You need to get over your fear of gaining weight if you want to make a muscle grow you will have to up your calories and inevitably you will gain the weight, its not going overboard with calories and training with intensity that will dictate how much weight you gain and how much of it is muscle not fat.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Hip thrusts are probably the single best exercise for you to be focusing on. Bret Contreras is probably the leading expert on glute training, and this is his go to exercise, particularly for women.

(The following article is one of his on the subject but probably a bit more in depth than you want right now: link )

The other thing you need to be doing is focusing on gradually lifting heavier weights over time, rather than just doing the same thing every day as it sounds like you are at the moment.


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

Thank you, both.

Hip thrusts seem the best. I am afraid of doing deadlifts/squats with heavier weight because it can cause knee injury. I am not that experienced to control that. Hip thrusts look the safest and I have just started to do them.

If it comes to growing muscles - actually I am happy with what I am like - the muscles are hard enough from swimming and that is fine. It is only the glutes that I want to be harder because they are just saggy and do not look good. I am not into body building THAT much. Actually I am a swimmer and do not need to be TOO large muscle-wise as it would not help me swimming fast.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

marta anna said:


> Hip thrusts seem the best. I am afraid of doing deadlifts/squats with heavier weight because it can cause knee injury. I am not that experienced to control that. Hip thrusts look the safest and I have just started to do them.


 Squats and deadlifts aren't inherently risky for knees.



> If it comes to growing muscles - actually I am happy with what I am like - the muscles are hard enough from swimming and that is fine. It is only the glutes that I want to be harder because they are just saggy and do not look good. I am not into body building THAT much. Actually I am a swimmer and do not need to be TOO large muscle-wise as it would not help me swimming fast.


 Without wanting to appear rude, it may well be that you primarily just need to lose a little fat. Training muscles makes them bigger but not inherently 'harder'.


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

Hm... without posting photos I think it will be like groping in the darkness  I could sent some, in bathing suit. But I am not as brave as that


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

marta anna said:


> Hm... without posting photos I think it will be like groping in the darkness  I could sent some, in bathing suit. But I am not as brave as that


 PM me any photos you want  .

Seriously though posting pictures wouldn't really help. If you tense up your glutes you'll be able to then feel what is muscle and what is fat. Whatever the current situation more muscle is basically guaranteed to look better, as it adds more size higher up and will spread out whatever fat is there more.


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

This may be of general interest:

https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/why-women-should-not-train-like-men/amp/

Edit: points 2 through 9 are all about training.


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

thank you!


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

Ultrasonic said:


> If you tense up your glutes you'll be able to then feel what is muscle and what is fat. Whatever the current situation more muscle is basically guaranteed to look better, as it adds more size higher up and will spread out whatever fat is there more.


 Yes! If I tense it up it is all what I said "hard" and seems to be more muscle than anything else, though it is extremely small. Actually I cannot have high fat percentage with BMI 18, well defined abbs and veins visible through the skin and with very strenous workout routine in the swimming-pool. Looks more like the butt muslce got a atrophied from sitting at the desk for a couple of hours at work  Analogy: I remember having my arm in the plaster for three weeks after injury and then, for a couple of weeks my right forearm had this poor "saggy" appearance until I had done loads of stretches (to activate the elbow muscle) and then press ups etc.

If it comes to glutes - I have read recently a few articles about "INACTIVE GLUTES". I do not know if you heard about it: when people sit a lot their glutes become somehow "dormant" (it is as if you kept them in plaster/immibilized for a few hours a day). Then they got weak and even when people go to gym and do squats and deadlift it does not help, because thigh muscles take over the function of the inactive gluteal muscle. So, instead of using glutes in the squat you use quadriceps (this is exactly what I am doing and cannot help it!!!!!! I was trying to say that - big quadricep soreness after a seriues of squats, No glute soreness at all. I am not able to perform a technically good squat without losing my balance - sign of dormant glutes, they say). Then, instead of using my butt muscles in deadlift I start using hamstring.  The only thing that can help, according to the articles, is to take up those exercises which force your ass to move  and also make your hip-hinges more flexible, like eg. series of glute bridges, hip thrusts.

The authors suggest doing glute bridges, hip thrusts and several other hip-extension exercises for a start to activate the dormant glutes and only then, after several such sessions, start your weight training.

I have just read this theory a couple of weeks ago and I thought it shed some light of why, in spite of all my past weight training targeted at the glutes, I could improve my quadriceps more than my glutes. I came to conclusion that probably sitting at the computer at work is the maight be the main culprit. Sounds convincing, but I am not an expert. Does it make any sense?


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

marta anna said:


> Yes! If I tense it up it is all what I said "hard" and seems to be more muscle than anything else, though it is extremely small. Actually I cannot have high fat percentage with BMI 18, well defined abbs and veins visible through the skin and with very strenous workout routine in the swimming-pool. Looks more like the butt muslce got a atrophied from sitting at the desk for a couple of hours at work  Analogy: I remember having my arm in the plaster for three weeks after injury and then, for a couple of weeks my right forearm had this poor "saggy" appearance until I had done loads of stretches (to activate the elbow muscle) and then press ups etc.
> 
> If it comes to glutes - I have read recently a few articles about "INACTIVE GLUTES". I do not know if you heard about it: when people sit a lot their glutes become somehow "dormant" (it is as if you kept them in plaster/immibilized for a few hours a day). Then they got weak and even when people go to gym and do squats and deadlift it does not help, because thigh muscles take over the function of the inactive gluteal muscle. So, instead of using glutes in the squat you use quadriceps (this is exactly what I am doing and cannot help it!!!!!! I was trying to say that - big quadricep soreness after a seriues of squats, No glute soreness at all. I am not able to perform a technically good squat without losing my balance - sign of dormant glutes, they say). Then, instead of using my butt muscles in deadlift I start using hamstring.  The only thing that can help, according to the articles, is to take up those exercises which force your ass to move  and also make your hip-hinges more flexible, like eg. series of glute bridges, hip thrusts.
> 
> ...


 Squats will generally work quads more than glutes for everyone, especially if not squating particularly deep (there is more glute activation with deeper squating). This is normal rather than some special condition ('inactive glutes'). This was mentioned in the first link I posted as one reason for prioritising hip thrusts over squats for women.

Note that the hip thrust exercise I suggested is weighted with a barbell so this is an exercise to use long term with progressively heavier weights, not some sort of preliminary exercises to do before you can progress onto 'proper' training.

The concept of 'inactive glutes' is not something I've come across and so can't really comment on, but either way the solution appears to be to train your glutes so I don't really think we need to worry about it  .

Oh, and one final thought. Having low body fat in one area doesn't guarantee low body fat elsewhere - the body preferentially stores more fat in some areas than others, and this varies between individuals of the same gender (as well as more strikingly between men and women).


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Ultrasonic said:


> especially if not squating particularly deep (there is more glute activation with deeper squating).


 Hmmm... just watched the following video which suggests that this info. is actually out of date and may well not actually be true. Possibly of more help though is it also suggests a one-legged hip thrust that might be good to try, as well as discussing some activation tips towards the start.


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## marta anna (Aug 3, 2017)

I did not understand the whole video because I am not a native speaker of English and the narrator is speaking very fast. But I understand all that I need to  Thanks - this is EXACTLY what I needed!


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

marta anna said:


> I did not understand the whole video because I am not a native speaker of English and the narrator is speaking very fast. But I understand all that I need to  Thanks - this is EXACTLY what I needed!


 Well your written English is extremely good!

Hope the training works well for you  .


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