8 Reasons why You’re not seeing glute growth
I’m gonna own up and admit that one of the first things that appealed to me about weight training was the concept of getting a nice, firm butt. The first ever weights training programme that I followed was Bret Contreras’ ‘Strong Curves’. This book absolutely converted me to lifting weights as a sole form of exercise and I began to see how the benefits to lifting weights really extended past improving your physical appearance.
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed significant booty gains myself, but I actually wanted to share with you what I didn’t do that I do notice other people doing who are trying to grow their glutes.
Not eating enough
It is possible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time, however, you will build muscle a lot quicker if you aren’t trying to lose fat. You actually have to be willing to let yourself gain a little bit of fat if you really want to maximise your glute growth.
When women put on fat, it will often store around our thighs and lower body. When women lose fat, it will more readily come from our waist and stomach before it shifts from our lower body, because those fat cells are much more reluctant to shift. This is due to the influence of estrogen and progesterone, whereas males will generally hold onto weight around their midsection.
This is one strategy that girls who are trying to achieve an hourglass figure will often use. Repeating ‘gaining’ and ‘cutting’ phases will lead to fat storage mainly occurring and staying in the lower body, while being able to maintain a slimmer waist. Combined with proper muscle building, this can help to create a toned, yet curvy appearance.
If you are torn between deciding whether you want to focus on glute growth or fat loss, ask yourself how comfortable you would feel right now gaining fat. Often fat loss is a better place to start if you are unsure, and during this phase you can focus on still training in a way that will promote glute growth.
2. Rushing during each exercise
Mind to muscle connection is one of the most important considerations for muscle growth. You need to understand which muscles are being used during each exercise that you do, where they are located, and how to engage them.
When you are learning a new exercise, it’s a good idea to slow down the tempo and pay attention to every muscle you are using.
3. Not letting yourself get stronger
Progressive overload is a sign that your muscles are getting stronger, which in most cases they are also growing. This means being able to do more of an exercise over time.
You can progress by either increasing the weight you are lifting, increasing the amount of repetitions for the same weight, increasing the range of motion of the exercise, or increasing the amount of time under tension for the same weight (for example adding pauses or slowing down).
Increasing the weight of the exercise is the most efficient way to progress, however I would suggest ensuring that you are reaching full range of motion before you do this, otherwise you won’t know whether you have really gotten stronger if you are able to lift much heavier but you are only doing half the range of movement that you were doing.
So make sure that you keep a log of your workouts somewhere and note the weights that you use, aiming to improve on them over time.
4. Being inconsistent
You need to be training frequently enough to see results. Train your glutes at least 3 times per week to see the best results, 2 absolute minimum.
You don’t need to do a tonne of different exercises for your glutes, just pick 3-4 that you want to focus on for a month and then do them every week.
5. Not sticking to a plan
Instead of doing random workouts that you find online, find a plan that allows you to progress over time and become stronger.
Not only do you need to think about which exercises you should be doing, but you need to focus on getting stronger with those exercises in various rep ranges.
For example, for one month you might focus on increasing how much you can squat for 8-10 reps, the next month you might focus on increasing how much you can squat for 3-5 rep, and then the next month you might pick a different exercise to focus on.
6. Bad form
Take each exercise through full range of motion while paying attention to what the rest of your body is doing. Not only does bad form put you at risk of injury, but you are decreasing your potential to get stronger and grow muscle.
Often it’s at the end range of motion that your muscles are contracting or stretching the most, which is the point where they will be forced to adapt to the exercise.
Your body will naturally try to lean towards the easiest way to do an exercise. It’s much easier to do a squat where your heels come up, your chest caves down and your knees move inwards.
Video yourself or get a coach to watch you, sometimes it can be difficult to just ‘feel’ what you’re doing wrong.
7. Training too much
Doing extra cardio and working out every day doesn’t allow your body sufficient recovery, which you need to grow muscle.
Working out creates tears in the muscle, and as they rebuild that is when muscle growth occurs. You need to allow your body time to recover because that is when the muscle is actually growing.
That is also why soreness after a workout isn’t necessarily important, and being too sore is often a sign that you’ve pushed yourself too hard.
Find a workout split that you enjoy doing, but make sure you at least have 1 or 2 rest days in your week where the most that you do is go for a light walk or do stretching.
8. Poor genetics
Sadly, one of the biggest predictors for whether you have good potential for great glutes does come down to genetics.
Some people naturally have muscular glutes without trying too hard, some people respond better than others to training their glutes, while some people might have to train their glutes more frequently than others and will only only see results after a year or two of really focusing on their growth.
Even if your genetics are against you, don’t let this completely dishearten you. You can still achieve great glutes by following the rest of these tips, you will just have to be slightly more patient!
