How can you also get strong and round buttocks
If you live in the Rijswijk area and sometimes ask yourself the question above, read on.
Round buttocks are hip these days. On social media, TV, and in magazines, you see women with beautiful, round, firm buttocks everywhere. Often accompanied by captions like: "Oh, she squats." Women, but men too of course, are said to get those beautiful, round buttocks by squatting. But is this exercise actually the most suitable?
Photoshop or good genes?
Before we delve into that further, it is good to know that many of those ladies (and gentlemen) in those beautiful, perfect pictures may have been helped by something we call Photoshop, or they are blessed with incredibly good genes. The shape of our buttocks and the ability to make them rounder is largely genetically determined. Just as is the case for a toned stomach with a six-pack. Of course, this does not mean that you cannot change anything about it.
Sitting too much
In addition to the aesthetic aspect, having strong glutes is also important for our daily lives. Nowadays, we sit on those glutes much more than we make them work. Strong glutes ensure powerful, stable hips, which in turn contribute to, among other things, reducing and preventing back or knee problems. Strong gluteal muscles also contribute to a more efficient gait pattern in runners, footballers, tennis players, and in all other sports where a more efficient running pattern is important.
Buttock training
So, how can you best train those glutes? Although it is widely said that squats create round buttocks, this is not the most efficient exercise for training the glutes. The squat is an exercise where the knee is primarily knee-dominant. This means that the movement originates mainly from the knees. For this, you use the muscles on the front of the thighs the most, with the glutes assisting. In our opinion, therefore, you should not stop doing squats; be sure to keep adding them to your program. But what are better exercises for training your glutes? Exercises that start from the hips (hip-dominant) and require you to extend your hips against resistance are the ultimate exercises for strong, round buttocks.
Exercises to train the gluteal muscles are:
- Romanian deadlift
- Back squat
- Seated hip abductor machine
- Bulgarian split squat
- Hip thruster
- Cable kickback
- Kettlebell swings
The exercises above are ideally suited for training your glutes. You can also find all these exercises, with many variations, in our own RWIJK GYM online training software.
Do you want nicer, rounder, or just stronger glutes?
Our advice is to perform exercises specifically targeting the glutes, as indicated above. Add a selection (at least 2 exercises) of the above exercises to your training schedule 2 to 3 times per week. Furthermore, it is important to gradually increase the training load to make (and continue) progress and keep challenging the muscles. Additionally, do not forget to take sufficient rest and recovery time between training sessions to prevent injuries and give the muscles a chance to recover and grow. Good luck strengthening your glutes!
If you have any questions about anything, the RWIJK GYM trainers will be happy to help you.
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