Kick Butt (And Take Numbers)

They may not be your top training priority, but your glutes are instrumental for stronger lifts.

- Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S., CPPS

Believe it or not, training glutes is the key to lifting heavier, preventing injuries, and improving performance in any sport you play. We know training them might not initially turn as many heads as working beach muscles like the chest or arms, but becoming an ass man can seriously pay off in a handful of ways. To help show you the way to a ripped rump, we talked to a guy who knows glutes to the maximus.

THE MISSING PIECE 

Your glutes are working during most lower-body exercises, particularly squat and deadlift variations, but Bret Contreras, Ph.D., a strength coach and researcher, says the conventional lifts weren’t enough to get his butt in gear. “In high school I had no glutes to speak of,” he says. “My legs went right into my back.” 

Once he discovered how to train glutes more directly, however, his lifts all improved, and he was finally able to fill out the seat of his pants.