My Glute Building Guide

Ok ladies, it can be hard to get things for free these days… so here ya go! I will go over my favorite glute training exercises and provide you with a complete workout, nutrient timing, and supplementation.

To start, it is important to realize it takes time for most of us women to add muscle and requires breaking comfort zones to achieve results. If your goal is to “build” and I mean truly build, you need to go heavy! Im not talking about hoping around with bands and light weights, you have to reach failure. However, you can incorporate resistance bands to your weight training to amplify the glute work.

Lets cut to the chase! Here is one of my favorite workouts with examples! Who loves you??

1. Smith Machine lunges with a kick back 4x 10 ( each leg) : I max my weight out on these and really focus on the heel to engage my glutes. As you come up, perform a donkey kick with the leg extended back wards.
2. Low Pulsing sumo squats on the Smith Machine 3 x 15: sumo stance and slowly pulse low. Focus on the contraction of your outer glutes
3. Single Side leg Press 3 x 15: You will want to use one leg and turn to the side so your pushing up with one leg and targeting your side glutes. Go slow, bring knee as close to your chest as you can and push up.
4. Reverse Hack Squats 4 x 12 : Sumo stance and low pulsing in the hack or power squat facing the rear.
5. Cable Kick Backs 4 x 12: keep  your Anchor leg pretty straight and standing back enough to fully lean forward holding onto the bar. This will help engage the upper glutes even more.
6. Smith Kick backs or butt blaster machine 5 x 10: You can perform weighted kickbacks various ways. Each targets your upper glutes a bit differently therefore mixing it up is great.
7. Hip Thrusts 5 x 15: Probably one of the best exercises for giving projection. Pausing at the top while you contract will optimize your results. You should feel booty cramps and a serious pump after this one.

Nutrient timing: When you eat specific foods makes a huge difference. I like to consume a good amount of carbohydrates pre and post workout meals. If you are on a structured diet and your training time changes at various times of the day, simply shift meals around to ensure you get the most body building nutrient potential surrounding your training.

I like to use fast absorbing carbohydrate sources such as white rice or a dextrose supplement such as Super Carb or Carbion. Both give a very fast absorbing 25 grams which can be utilized intra workout. If you use the supplement route, I like to consume my carb supplement mid way through my glute training to help push through and restore glycogen.

Post workout meals are probably the most important for building. The whole concept for building muscle is, tear fibers down then allow them to heal. Thats a simple way of explaining whats happening. So when it it hurts, your literally tearing muscle fibers.  In order for them to repair properly, you need proper nutrients. Wether or not you use a whey isolate ( fast absorbing protein) or lean protein in a whole food source, combining it with a carbohydrate is key. Why is that? Well, the carboydrate binds to the water molecule allowing nutrients to shuttle to your broken down muscle fibers. After we deplete our glycogen stores, we want to refill them fast. Allow for a 30 min window ( max) post training to fully benefit from your workout and building potential. My preferred carbohydrate pre and post meal is white rice. It is superior to brown rice for those who train and are very athletic as it is quickly absorbed.

Other supplements I use to help build and support lean mass is Laxoplex which contains an ingredient called laxogenin . This is a plant based supplement that helps increase your protein synthesis by up to 200%, increases strength, improves recovery, lowers cortisol and is non hormonal.  BCAA’s will help support lean mass while you train and improve recovery. I really like Intra Blast by Nutri Bio which also contains 5 grams of glutamine which is great for repair.

Lastly, your mind muscle connection is critical. You can go through a hard workout and not benefit from it if your thinking about something else or how quickly you can get through the agony. Focus on your muscle in which your engaging. I even touch it! Focus and talk to the specific area and trust me, you will feel it far more.  Be patient and remember it takes time to make changes. Enjoy the process and be your own motivation!

Be sure to follow Santa Cruz Power Fitness and Santa Cruz Sports Nutrition for more tips!