Let me guess, you’ve been doing your squats trying to build your booty, but no matter what you do, it isn’t working!
Because this is so frustrating – and I’ve been there – here is a list of a few mistakes we all make, without knowing, and can have a HUGE impact on our buns.
1. You’re Not Activating Your Glutes
If you’re new in fitness, glute activation is probably a new concept for you. Even though we might think we use our bum muscles for daily activities such as going up the stairs, most of the time we are using our quads and other leg muscles.
Our glutes are actually pretty inactive, which causes them to go into a relaxed stage, and means that by the time your butt muscles wake up you’re probably already in the middle of your workout sesh and have wasted all that time
For this reason, before every leg day, it is essential to spend a few minutes waking those muscles up, so they are ready for a killing workout!
Note: please do not confuse glute activation with stretching and warming up! They’re different concepts and should always be done before any type of workout to avoid injury.
You can see some Glute activation exercises on my Instagram page, but some of them include glute bridges, banded squats, banded kickbacks, and squat pulses – the band is not required, but it gives the booty a little more resistance which is always good.
Not lifting enough weight is a widespread mistake and sometimes I still make it. Our lower body muscles are stronger than we think, so it’s okay to go up on the weights and feel the burn just a little more.
It is also important to remember that to grow muscles the best strategy is higher weights and lower reps. So, if your goal is to build the🍑, do it at a challenging weight, and by that, I mean that after doing 8-10 reps you physically can’t do more. Challenge yourself!
However, please make sure you’re not injuring yourself. Proper form is vital when lifting heavy weights.
3. You’re Avoiding the “Ugly Butt”
The “Ugly butt” is a very common term to describe the way our bum looks when we squeeze it after doing a squat, deadlift, or hipthrust. I don’t have any examples because just like every other girl in the world, I think, I do not like the way my butt looks when I squeeze it LOL. BUT oh…what a vast difference it makes!
My advice is for you to give it a try and squeeze as much as you can on every rep. I promise you your booty will be on fire, and every burn counts!
4. You’re Not Eating Enough
Yes, you read that right! To be able to grow your booty you should EAT MORE! And Carbs are allowed – they’re actually encouraged. of course, you need to eat the right carbs, enough protein, and some good fats as well! This is a plus, and the happiest news especially for girls like me who love to eat and snack away. SCORE!
5. You’re Doing the Same Exercises Over and Over
Look at it this way – are you a fan of monotony? I am a person that gets bored with routine – if I am doing the same thing over and over again, I will lose interest and do a sloppy job; well, the same goes for our muscles.
If you perform the same exercises every leg day and use the same weight every time, your muscles will get used to this routine and hit a plateau (this is when your body doesn’t respond to your workout routine anymore because it got used to it).
However, you can break this bad spell by doing a variety of exercises and by increasing the weight you lift.
Bonus
Please, do not exercise your legs and booty every day! This can cause injury as well as make you hit a plateau even faster because you’re not allowing your muscles to rest. My advice is that, as a beginner, you do 1 leg day a week, and then slowly increase it as you get more advanced 😊. I currently do 3 leg days a week.