56 MensHealth.com | December 2016 PHOTOGRAPH BY BEN GOLDSTEIN
The Strength Secret
Most Men Ignore
Your glutes are more than just a cushion for your
desk chair. Learn to engage these sleeping giants for
a fat-burning, head-to-toe power boost. By Kristen Dold
I f you r b o d y i s a
muscle car, glutes
are your V8 engine.Corey Olson was just 27, but his
6'3", 250-pound body felt twice
as old. His back hurt all the time,
from the moment he woke up
and headed to work. It hurt
when he sat at his desk for eight
hours straight every day, and
after work when he’d step gin-
gerly into the batter’s box at
his weekly beer league softball
games. Just looking at a bar-
bell in the gym sent a shudder
down his spine. Olson exercised
regularly and played sports all
the time, but his back pain was
always there, to the point that
he thought something mightbe very wrong. Exasperated, he
sought the advice of a trainer,
who pointed out the problem:
Olson had a weak ass.
Olson isn’t alone. American
men so commonly let their
backsides slide that it’s even a
syndrome: glute amnesia, when
your butt muscles go to sleep
and become weak. We can thank
our sedentary lifestyle for let-
ting our largest, most metaboli-
cally active muscles turn into
pillow cushions.
“No matter what sport or day-
to-day activity you’re doing,
good glute strength is crucial `Fitness + Muscle