Mens_HealthUSA_December_2016

58 MensHealth.com | December 2016

YOUR THREE

GLUTE MUSCLES

Gluteus Medius

Gluteus Minimus

These muscles

assist the gluteus

maximus when

you raise your leg to

the side. They also

rotate your thigh out-

ward when your leg

is straight, and inward

w h e n you r h i p i s b e nt.

Key move:

Bench side leg raise

Gluteus Maximus

It helps you hold

your torso upright

and straight.

Key move:

Single-leg hip raise

Grooming: Gina Kay Osborne/True Beauty Marks; SCIEPRO (anatomical illustration), +ISM (workout illustrations)

for endurance, power, and pain
prevention,” says Jordan Metzl,
M.D., a sports medicine physician
in New York City. Four months
after Olson started targeting his
glutes, his back pain was virtu-
ally gone. “There were so many
other positive cascade effects,
too,” he says. “I was more flexi-
ble, my posture improved, and
I had more muscle. Everything
from walking up the stairs to
playing softball felt better.”

Avoid Injury
Your butt consists of three dis-
tinct muscles—the gluteus max-
imus, gluteus medius, and
gluteus minimus—that attach
your torso to your legs along
a number of points, including
the sacrum, pelvis, and femur.
Your glutes make it possible for
you to walk upright, move and
swivel your hips every which
way, and rotate your legs. “A
weak butt puts more pressure
on your lower back, knees, ham-
strings, and hips, increasing
the likelihood of a strain,” says
Dr. Metzl. He sees many men in
his office with conditions that
can be chalked up to poor glute
strength, especially lower back
pain and Achilles tendinitis.

Have More Horsepower

Pro sports scouts are ass men.

That’s because a strong butt is

critical to any exercise requir-

ing speed and strength. Think

of your backside like an engine,

says Dr. Metzl. It powers you

forward and helps you harness

the force from other muscles for

even more strength and speed.

Doing your favorite activities on

a weak, underdeveloped rear is

like trying to run your car with a

lawnmower engine.

“Whether you’re lifting,

jumping, sprinting, or shooting

a basketball, your glutes are key

to tapping into that explosive

push-off strength that comes

from extending your hips,” says

Dr. Metzl. That power’s not just

for smashing a tennis or golf

ball, jumping for a rebound, or

pulling a big deadlift; the extra

juice can also give you more

endurance for a hike or run or

even when shoveling snow.

Supplement Your Training

The number one mistake guys

make is assuming that they’ve

got their glutes covered by their

favorite activity or through exer-

cises like squats and lunges, says

sports scientist Bret Contreras,

Harness

Your Power

The hip hinge, which is

mainly controlled from

your glutes, is involved in

everything from jump ing

and deadlifting to driv-

ing a golf ball, says Bret

Contreras, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.

Here’s how it helps you

generate power.

1 / Hinge

As you draw your hips

back, the muscles and

tendons around your

hamstrings and glutes

activate and stretch. This

creates what scientists

call passive elastic ten-

sion, the same energy

stored in a stretched rub-

ber band. Really feel the

s tretc h to l o ad u p p owe r.

2 / Explode

Snapping your hips

forward draws on that

tension and frees up

energy, setting off a

chain reaction that

extends your hips. As

you near the end of the

extension, make sure

you thrust fully forward.

Doing that locks out your

hips and makes your

glutes fire even harder.

Ph.D., C.S.C.S. “To really improve

your overall strength and perfor-

mance, limit injury, and change

the way you look in a pair of tight

pants, you need to train your

glutes directly and more often.”

(To do that, see “Fire Up Your

Hustle Muscles,” page 127.)

Like Olson, Tyler Fiorillo, a

25-year-old law student in New

York City, knows firsthand what

working the glutes can do.

When he added two targeted

glute exercises—a hip thrust and

a standing kickback using a

resistance band—to his regularly

scheduled leg presses, his per-

formance exploded. “They were

such small movements, but

some months later I surpassed

my squat and deadlift goals by

about 50 pounds.”

After Fiorillo restructured his

program by adding glute exer-

cises, he had to buy new draw-

string shorts—he’d dropped

15 pounds. Your glutes are the

largest muscles in your body,

so working them has a huge

calorie-burning benefit. “I hear

it all the time from guys who

start training their glutes—they

get more compliments from

women and feel better about

their physique,” says Contreras.

Fitness + Muscle