Bret Contreras

In a very short time, Bret Contreras has become one of the foremost experts in the strength and conditioning field. With 13 years of personal training experience and a Master’s degree, Bret’s endless quest for knowledge provides his readers and clients with the most well researched information out there.

Not only does Bret read pretty much every publication he can get his hands on, but he also has performed extensive research with electromyography (EMG) to find the best exercises for muscle activation.

Bret’s articles have been featured in Men’s Health and Oxygen Magazines, and he is a regular contributing expert for sites like Elitefts, Strengthcoach.com, and T-Nation.

For several months I read Bret’s articles on T-Nation and was happy to discover that he was a coach right here in the valley. I contacted him in April and began training with him in May of 2010. In a very short time, Bret has changed the way I think about fitness. I’ve learned more from him in 8 months than I have in a lifetime of reading and practicing.

He is a great fitness mentor for my husband and me,  as well as a good friend. I am gracious to bring to you an interview by someone whom I think is leading the pack in women’s strength and conditioning (especially when it comes to glutes training).

MotherFitness: Thank you for taking the time to interview. Many women feel that they are either stuck with a genetically inferior butt or that age/pregnancy has changed their butt forever. Is this true, or can women honestly build the best butt for their bodies no matter how they look today?

Bret Contretras: First off I’d like to thank you for the interview Kellie. I appreciate it! You’re right, many women do feel this way, and it’s absolutely absurd. Many of these women once had good looking backsides – usually in high school when they were very physically active (walking to classes, P.E. class, sports, cheer, dancing, resistance training for sports, etc.). Most of these women stopped being physically active after high school and their glutes slowly atrophied away. Not only did their glutes shrink down to nothing, they forgot how to activate! Now these women are left with no glute muscle to give the buttocks its sexy shape, and they’ve likely gained a significant portion of fat surrounding the region. The result is a flabby, wide, and soft buttocks.

Many women go on crash diets and lose a bunch of weight, but they end up looking “skinny fat” because they lost muscle and now have no shape. Originally, all these women cared about was losing weight, but upon looking at the mirror at their new self, they are not satisfied and realize that their glutes need work.

There is a very easy solution, which is to gain strength and fitness. However, the problem is that many women spin their wheels because they aren’t sure of the proper exercise progressions, programming, and methods that will get them back to having “glorious glutes.” I have yet to train a single woman whose buttocks didn’t improve significantly over the course of a six month period. One of my clients went from no butt to an amazingly perky and round booty in exactly six workouts spanning over a two and a half week period. If only I had the foresight to take before and after pics! People would have been amazed.

Some women take much longer on account of poor genetics or because they are severely detrained and have to spend time learning how to activate their glutes. But rest assured, everyone’s booty can and will improve dramatically with sound training principles.

MF: Why is glutes training such an integral part of any fitness program?

BC: There are physique enhancement benefits, general health and injury prevention benefits, and athletic performance benefits. I’ll list some common ones:

Physique enhancement
• Possessing a nice butt separates you from the pack. It’s actually quite rare to find someone with an amazing butt, and both sexes will agree that when they’re in the presence of such a booty, it’s hard to look away! Our primal urges kick in and our hormones go into overdrive.
• If you want to look “athletic,” then you need glutes. The Men’s Health and Women’s Health look is all the rage these days for the general public, and you can’t achieve this look by just jogging and doing push ups and sit ups.
• Figure competitors typically lose their glutes when they diet down. They need extra glute mass to counteract this phenomenon.

General health and injury prevention
• Strong glutes encourage good lifting mechanics and less low-back rounding, which spares the spine and decreases low back pain and injury
• Strong glutes prevent knee caving (Valgus collapse) which decreases the likelihood of knee (patellofemoral) pain and knee injury such as ACL tears. Strong glutes also spare the knee joint by encouraging proper lifting form and having the hips share the load when lifting rather than having the knee joint take on the brunt of the load
• Strong glutes are one of the keys to overall structural health, as they set the stage for proper mechanics. Failing to use the glutes results in postural distortions (Lower-cross syndrome) which goes hand in hand with upper cross syndrome and can lead to groin strains, shoulder issues, spinal issues, Sciatica, and hip pain (anterior femoral glide syndrome)
• Sound lifting mechanics involves using the glutes, which is a large, active muscle group, and good form is actually more costly from a metabolic perspective in comparison to lifting in ways that don’t involve the glutes, so strong glutes burn more calories during everyday movement which will help get you leaner

Athletic performance
• Strong glutes will help you jump higher and farther
• Strong glutes will help you run faster and with more efficiency
• Strong glutes will help you cut faster from side to side
• Strong glutes will help you rotate faster, which means throwing faster and farther, swinging faster, and striking faster
• Strong glutes will help you lift heavier loads in the gym

I must admit, this is a pretty impressive list!

MF: What are some of the most common myths women face when trying to build a perky posterior?

BC: The biggest myth is that squats and lunges are the best glute exercises. This is the biggest myth, and is the reason why so many women fail in their efforts to achieve better butts. They’re good exercises, but they’re not the best!

Then there is the myth that Pilates and yoga build a nice butt, which simply isn’t true. If you want a round, perky, sculpted butt you need to challenge the glutes, and these forms of exercise just aren’t challenging enough to stimulate results.

Another myth is that you should only train the glutes once or twice per week for optimal results. They can and should be trained much more frequently than that!

Finally, there is a myth that cardio builds a great butt. While cardio can certainly help, strength training is king for glute development.

MF: What are some of the best methods for testing gluteal muscle strength?

BC: Advanced lifters can test their 5 rep-max hip thrust, which is an excellent measure of glute strength.

Barbel hip thrust

But beginners shouldn’t focus on strength at all, since there are so many muscles that can assist the glutes (synergists) which can end up giving someone a false sense of security. For example, let’s say a beginner tries a heavy hip thrust and ends up using 95 lbs for 5 reps. However, she doesn’t use a full range of motion, she arches the heck out of her low back, and she only feels the movement in her erectors and hamstrings. This individual has piss-poor glute strength but she might fool herself into thinking that her glutes worked well because she moved some decent weight on the hip thrust.

This is why I prefer that beginners focus on quality, not quantity. They need to get the feel of various exercises and make sure they know how to use their glutes during the various lifts. They should palpate their glutes to make sure they’re activating and progress gradually to ensure that other muscles don’t kick in and take over. They need to develop an intense “mind-muscle connection” with the glutes for every major compound lower body exercise.

MF: Once a woman tests gluteal muscle strength, what is the next step to help determine how to begin building a better butt?

BC: Gradual progression is what it’s all about. We often call it “progressive overload” in the strength training industry, but if you want a rounder, sexier butt, then you must get stronger!

It’s not just about losing the fat. That will happen as you get stronger and control your caloric intake. Once the fat is gone, you need something there to lift the buttocks, make the buttocks perky, and give it some sexy shape. This equates to hypertrophy, or larger musculature. It’s not easy to build glute muscle, and women need to gain considerable strength for the shape to reveal itself.

MF: What exercises do you recommend for women beginning a glutes workout program?

BC: I recommend that women start out learning basic bodyweight exercises such as glute bridges, bird dogs, fire hydrants, side lying hip abduction, side lying clams, free squats, single leg glute bridges, walking lunges, and single leg RDL’s. Again, these are all done with just bodyweight. Simple band exercises like x-band walks are good too.

MF: Do you have an at-home workout program that women can use as a beginner?

BC: Sure, here is a video that shows some good glute exercises that can be done at home:

MF: How should a woman progress into more advanced training?

BC: It’s all about the 3 R’s. Start adding range of motion, repetitions, and resistance. For example, a beginner might do a set of ten bodyweight glute bridges. An advanced woman (like you Kellie) might be able to do a set of twenty hip thrusts with 175 lbs, which involves more range of motion (hip thrust is 2-3 times more ROM than the glute bridge), more repetitions (20 reps compared to 10 reps), and more resistance (175 lbs compared to just bodyweight).

Furthermore, more advanced variations can be added into the routine. This leads perfectly into the next question.

MF: What are some advanced training exercises for glutes?

BC: Hip thrusts, barbell glute bridges, pendulum quadruped hip extensions, full squats, deadlifts, and walking lunges. These are all done heavy of course. I also like band hip rotations and band seated abductions. Here are some advanced glute exercises performed by one of my best glute-apprentices!

There are always new spins you can put on existing great glute exercises. For example, a reverse lunge off of a step aerobics box while holding onto a dumbbell in the opposite hand is an amazing gluteal movement.

MF: How often should women train glutes and how should they incorporate gluteal exercises into their program?

BC: Women should make the glutes the primary emphasis of their workouts. They should perform at least 3 glute exercises each day and train the glutes 3-6 times per week for optimal results.

Barbell glute bridge

MF: Can a woman just train for a nice booty, or should she build a program that works her entire body? If so, what do you recommend ?

BC: Upper body strength and core strength will only assist a woman in her endeavors to achieve a nice butt, so they should definitely be worked into the routine. In general, women should do a press, a pull, and a core exercise during each workout. Here are some good exercises for each category, which can be rotated into the program.

Presses – push ups, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell incline press, bench press, incline press, dips, dumbbell military press, military press, push press

Pulls – wide grip lat pulldown, underhand grip lat pulldown, v-grip lat pulldown, chin up, pull up, neutral grip pull up, seated row, one arm row, inverted row, chest supported row, bent over row, t-bar row

Core – plank, side plank, Pallof press, landmine, cable woodchop, curl-up, straight leg sit up, hanging leg raise, side curl-up

MF: What role does cardio play in building a better butt? Is it productive/counter-productive? Should a woman add it to her program?

BC: It is productive, however not nearly as important as strength. Women don’t need to slave away for hours on the stepmill or treadmill every day. Thirty minutes 2-3 times per week is sufficient. The incline treadmill is probably the best cardio for the glutes. Many women do way too much exercise but not enough that counts. You must train hard, and you must train smart, but you don’t have to train long.

MF: What’s in the future for the The Glute Guy?

BC: Pretty soon I’m off to New Zealand for three years to get my PhD. I won’t disappear off the face of the Earth though. I plan on keeping up with my blog, writing articles, filming videos, and coming out with products, just not as frequently as before.

I have a new glute eBook coming out soon which will expound upon much of what I discussed in this interview. The eBook will also contain tested programs that I use with my clients. Please check back soon at www.BretContreras.com for more details. If you visit the site right now, I’m giving away a free 17-page glute report that will go over some of these same concepts mentioned in the interview and more.

Achieve your best butt now

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