How Important is Band Work for Building Glutes?
peaceout_aly
Posts: 2,018 Member
I have three leg days x week. Either two heavy (squat circuit, leg press circuit and some accessory work) and one power leg day (lighter, more repetetive accessory work with moderate weight) or vice versa. I focus a lot on squat variations, hip thrusts, lunges, leg press and assorted extension machines. I'm wondering what the importance is of using bands - doing moves like clamshells, sumo walks, monster walks, kick backs, etc. in building the glutes? I always looked past these as being important previously because I just wanted to build strength, but I'm wondering if these moves are important for shaping? Thanks for the input!
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They can be used as part and parcel of glute training (or even exclusively-- it's resistance after all)... but many glorious glutes have been built to rounded and bulbous perfection before bands became the new training hotness.
PS- This is rad:1 -
I love band work, but usually use it in addition to my main glute lifts: hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts etc. I will do band work at the end of my workouts to finish the glutes (as a "burnout") or have a separate band day altogether. I like to incorporate as much glute exercise variety as I can since the glutes respond in different ways.0
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I couldn't say. Though I've seen great results through doing squats, sumo deadlifts, barbell glute bridges, and reverse hack squats. It would mainly depend on which exercises you're able to achieve the greatest contractions on.0
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Word of warning, I found out all my glute exercises were in vain because my glutes weren't activating. This is because I sit down a lot for work, so my was body using my quads instead of firing my glutes.
To solve it I did band work BEFORE my work outs, these help isolate the glutes and re-set my body into activating them over my quads. After three weeks or so I felt a clear difference, I actually felt the the glutes fire where before I had never, ever felt that.
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TrishSeren wrote: »Word of warning, I found out all my glute exercises were in vain because my glutes weren't activating. This is because I sit down a lot for work, so my was body using my quads instead of firing my glutes.
To solve it I did band work BEFORE my work outs, these help isolate the glutes and re-set my body into activating them over my quads. After three weeks or so I felt a clear difference, I actually felt the the glutes fire where before I had never, ever felt that.
That's actually exactly how I was thinking about incorporating them. I've also seen people use bands while doing heavy lifts (like thrusts and wide stance squats) in order to further activate the glutes. Makes this investment, along with an ankle attachment for the cable machine. Kick backs and band work, here I come!1 -
I love band work, but usually use it in addition to my main glute lifts: hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts etc. I will do band work at the end of my workouts to finish the glutes (as a "burnout") or have a separate band day altogether. I like to incorporate as much glute exercise variety as I can since the glutes respond in different ways.
Same here. I like to do a band exercise at the end of the workout. Then I just started having one bodyweight circuit workout each week and I'm using bands on that day. (Which I guess makes it not just bodyweight.)I couldn't say. Though I've seen great results through doing squats, sumo deadlifts, barbell glute bridges, and reverse hack squats. It would mainly depend on which exercises you're able to achieve the greatest contractions on.
Agreed. I don't really get anything, glute-wise, out of regular squats. I get much more out of hip thrusts and even more from barbell glute bridges.1 -
TrishSeren wrote: »Word of warning, I found out all my glute exercises were in vain because my glutes weren't activating. This is because I sit down a lot for work, so my was body using my quads instead of firing my glutes.
To solve it I did band work BEFORE my work outs, these help isolate the glutes and re-set my body into activating them over my quads. After three weeks or so I felt a clear difference, I actually felt the the glutes fire where before I had never, ever felt that.
very this. i even [sometimes, if it's already dark] put on my monster band and walk to the gym wearing it. i'm not saying it looks suave, but it does help.
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I love band work, but usually use it in addition to my main glute lifts: hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts etc. I will do band work at the end of my workouts to finish the glutes (as a "burnout") or have a separate band day altogether. I like to incorporate as much glute exercise variety as I can since the glutes respond in different ways.
Same here. I like to do a band exercise at the end of the workout. Then I just started having one bodyweight circuit workout each week and I'm using bands on that day. (Which I guess makes it not just bodyweight.)I couldn't say. Though I've seen great results through doing squats, sumo deadlifts, barbell glute bridges, and reverse hack squats. It would mainly depend on which exercises you're able to achieve the greatest contractions on.
Agreed. I don't really get anything, glute-wise, out of regular squats. I get much more out of hip thrusts and even more from barbell glute bridges.
Agreed! That's why I do hip thrusts in fact, to get glute activation before the rest of my leg day.0 -
TrishSeren wrote: »Word of warning, I found out all my glute exercises were in vain because my glutes weren't activating. This is because I sit down a lot for work, so my was body using my quads instead of firing my glutes.
To solve it I did band work BEFORE my work outs, these help isolate the glutes and re-set my body into activating them over my quads. After three weeks or so I felt a clear difference, I actually felt the the glutes fire where before I had never, ever felt that.
winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Also--band work will often result more in metabolic stress. This plays a role in hypertrophy (along with time under tension and muscle damage). So, there is no "better"--just proper application of the right tool for the job. In other words, not either squats with weights or monster walks, but both
Note: if all you are doing is squats and lunges, you are leaving yourself short. Need hip thrusts or pull throughs, etc as well.
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What kind of pre workout band work to isolate glutes? Can you link to something? I have issues "feeling" my glutes engage ..I always thought it was a brain issue with sensory feedback TBH1
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What kind of pre workout band work to isolate glutes? Can you link to something? I have issues "feeling" my glutes engage ..I always thought it was a brain issue with sensory feedback TBH
i just stopped at my friendly local physiotherapists and asked them to slice me a certain length of their theraband stuff. idk if the colours are universally linked to strength but i bought about a metre of their swimming-pool blue stuff. ymmv but i'm not sure if the strength of the band even matters that much to my body, as i also have this very silly looking circle of tubing that's meant to go round your ankles, so it's pretty weak when it's up round my knees. that helps as well. i think just having a kind of guardrail effect going on seems to make my hip joints track better, and that shows up right away in my glutes.
mark bell had a clip about it selling some proprietary thing of his own, which i didn't bother with since a band is a band is a band imo. i just scooped the protocol of forward walk, backward walk, crouching side-step, and a kind of circle-out-to-the-side forward walk once again. and then a few air squats with a hold on the last one . . . the whole thing started for me with me wearing the tubing while doing my squats. it definitely changed things up.
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I've only done band work on a squat ...where bands are put on after the plate and attach to the base of the rack making it harder to drive upwards
I actually quite enjoyed it1 -
TrishSeren wrote: »Word of warning, I found out all my glute exercises were in vain because my glutes weren't activating. This is because I sit down a lot for work, so my was body using my quads instead of firing my glutes.
To solve it I did band work BEFORE my work outs, these help isolate the glutes and re-set my body into activating them over my quads. After three weeks or so I felt a clear difference, I actually felt the the glutes fire where before I had never, ever felt that.
winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Also--band work will often result more in metabolic stress. This plays a role in hypertrophy (along with time under tension and muscle damage). So, there is no "better"--just proper application of the right tool for the job. In other words, not either squats with weights or monster walks, but both
Note: if all you are doing is squats and lunges, you are leaving yourself short. Need hip thrusts or pull throughs, etc as well.
Hip thrusts are my favorite! I've seen people use bands to even further isolate the glutes - also with bridges. Like the previous poster, I really don't feel my glutes fire in my squat variations (wide stance and "front" stance - feet close together and in front of the body) so I'm excited to see pre and intra-workout band work improvement.0 -
What kind of pre workout band work to isolate glutes? Can you link to something? I have issues "feeling" my glutes engage ..I always thought it was a brain issue with sensory feedback TBH
Check out @rahrahxoxo on Instagram, she uses BForce Booty Bands (same band material that you get at the physical therapist, but in an "infinity" style instead of an open-ended band). She's the one who got me thinking about how important band work is.
You place the bands around your shins, knees or thighs and do a variety of exercises like sumo/monster walks, clamshells and bridges pre-heavy lifts to get the glutes activated. You can use them intra-workout as well by placing the band around the knees or thighs while doing squats, leg press and hip thrusts in order to force the glutes to activate.0 -
peaceout_aly wrote: »What kind of pre workout band work to isolate glutes? Can you link to something? I have issues "feeling" my glutes engage ..I always thought it was a brain issue with sensory feedback TBH
Check out @rahrahxoxo on Instagram, she uses BForce Booty Bands (same band material that you get at the physical therapist, but in an "infinity" style instead of an open-ended band). She's the one who got me thinking about how important band work is.
You place the bands around your shins, knees or thighs and do a variety of exercises like sumo/monster walks, clamshells and bridges pre-heavy lifts to get the glutes activated. You can use them intra-workout as well by placing the band around the knees or thighs while doing squats, leg press and hip thrusts in order to force the glutes to activate.
I have those bands and the Slingshot Hip Circle; I love them all. I use them pre and post workout, sometimes in between sets too. I use them mostly for rehab, though. My weak glutes resulted in back pain that I'm in the progress of fixing.0 -
_dracarys_ wrote: »I use them mostly for rehab, though. My weak glutes resulted in back pain that I'm in the progress of fixing.
+1. and on that note i'm staying away from hip thrusts and bridges with weight atm. it's really too easy for me to over-extend my lower back and set off the s.i. pinch that i'm trying to fix.
i'm not knocking bridges and thrusts, at all. they're amazing when you can do them right, but the info i've found about them mostly skips past the mechanics of how to protect your back while you're doing them.
i keep forgetting to add that for a full year i've been going to a lifting club and skipping the hip circles everyone else was doing as part of warmup. i started them in rehab mode about two weeks ago, and i believe they've been critical too, for figuring out how to really isolate all the control of my hip joints into the right muscles. they were horrible and horribly uncomfortable at first, but i've been getting dramatic improvement just in two weeks. sometimes functional-problem pain is useful, because it can give you pretty direct feedback about when you're about to go wrong
with the theraband stuff, i'll add that i just discovered i still have to concentrate and move slowly rather than quickly, and sort of 'feel around' for a while to find exactly the right way of placing my heels and shifting my weight to make sure the effect is going where i want it to go.0 -
peaceout_aly wrote: »I focus a lot on squat variations, hip thrusts, lunges, leg press and assorted extension machines. I'm wondering what the importance is of using bands - doing moves like clamshells, sumo walks, monster walks, kick backs, etc. in building the glutes? I always looked past these as being important previously because I just wanted to build strength, but I'm wondering if these moves are important for shaping?
Honestly, you probably won't notice extra growth, considering all the other stuff you're doing.. assuming you do as many reps as possible and your form is decent.
You do deadlifts too, right? I think it's a requirement in several states.
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I personally don't use bands because that is one more thing for me to bring to the gym and I like to travel light. Form is key when trying to activate glutes. Squeeze HARD at top of contraction and you will feel it working them. Also play around with leg positioning. If doing a leg press try changing how you place your feet until you feel it in that booty. But remember the no no of knees passing toes and burning is good but pain is not. Best of luck!0
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I personally don't use bands because that is one more thing for me to bring to the gym and I like to travel light. Form is key when trying to activate glutes. Squeeze HARD at top of contraction and you will feel it working them. Also play around with leg positioning. If doing a leg press try changing how you place your feet until you feel it in that booty. But remember the no no of knees passing toes and burning is good but pain is not. Best of luck!
Knees passing toes is not a no no and relevant to your skeletal structure surely
Burning is not good ...:eek:0 -
+1 for the hip circle. Great for dynamic warm ups and using during squats.1
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Cherimoose wrote: »peaceout_aly wrote: »I focus a lot on squat variations, hip thrusts, lunges, leg press and assorted extension machines. I'm wondering what the importance is of using bands - doing moves like clamshells, sumo walks, monster walks, kick backs, etc. in building the glutes? I always looked past these as being important previously because I just wanted to build strength, but I'm wondering if these moves are important for shaping?
Honestly, you probably won't notice extra growth, considering all the other stuff you're doing.. assuming you do as many reps as possible and your form is decent.
You do deadlifts too, right? I think it's a requirement in several states.
I'm working on improving my deadlifts. I have a gimpy foot so my other leg over-compensates. I'm working with a lighter weight (70 lbs) to improve form and rep count.0 -
band work is great for a lot of things- helping with stability- ironing out inbalances- adding- improving mobility etc etc... but it's not going to make your a** huge.
It's just going to help.
Don't let it take over your work outs though- band work is insanely trendy right now- (to the point of nauseaum in my gym)- its' a tool- like anything else. use it for what it is- but don't let it become the holy grail.2
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