Can I build a booty without weights?

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  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    I would be extremely surprised to learn that their muscles come from weight lifting, yes!
    They spent most of their time working on their skills, because it requires such skill. Given that, I would doubt that many coaches have them fatiguing themselves -- and losing flexibility -- by lifting heavy weights in the gym and being sore and tired the next day.
    You're going to tell me that those 16-year-old female Olympians, with muscles everywhere and broad shoulders, got those -- and got to where they are -- by pumping iron in the weight room, not by practicing their craft?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    GiddyupTim wrote: »
    Posted by a gymnast on a Bodybuilding.com forum:
    "Gymnasts don't ACTUALLY do isometric holds for conditioning a lot of the time. Unless you are working a specific strength move (mainly on rings) like an iron cross, planche, maltese or inverted cross, the majority of the conditiong will be dynamic exercises like planche progression pushups, front lever progression pullups, rope climbs, dips, handstand pushups, etc. Working out the specific skills is actually a large chunk of the exercising and requires enormous stamina and endurance strength to complete usually 5-6 hours per day. The actual conditioning where they work on strength is only about 30-1 hour a day and will not usually include failure training since that would burn out the gymnast especially if they are training 5-6 hours a day. Imagine that.. gaining muscle and increasing strength without having to rest for days to let your muscles heal. Who would've thought, eh?

    How is gymnastics training and conditioning not as effective at lifting weights? The point of their training and conditioning isn't to gain muscle but to build the incredible strength to weight ratios, and I, for one, think it does a pretty good job. Lifting weights, in general, is most aimed towards hypertrophy than building strength (well, more dependent on the lifting program at least). They are just different modes of training. One isn't really more effective than the other depending on your different goals. If your goal is to build functional strength though, bodyweight exercises is the way to go."

    So they strength train for 30 minutes to an hour per day. Does that sound familiar at all? Ring any bells?

    If they incorporate that into their training routine every day, 5-6 days per week, they strength train as much or more than the average Joe Public gym rat. And they have very experienced trainers, so they're working specific, focused routines and not wasting one minute in the gym, unlike a lot of Joe Public gym-goers who screw around in the gym for two hours and accomplish next to nothing. And most knowledgeable sources who are up on the most current research don't advocate training to failure often (if at all), so that's a completely irrelevant point.

    Of course gymnasts spend more time training gymnastics (not sure what gymnasts have to do with the OP wanting to build a booty, though). There's a thing called specificity of exercise. If you want to get good at gymnastics, you practice gymnastics. If you want to get good at football, you practice football. If you want to get good at running, you practice running. If you want to get good at picking up heavy things, you practice picking up heavy things. For many of these sports, strength training is a supplemental exercise, not a means to an end in and of itself. When your goal is to create muscular hypertrophy, there is plenty of clearly established research outlining the best practices to do so. And progressive strength training is the key component.

    The point of it all, as it pertains to this thread, is that the OP isn't going to build a booty doing air squats and leg raises. And I didn't see anywhere that she said she wanted to become a gymnast.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    So, your position is that all the muscle that most gymnasts have comes from 30 minutes a day in the gym, not working to failure?
    I thought you had to lift heavy to gain muscle?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    GiddyupTim wrote: »
    [1]So, your position is that all the muscle that most gymnasts have comes from 30 minutes a day in the gym, not working to failure?
    [2]I thought you had to lift heavy to gain muscle?
    [1] Read my post again. That's not what I said at all. Allow me to quote a small part of it back:
    ...For many of these sports, strength training is a supplemental exercise, not a means to an end in and of itself...

    Weight training supplements their primary work on the specific demands of their sport. Swimmers lift weights. Football players lift weights. Hockey players lift weights. Ice skaters lift weights. Runners lift weights. Cyclists lift weights. Even golfers lift weights. None of them lift weights with the primary goal of becoming bodybuilders or powerlifters. Their programs are specifically tailored to the demands of their particular sport, with the goal of improving their performance. Their routines are completely different from somebody trying to build massive muscles to walk on stage, or somebody trying to build strength in specific competitive lifts (squat, deadlift and bench press in the case of powerlifters) - or somebody trying to "build their booty". A gymnast won't train like a cyclist, and a swimmer won't train like a hockey player.


    [2] You have to lift heavy enough to cause an adaptive response in the body. And failure is not necessary - or even optimal most of the time. Working to failure (unless it's properly/intelligently programmed) is counterproductive in that it creates higher demands upon the CNS (higher than is necessary for either strength or hypertrophy gains) and can impair recovery.



    The whole gymnast thing (which you brought up, and again really isn't germane to this thread) is a non-starter because most people, and especially beginners, don't possess the strength, balance or technical ability to perform a lot of those movements. Go into just about any gym in the world (other than a gymnastics-specific one) and you're not going to find many, if any, people who can do an iron cross on the rings, or work a pommel horse, or do even a relatively basic uneven parallel bar routine. Not even those big bruhs over there in the corner deadlifting with 5 plates on each side of the bar. Why? Specificity of exercise.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    I am sorry. I have no idea where you are coming from.......
    The question here was: Can you building mass in your glutes without weight training?
    I said, I don't know. People often say, 'no, in order to build mass you must lift weights and you must lift with some progression in the weights.' But, clearly there appear to be people who do build notable mass without weights. With largely body weight exercise.
    Where's the relevance in the fact that a gymnast doesn't train like a golfer? Of course not.
    But the fact remains: Gymnasts, for one, do not dedicate significant effort to heavy weight training. Google it. You will see. They do some weights, yes. Particularly if they have a specific weakness to work on. But they do not lift progressively, every other day, with significant weights.
    Gymnasts become able to do an iron cross by hanging from the bar, swinging on the rings, doing pull ups.
    And they get buff. Look at Mary Lou Retton. I would be highly surprised to learn that weight lifting was a truly significant part of her training, back in those days. Yet, she was pretty buff and pretty strong. She clearly had put on some muscle through her discipline.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    GiddyupTim wrote: »
    I am sorry. I have no idea where you are coming from.......
    The question here was: Can you building mass in your glutes without weight training?
    I said, I don't know. People often say, 'no, in order to build mass you must lift weights and you must lift with some progression in the weights.' But, clearly there appear to be people who do build notable mass without weights. With largely body weight exercise.
    Where's the relevance in the fact that a gymnast doesn't train like a golfer? Of course not.
    But the fact remains: Gymnasts, for one, do not dedicate significant effort to heavy weight training. Google it. You will see. They do some weights, yes. Particularly if they have a specific weakness to work on. But they do not lift progressively, every other day, with significant weights.
    Gymnasts become able to do an iron cross by hanging from the bar, swinging on the rings, doing pull ups.
    And they get buff. Look at Mary Lou Retton. I would be highly surprised to learn that weight lifting was a truly significant part of her training, back in those days. Yet, she was pretty buff and pretty strong. She clearly had put on some muscle through her discipline.

    They do work progressively, It's just that the progressions are in accordance with their skills.

    planche progressions, lever progressions, etc
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Of course they work progressively.
    And the people who build mass with body weight exercise perhaps have been than average genetics and certainly work extremely hard at what they do.
    My objection is that people here seem to be arguing that gymnasts are buff because of the weight lifting they do, and they would not get strong and muscular without that weight lifting, which I believe is not the case.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    GiddyupTim wrote: »
    Of course they work progressively.
    And the people who build mass with body weight exercise perhaps have been than average genetics and certainly work extremely hard at what they do.
    My objection is that people here seem to be arguing that gymnasts are buff because of the weight lifting they do, and they would not get strong and muscular without that weight lifting, which I believe is not the case.

    OK, I get it, you're confusing progressive with weight lifting.

    Progressive is progressive whether it's body weight or barbell.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Of course you can build muscle without weights, but it probably won't be as effective (since it's much easier to add additional weight to the bar) and won't be as quick. If that is ok and in line with your goals OP, than go for it. What I generally see, is people aren't following a well structured program and can go years with just spinning their wheels and wonder why they can't build muscle.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    ...and like someone said earlier about the gymnasts, they train for hours daily. Hours. Maybe only one hour of actual weight/strength training, but all the the other time in the gym is spent on some sort of training that also adds to their strength, agility, and endurance. Most people don't have multiple hours to spend in the gym daily, and it is not an efficient way to build strength and mass in particular area. The most efficient way to build the booty would be with a progressive weight lifting routine, not that you can't do it another way.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Thank you, psuLemon and DancingMoosie!
    That's all I meant.
    I never said that it was easy. I'm not even entirely sure it is possible to build much muscle with body weight activities -- soccer, sprinting, speedskating, cycling, gymnastics, rugby, etc. -- if you are not an adolescent or young person with huge hormone levels.
    But it clearly can be done. I have seen it. All of us have probably seen it.

    Eric Heiden, the Gold Medal speedskater, had 29-inch thighs. He worked very hard to get those. But he did not do it loading lots of plates on to a barbell and adding more every week or month.
    Heiden says he did squats. He did lots of squats. But, it was never a central part of his training and he admits he never did heavy squats. He never squatted more than 300 pounds. He focused on repetition, many repetitions.
    Cycling was his primary mode of training in the off-season.
    29-inch thighs. Cycling and speedskating got him those.
    He built a booty without weights.
  • flowerhorsey
    flowerhorsey Posts: 154 Member
    It's taken me about eight months of specific progressive weight training to see results, but that's me. If I couldn't go to the gym I would watch and learn as much as possible using gliders/sliders, resistance bands, and invest in a bb if possible, if not a bb, then at least some dumb bells/kettle bells. I don't think it would be impossible but I was "fit" and active B4 weight training and wasn't able to build a booty. But that's me... Good luck :)
  • NethieJ
    NethieJ Posts: 20 Member
    TeacupsAndToning wrote: »
    timj2018 wrote: »
    Yes, do three hundred body squats every morning. No breaks until the last rep

    Is this a joke


  • veganfanatic
    veganfanatic Posts: 32 Member
    Tia98Jade wrote: »
    Hey! So currently I don't have access to a gym or weights and I want a big booty! I've been doing booty workouts that supposedly will give me a bigger butt but all it's done is toned it and made it rounder, but not bigger.
    My worry is that if I keep doing the same workout my body will get used to it and stop any process all together so I've made a new workout to try out this afternoon - but idk if it will give me the booty I want still or just keep it toned??
    Any tips, advice or moves? Help!

    Trying to push down a concrete wall or another immovable object over time can lead to muscle growth as the body attempts to improve the force to push the wall down. It takes a few months for results but it is zero cost and immovable objects are everywhere.

  • J_Fairfax
    J_Fairfax Posts: 57 Member
    It is possible to incorporate progressive overload on body weight exercise.

    Try doing a one armed chin up, a one arm push up, a one arm pull up or a one legged squat.

    Now try doing 10 one armed pull ups.

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