There are many fitness exercises to grow a muscular butt. The hip thrust, squat and lunge for example. Less well known, but no less effective, is the side lying hip abduction. In addition to being a great exercise for the entire buttocks, it is specifically effective for the gluteus medius, or middle buttock muscle.
ABOUT THE GLUTEUS MEDIUS
The gluteus medius muscle is the middle of the three gluteal muscles, next to the gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus. As the names suggest, these are smaller muscles than the maximus, although in total they make up your gluteal muscle.
The function of the gluteus medius is to abduct the leg, that is, to move the leg away from the body in a sideways direction.
It is the only gluteal muscle that you can see from the front of the body. She rounds your ass (even) more.
The gluteus medius viewed from behind.TRAINING GLUTEUS MEDIUS
It is not possible to train only one part of the gluteal muscle. You can, however, shift the emphasis of the growth stimulus and thus involve more minimus or medius in the exercise.
WHY THIS EXERCISE
Perhaps the most effective exercise to train the gluteus medius is the side lying hip abduction. This is superior to the abduction most people do, which is standing or in a machine, where you have to make extra effort to stay stable. And that is at the expense of pure abduction. When you lie down, you don’t have that problem: it is much more stable and comfortable in abduction movements.
Some other benefits. When you use a cable, you create tension over the entire range of motion (ROM). And if you lean on a bench, you can even increase the ROM. After all, you can then go a little lower with your leg, so that you tighten your buttocks even more.
The only drawback is that the exercise is a bit difficult to set up in a busy gym.
PROGRAMMING
A complete butt training program consists of 10 to 20 sets per week, with a maximum of 10 sets per workout.
These sets are divided into three types of exercises: stretchers (including squat and deadlift), activators (including hip thrust and glute bridge) and pumpers (including hip abduction and band side walk).
With stretchers you go for the heavy weights (reprange 5-8), with pumpers and therefore the side lying hip abduction you use lighter weights (reprange 12+).