The Real Deal on Glute Gains and Exercise Effectiveness

Ever wondered why your muscles scream with a fiery vengeance during a workout, or pondered if that sensation is truly the hallmark of a great session? I'm Rob Maxwell, and in today's podcast, I'm peeling back the layers on the muscle burn myth and how it doesn't necessarily equate to workout success. Discover how physique competitors fine-tune their training to sculpt impeccable balance and symmetry, and learn the art of striking the perfect pose to accentuate their hard work. I'll share stories from my own fitness journey, transitioning from a 'feel the burn' enthusiast to an advocate for effective stimulation sans the scorch, especially tailored for those who may not be as in tune with their body's signals.

Strap in for a deep exploration of the essentials of glute training, where I break down the biomechanics of the gluteus maximus and shed light on the right blend of isolation and compound exercises to achieve a powerhouse posterior. We're talking about the importance of technique over the tingle, ensuring that every rep counts, regardless of whether you can feel it or not. Plus, I'm inviting you to stay curious and question everything during your workouts—because asking why is the key to unlocking a more effective, dynamic training regimen. Remember, we're not just building muscle here; we're nurturing a mindful practice that transcends the gym and becomes a meditation in motion. Join me for an episode that promises to transform the way you view and approach your fitness journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to. There is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell, I'm an exercise physiologist and I work as a personal trainer. I'm the owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to use science to explain to you and to me and to everyone who listens, what works and, most importantly, why it works. Hence the name the Method to the Madness.

Speaker 1: 0:30

Today, I'm going to give you a big tip on what to look for in your form, maybe a little contradiction of what you've heard, even around here. Before I get into that, let me thank our first wonderful sponsors, jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group at Realty Pros. Look, they are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home selling and they have the sales and the reviews to back it up. If you need any real estate assistance, give them a shout. 386-451-2412. Okay, okay, okay, if it's burning, it's working. You know, I've said that so much through the years that I even had shirts with that on the back. I might have said it even more than you know what, sir ma'am, there's a method to the madness. I don't know. I've said both a lot, but you know what I might have to retract that first one a little bit, not completely, but let me explain.

Speaker 1: 1:48

I had a really good talk with a client this morning and we were talking about certain exercises and they are into physique competition, style of working out, style of life, I should say, because really the styles of workouts aren't that different for most people. So she's into that kind of training and you know she's trying to isolate different areas that she needs to work on and that's kind of like what physique competitors do between competitions and that's kind of the what physique competitors do between competitions and that's kind of the cool part. One of the things I was saying to her recently is like now the fun begins because it's kind of like a painter in front of his easel, so to say he could sit there. She could sit there and like really work on the areas that she wants to work on, or maybe a clay sculpture, you know, trying to get it where you want it, work on this area, take a little off here, add a little there. You know all that good stuff Like the body's kind of like that too.

Speaker 1: 2:58

I mean, we're all limited or maybe not limited. Well, I guess limited is the right word, but limited doesn't mean limiting. I just don't want it to sound negative. But we all have different styles of physiques. You know we have different body types. Are we mesomorphs, endomorphs, ectomorphs? Where is our bone structure most prominent? Do we have more hips? Do we have more shoulders? A lot of that is our bone structure that we can't do that much about, and that's one of the cool things about physique competitions. And if you're not into that, I don't want you to tune out, because this has workout relevance for everybody. This has workout relevance for everybody.

Speaker 1: 3:48

But you can see people on stage and say, well, they have this genetically, but it doesn't hold them back because they know how to work on different areas. So like, for example, if they have wider hips, that's just the way their bone structure is. Well, then they can work on their deltoids and upper back a little bit more and then the hips show more symmetry, so things like that. And it's kind of cool watching how someone can work on their own personal body and make it best, because the bottom line is everybody can add muscle and everybody can get leaner. We have control over that. That's in our wheelhouse, that's in our circle of concern. And then we have our genetics, which is our bone structure and to some extent our number of fat cells, things like that. That's not in our circle of concern, not a lot we can do about that, but we can work with it right. So it's a common question afterwards when somebody's competed to say I really want to work on this.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Now, sometimes it's a posing issue, sometimes it's a presentation issue, then that's in the same realm of posing, meaning that the person wasn't able to show it as best as they could, and I was. I've been very guilty of that when I have competed in physique competitions. I think I have a pretty decent upper back. I think my lats, my latissimus dorsi, are actually pretty well developed. But man, I struggled with that pose and it was so hard for me to quote, flare, unquote the lats, and I got that they were saying and the harder I tried, the smaller they looked. Because it's really counterintuitive when you're trying to flare your lats, you're not flexing your lats. So when I flexed my lats I actually made them narrow in a little bit and the whole idea is to flare it. So it's really complicated in posing and I'm not the greatest poser in the world, so I always need my own coaching on that, but I get it.

Speaker 1: 5:55

So sometimes it is a matter of presentation and sometimes it is a matter of what we like to call a lagging body part. So as we were discussing a lagging body part on this individual, I realized that they were putting a lot of emphasis on the feel. And you know that's partly my fault because I say all the time hey, feel this feel that If it's burning it's working. Now, in my defense, if it's burning, it's working is true. Like, if you're feeling a burn in the muscle, you're absolutely getting stimulus to the muscle. But the other side of that is it doesn't always burn and some people have a harder time being kinesthetic. So feeling things more than other people do. So, like, if you have a tendency towards ADHD, which what 75% of our culture does right now probably me add it to my list. But you know, I think a lot of people struggle with that these days, but obviously some struggle more than others. So if you struggle a little bit more with that, it's actually going to be harder to really dial in and feel it.

Speaker 1: 7:09

So often I'll say to people I'll say squeeze, squeeze, and they look at me like squeeze what? I'll squeeze this muscle right here and they're trying to squeeze it. But then I realized they may not know what squeeze means of squeeze it. But then I realized they may not know what squeeze means. And again there's a language thing. You say flex, but that's not always squeeze. So flex means you're shortening the joint. So there's a lot of confusion in all that. So that's the whole point of this and, as I explained to this client today, I said here's what I want you to do. I think this will work better for you. And you know what I think this will work better for? Maybe everybody I mean I'd love to say everybody, but you never know. There's, you know there's those, that 1% that might actually go back and do it the other way. But focus on the form versus the feel. And you know why? Because there's actually a method to the madness, to that statement. So we all have joint actions.

Speaker 1: 8:11

That's one of the most important things that I learned in school that I didn't know before. School I loved. Well, I didn't think I did, but going into kinesiology and physics I was a little bit nervous because you know, it sounds like really hard courses and it can be, but I found them both to be so freaking interesting and explain so much of what we're trying to do in the gym. So what I learned with both is in. So kinesiology, I learned all of the different joint actions for the major muscle groups and the sub-major muscle groups, so many, many, many muscle groups. And then, when I learned it and became an instructor, I started making my students memorize it and I would explain to them if you know your joint actions, you're going to know how to train every muscle group wherever you are, whenever you are. It is so critical to your understanding because we could go on Instagram or Twitter I don't know if Twitter's this big, but TikTok, instagram and see videos of exercises and somebody will be saying I'm working this and I'll look at it and go, no, you're not. I mean, that's not even the right joint action. And they don't know. They're just somebody in the gym working out who looks good and saw an exercise that looked cool and monkey, see, monkey do. And maybe somebody said, oh, that works this. And you know we could be really, really off base or we can learn our kinesiology and go, okay, so I want to train my glutes, the glute major, glute maximus. So if we know the joint actions right away I go. Okay.

Speaker 1: 9:58

So the joint action for the glute maximus is hip extension, like that is the primary responsibility of the glute. So we learn in kinesiology what the muscles do, what their actions are, what bones they move and then all of the physics that go along with it. So in the case of the glute maximus, it moves obviously the hip joint and when it moves the hip joint it actually moves the largest bone in the body, the femur, largest and heaviest bone in the body. It moves the femur. So the femur, being the largest and heaviest, is hard to move. So the glute major is particularly strong, all right. So it moves it in the direction of extension.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Now you have to understand this isn't a kinesiology lesson, but just so you know, there is a method to the madness. Everything is taken in the anatomical position. So the anatomical position is facing forward with your palms out and outstretched, and bringing your leg up is actually hip flexion. Bringing it up to back is actually hip extension flexion. Bringing it up to back is actually hip extension. Bringing it behind, the center of the body is actually hip hyperextension. So the glute maximus does that. If we understand that, then we understand how to train the glutes. Now, in all realms of strength training we typically want to pick an isolation exercise and a compound exercise for each major muscle group. If you do that, you're going to be effectively training that muscle group.

Speaker 1: 11:39

So just using the glutes as an example so the hip extension is the joint action for the glute maximus. So what exercise is that? That would be like a glute kickback. That's where you take a straight leg and you say, well, sometimes people bend their knees. It's like, okay, that just changes the actual axis of rotation a little bit, meaning it makes it somewhat easier. Because what you're doing is you're shortening the lever system, and that's where physics comes in. So if you shorten the lever system, you're actually making it a little bit easier. Now, it's not necessarily bad to do that, it's just unnecessary. The movement is taking the leg straight back behind you. Now there are mechanisms machines you can get where you can do it bilaterally, both together, that's fine, and that's the thing. Machines you can get where you can do it bilaterally, both together, that's fine, and that's the thing. It doesn't matter how you do it. But you have to do hip extension and hip hyperextension. That's the only way to isolate, to work primarily the glute maximus.

Speaker 1: 12:44

So we do that and instead of saying if it's burning, it's working, do you feel your glute being contracted, which for some people they don't, and it's not because they're not doing it right, or it's not because it's not being stimulated. It's because they have trouble feeling per se. They're not overly kinesthetic, maybe they're more verbal, maybe they're more auditory, maybe they get their stimulus in a bunch of different ways. Some people feel things more, some people see things more, some people smell things more. They just might not be overly kinesthetic. Their mind might be somewhere else often. That's okay. It doesn't mean they're doing it wrong and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them. We all have different stuff going on like that.

Speaker 1: 13:31

So if we focus on the form instead of the feel, like I was really talking about today to this client, I said, okay, so in this particular exercise and I'm going to segue to the multi-joint exercise on this so I can give the exact example so, as I said, you need a primary and then you need a secondary or a compound exercise for that muscle group to effectively train that particular area. So in the case of the glute maximus, you're going to want to do some type of squat, leg press, lunge, step up. That is a compound exercise and compound means you're working more than one muscle group at a time, more functional, so to say. In the case of the squat and those exercises I just named, it's the glutes, the hamstrings and the quads. Now, oftentimes people have dominant muscle groups that start to take over, like in my case. My quads are pretty dominant so they'll start to take over. So I'm going to want to train that primary exercise, primary muscle group, first, before I do the secondary. That way it is slightly fatigued, but getting back to the point. So on the step up I said don't worry about it, this is a compound exercise. We don't always feel those muscles working, even for people that feel more, Because I'm pretty good at feeling the muscle groups, I'm pretty kinesthetic that way but even for me that feels the muscle groups pretty well. You're not always going to on a compound exercise because there's other muscles involved, but if you're doing it right it's working that area. So, for example, on the step up and she was doing the higher step, the 20 inch step, loaded to really hammer those glutes with weight I said make sure you keep your weight on the heel, make sure your knee doesn't cross over your toes.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Make sure your knee doesn't move laterally outside or medially inside. Make sure you keep your chest up. That way your back doesn't take over. Make sure that you don't push off on the back leg to the best of your ability. That way the right leg or the front leg is doing the work. So that's form. Now, if we focus on form, we are getting what we need.

Speaker 1: 15:50

And sometimes, if you do tend to be a little distracted, it's way better to focus on form, because if you say you're focusing on the feel but you don't feel it, what ends up happening is you just zone out. You're like I don't feel it, you just unconsciously kind of zone out. But if you're focusing on the form, it's actually like a meditation. That's what I love about it, because then you can say oh, wait a minute, I got distracted. Am I pushing off my heel? Am I watching my knee to make sure that it stays where it's supposed to go? Am I making sure that I'm not jamming off the bottom to get some momentum to push my way up?

Speaker 1: 16:24

We focus on the form and, as I explained to her, I said don't worry about it. If this is our area, we got to work on. What I need you to focus on is I need you to focus on the form of the movement. And if we do the form correctly and we're adding intensity, whatever our schedule is let's say weekly or biweekly or, if the person's more advanced, maybe twice a week. It just depends on where they're at. You know, we can't always go up. We're going to reach plateaus. But if we are adding intensity on a regular schedule let's just say weekly, to keep it simple For example, if we're doing three sets of 12 on a step up and each week we're adding five more pounds to our dumbbells, so we go from fives to tens, to fifteens, to twenty to twenty-fives until we plateau out, if we're doing that and we're keeping our form good, well, guess what?

Speaker 1: 17:19

We are adding muscle. No way around it. If we're not getting stronger, we're not adding muscle. If we're not adding muscle, we're not getting stronger. So then we leave the kinesiology world and we simply go to the physiology world and say, well, why aren't we getting stronger? And then it's going to come down to either rest or nutrition. Are they not resting enough? Maybe overtraining, doing too much stuff in between, too much cardio in between, could be possible, maybe not in the case of this person, but other people. Oh, I'm going to do a bunch of air squats today because I feel like I need to burn some energy. Okay, then you're probably not recovering to actually gain the muscle when you need to, because it always comes down to overload.

Speaker 1: 18:06

If we're overloading the muscles with proper exercise, done with more intensity, in perfect form, great form I should say no such thing as perfect. I suppose we should aim for it, though, and we're eating appropriately and we're sleeping and we're not doing extra stuff in between. The muscles should grow. If they don't grow, you're broken. That's not the case. They will grow.

Speaker 1: 18:28

People are always say you know, people often think they're doing all those things right, but they're not. Like something is amiss. Either you're over-trained, you're not eating enough, in the case of many people, because we do have to fuel ourselves to grow. We can't grow muscle without proper food. It is physiologically impossible. So I want everybody to really think about their form. Don't worry about it if you're feeling perfect.

Speaker 1: 18:56

Now ask questions to me. I told a client that the other day I like questions. Ask me questions to me. I told a client that the other day I like questions. Ask me Makes me feel useful. I don't want to just stand there and count the whole time. Come on, man, throw me a bone. It gets boring. Ask me a question, for example. Hey, when I'm doing these tricep kickbacks, is it better to do them one arm at a time or both arms? Can I do it this way? Hey, I saw this person do this. Whatever Like, ask me about the form.

Speaker 1: 19:26

If you aren't sure, I guarantee you one thing if you're not doing it right, I'm going to tell you. Now, there are little subtle things that are right that you can do differently. Sure, I'm not going to mess with you if it looks like it's really, really good, because sometimes when you do that, somebody looks up at you and go, oh, am I not doing it right? And then they took a break and I'm like no, no, no, you were fine, I was just complimenting you. So that's one thing I will guarantee anybody that trains with me.

Speaker 1: 19:52

If you're doing it wrong, I'm going to tell you. If I'm not telling you, that means you're doing it right. At the same time, ask me questions about form If you don't know. If you don't know, like, where you should squeeze, like where you should pause, or what the range of motion is, or how flat your back should be or what your pelvic tilt should be, any of those things ask I like the questions because I want you. I want you to master the good form. Okay, all right, I think that was a kind of a fun one and I think it's very useful. Speaking of useful, there is no more useful company in Daytona Beach than Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, owned by Jeff and Zach Hawk. The best customer service, the best product. Give them a shout if you need any help OverheadDoorDaytonacom. And you know what I want all of you to get Max Fit.