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A Day in the Life of The Glute Guy: All That Glitters is Not Gold

By January 12, 2015August 20th, 2016Announcements

Tom Cruise is kind of a lunatic in real life, but I don’t care. From 1983’s The Outsiders, to 1986’s Top Gun,  to 1988’s Cocktail and Rain Man, to 1990’s Days of Thunder, to 1992’s Far and Away and A Few Good Men, to 1993’s The Firm, to 1996’s Mission: Impossible and Jerry Maguire, to 2003’s The Last Samurai, to 2004’s Collateral, to 2005’s War of the Worlds, to 2008’s Tropic Thunder, to 2010’s Knight and Day, to 2012’s Rock of Ages and Jack Reacher, to 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, Mr. Cruise has consistently put out pure gold in terms of movie quality, and he’s been doing so for over 30 years. But I digress.

Some of you might have seen the musical comedy Rock of Ages. In it, Tom plays Stacee Jaxx, a fading 80’s rock legend with existential issues. When I first saw the movie, I had to laugh as it reminded me of how some of my readers think I live my life. Essentially, Tom’s character is surrounded by groupie booty 24/7. But I’m definitely no rockstar, and my life is much duller.

TC

Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages, see HERE, HERE, and HERE for Tom Cruise’s performance.

The Perks

Don’t get me wrong, being The Glute Guy definitely has its perks. Much of my fan base would quickly point out that I’ve had the pleasure of poking, prodding, and palpating some of the finest glutes that the world has to offer (see my clients HERE). This is definitely true.

And sometimes when I’m out and about, people recognize me, especially when I train at various gyms. For example, last Monday night was pretty fun. I went to Revolution Training System in Tempe and then to Gold’s Gym in Phoenix (I do my heavy compound lifting at Rev and then hit up Golds to bust out high rep machine isolation work). At Revolution, I ran into April, a very strong powerlifter, and at Gold’s, I ran into Monica, a big bootied aspiring figure competitor, and both of these ladies are readers of my blog.

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I also get tagged in a ton of pictures on social media and receive daily emails from women who send me before pictures or progress pictures of their glutes. For example, here are seven pictures that I received in a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday:

Joanne

THIS transformation took Joanne 6 months.

Kayla

Kayla absolutely rocked her off-season! Look at those legs and glutes!

glutes

This is Hailey Harber. Remember her guest blog from last year titled, “A Squat Devotee No More“? She finally hit the 39” hip measurement and achieved a 15 inch hip-waist discrepancy. She’s been after this for a couple of years now.

Screenshot

This transformation took Barb 8 months (from left to right).

Krane

Maria

Gaulty

The Truth

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger butt man out there in the universe than me, so it’s definitely nice to be surrounded by beautiful women with great backsides. And yes, it’s great to be recognized and appreciated. But much of my life is dedicated to science.

Relax, I'm Buttman

Relax, I’m Buttman

I have much zeal for personal training, improving the personal training profession, and helping others achieve their fitness goals, so I always make sure I’m regularly training real clients. I also train very hard myself and intend on doing another powerlifting competition in the near future. However, in my spare time, I’m usually studying or working on my businesses. I have the monthly research review service I do with Chris Beardsley, Get Glutes with Kellie Davis, Hip Thruster, my blog, social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram), a weekly newsletter, and my PhD. I also try to write a T-Nation article each month and I have two columns for FitnessRx for Women Magazine. Finally, I have my Glute Lab and I regularly publish research with my team of colleagues Brad Schoenfeld, Chris Beardsley, Andrew Vigotsky, and John Cronin. It’s not easy to juggle all of this!

Between these various roles, I go through life feeling like I’m treading water, just trying to stay afloat and not sink. I’m a very curious individual and I want to know how things work. I’m so busy during the week that I try to use my weekends to pursue my other interests. Critical thinking and science are what I’m most passionate about, so when I have free time, I’m often researching different topics on Pubmed and Google Scholar, listening to scientific podcasts (lately I’ve been listening to StarTalk Radio Show with Neil deGrasse Tyson), and reading books on business or self-improvement (lately I’ve been reading Why “A” Students Work for “C” Students and “B” Students Work for the Government).

So you really want to know what a day in the life of Bret Contreras is like? This past Saturday, I woke up at 9 a.m. For the next 15 hours, I pored over the latest published research pertaining to strength training, bodybuilding, biomechanics, and physical therapy. This was the absolute best month of research for strength training I’ve seen to date, and I love that I still get so excited over the literature. At midnight, I was exhausted from all the reading, and I wanted to reward myself with a beer, so I texted a few friends to see if anyone was out but came up empty-handed. I left my house for the first time that day and grabbed a Blue Moon (my favorite beer) at a local bar. Then I came home and watched an episode from Season Two of Boston Legal (when my stepfather died last year, the only thing I took from his belongings was his collection of Boston Legal DVDs), replied to reader emails, and went to sleep at 3 a.m. You may be wondering where my fiancee was during all of this – she’s in Texas right now doing a clinical rotation for nurse anesthetist school.

As you can see, there was no booty shaking and no sexual escapades. Just a man and his thirst for knowledge. If I could party like a rockstar and still be on top of my industry, maybe I would. But I can’t help advance the strength training profession and improve upon our methods and practices if I’m not putting in the hours in the gym and hitting the books equally as hard. I’m still praying that one day a drug like NZT-48 from the movie Limitless obtains FDA approval, but until then my nose will be buried in journals. It ain’t sexy, but it’s the truth.

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What people think I do

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What I think I do

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What I really do

 

16 Comments

  • strengthbodyrecomp says:

    You and me both mate 🙂

  • Allison says:

    Sounds like a lot of work and no play…

  • Adam Scott Thompson says:

    Great testimony, sir (and mentor).

    People at work think I’m James Bond because of my physique and how I dress — my general swagger. But I like to go home and read or watch TED talks or write (I’m an amateur screenwriter). People at the gym want to know how I beast. I tell them it’s ’cause I’m a nerd and then I tell them about folks like you — those who do the real dirty work to make it easier for the rest of us.

    You’re an inspiration, man. One day they’ll talk about you and glutes in the same way that they talk about Tesla and electricity.

  • B says:

    & You talk/research about our periods too 😉

  • Joe says:

    I got tired just reading this post! And distracted as well 😉

    Ultimately, you’ll probably do well if you actually make appointments with yourself to do something relaxing. Then you can come back to your work refreshed and ready to go…

  • BB says:

    Love this, and the butt man top! I’d love to know what you can do to Stay motivated. I was happy to reach my butt goals, but then can fall off a workout for a weeks. I don’t care enough. My physique is just not a big motivator for me. Neither are long term reasons (I’m 24). I would like to be able to do it more consistently, but I never seem to stick to it.

  • John says:

    Boston legal is one of my favorite shows…but none of my friends have watched it and some have never even heard of it! Alan Shore and Denny Crane make a great team.

    • Bob Dannegger says:

      I loved Boston Legal and hated to see it end. The interplay between Alan and Denny was always interesting and I loved the way each show ended with the two of them having their scotch and a cigar.

      I’m 73 and one of my best friends is 53 and we call each other Alan and Denny. When he has a problem he says we need to have an Alan and Denny session, unfortunately without the cigars and usually wine instead of scotch.

      I’ve liked Spader,especially his mannerisms” since the first time I saw him in “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”. We currently watch Blacklist but other than Spader’s character, it can’t compare to Boson Legal for enjoyment.

  • No mention of Buttman’s Buttmobile?

  • Michael T. says:

    Hi Bret,

    Thank you for giving us a glimpse of the work and personal discipline that goes into mastering your passion and cranking out the latest info for us. I often feel that others may have it much easier than I do, in terms of getting results, making a living, etc. and then I hear stories like this post and realize that a ton of hard work and effort goes into getting meaningful results.

    I also want to point out how refreshing it is to follow someone that is into strength and aesthetics and also intellectually motivated. All so often the latest researchers and scientists are swept up in prescribing medicines and restricting movements and activities, whereas the muscle and strength crowd seem uncreative and unwilling to move past 1990s steroid culture and it is SO frustrating. I would love to see more doctors, mental health and medical professionals following in your footsteps.

    Thanks again for the motivation!

  • Cecilia says:

    What a great blog! You’re truly inspiring GluteMan. I love how much dedication you pore into your business, your passion, and your industry. And how freely you share the knowledge with the public! I purchased Strong Curves and I have to say it’s ranks in the top 2 of one of my best fitness investment ever. Thank you thank you!

  • Tyler says:

    Thanks for the insight Bret. I contacted you a while back inquiring about your daily schedule and this spells it out pretty well. Its great to see you have your head on your shoulders and take care of business. No excuses and no bullshit.

    Some people would get crushed under that workload, and you have a system down that works successfully. Thanks for all that you do and am looking forward to whats in store the next few years!

  • Mike Cronin says:

    That’s why you’re the best, man.

    Also, I think we all wish we had the technology and smarts as Tony Stark!

  • Natalie says:

    haha as a fellow PhD student, I totalllly feel you on this. Every time I go to a conference overseas or present somewhere friends think I’m just living some life of academic glory with paid flights. It’s not so glorious sitting in front of my computer most of the time. Loved the post. All the best with your studies (and thanks for turning this media and mental health student’s butt perky).

  • Cassye says:

    Well Bret, I have to thank you for all that thirst you’ve got going because I have been one of the countless benefactors. First as a passionate lifter, and now as a passionate trainer and coach. Your philosophies on strength training have really helped me hone my niche professionally and build my butt too!

    Thank you buckets for everything you do. I truly hope for all our sakes that you never get quenched.

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