Welcome to week 4 of Operation Get Strong & Sexy. In case you missed the first three weeks, click HERE and HERE and HERE to see what this is all about. Basically, my clients Erin & Sammie decided to set a date for a powerlifting competition (now 3 weeks out). Though they’ve done bodybuilding training and competed in bikini competitions, they’ve never competed or trained for a powerlifting competition. We’ve decided to film and broadcast our journey. We are training at Revolution Training System in Tempe, Arizona – a badass gym as you can see (second session was done in a garage).
Highlights for this week were:
- Better form with bench pressing especially
- For Erin, a PR in the front squat, squat, sumo deadlift, deadlift, bench press, and close grip bench
- For Sammie, tied her PR in the squat (but used better form), and a PR in the deadlift and bench press
- Both girls’ booties are getting more muscular!
Here is the footage for week three:
10/15/13
10/18/13
What exercises and rep scheme are they doing on their two days? I want to do my first powerlifting meet in December… I’m only 95lbs and look like teen boy right now vs. nice glutes etc….
Meghan, if I had more time to prepare them, we’d be on a more strict program. But I just keep trying to bump up what they can do for 5 reps, 3 reps, and 1 rep. If you’re competing in Dec, I’d stick with 3 x 5 for a few weeks, then switch to 3 x 3 and sprinkle in some singles the five weeks prior to the meet, of course taking it easy the week before the comp. Best of luck to you! And see how the girls are training? They’re building glutes along with their PL programming with all the med-high rep glute work. Cheers, BC
Hi Bret,
I look forward to the updates each week. Can’t wait to see the final results! I’m wondering if the girls would be willing to share some tidbits about their diet(s). I struggle with knowing how much to honor the hunger since I’m trying to lean out a tad as I build muscle. Loving Strong Curves, btw!
Why don’t they sweat at all? that’s so unfair 😛
Great job Bret, i love your appreciations along the video.
HI Bret,
I wanted to ask you what type of bands are you using in the videos?
I remember you once said they were fron Elite FTS, but I am not sure which type you mentioned.
I tried to do seated band abduction today, I used simple bands fron the pilates class at my gym. They almost don’t provide any resistance, but I still felt my glutes working hard. I tend to feel them and other exercises mostly in one side of the glutes, despite doing activation drills to the weak side ( 2-3 months)/
I read your article about glute imbalances, and I am trying to stick to the reccomendation, but I am not sure if it will ever fix the imbalance completlly.
Do you consider it normal to feel mostly one side, despite perfoming daily ativation drills for almost 3 months?
im keen to know the answers too as my left glute is incredibly stubborn (or my brain is?). Polina, what activations drills are you doing? thanks a lot!
Bret, I like to ask a question concerning calorie intake for the girls: In order to build muscle mass (at least in the lower body) do they increase their intake? Otherwise, it must happen through “body recompositioning” (losing fat while building muscle, as, without doubt, muscle buiding requires some calories which need to come from “somwhere”) which I think is difficult if not impossible as the girls are already very lean? From my personal experience I came to the conclusion that building muscle while staying in caloric balance is very hard for lean individuals, so I am curious about how the ladies achieve increased muscle mass…
Thank you!
And I am happy that you recommend the 45 degree leg press as I really feel it in my glutes, makes it sore the next day which I do not experience with squats. Is there anything to consider to make it safe for the knees?
They are doing great. Pass along a thank you to both of them for sharing their progress with everyone. It is very motivational.
Hi Bret.
I have been following you for awhile and have been working on glutes with the barbell hip thrust and bridge variations. I also have access to bands,kettlebells, dumbbells.
I am working on fully outfitting an entire home gym. In addition to your new invention for the hip thrust (awesome!) and barbells and plates,what other equipment would FULLY equip me in every way to follow Strong Curves and all other resources you have written on glute development? I want this to be the best set up ever for building glutes. I would appreciate all your must-haves. Thanks!
Emily
Hi Brett,
can you give me the exact product name ( not necessarily the brand name ) of the elastic bands Erin is using in this video? do they come in different lengths and strengths
have not been able to buy them here in the Netherlands
thanx
BO
Bo, they’re long bands from Sorinex…Elitefts makes them too. http://store.sorinex.com/Sorinex-Large-Bands-p/42inch.htm
The girls are looking good! Glad the converse are working for them as well ;)…with the squats, getting to parallel is tough, but one exercise that has helped me with the depth part is goblet squats, just an idea….I would hate to see either of them red lighted due to depth…that’s never fun :(….
Thanks Erin! They love their Converse (and it’s helped their performance indeed). Initially they were skeptical that those are the best powerlifting shoes on the planet haha.
Check out my Instagram channel – last night Sammie finally hit parallel (she did with 205 lbs) on squats without butt-winking. So excited for her as this is not easy to do in just over a month of time.
So I’m very confident that the girls will hit depth as 1) I’ll be helping them choose their weights (we won’t be overzealous), 2) I’ll be right there to remind them about form and cue them during their lifts, and 3) I’m not going to up the weights in the next couple weeks, I’m going to stay put and work on getting deeper with these loads.
Goblet squats are an incredible exercise and I’ll definitely have them do more of it them.
Thanks for your input!
Hi Bret! Two questions, what weight KB is Erin using for the dead-lifts? Also, if I’m feeling the bb hip thrust more in my quads..does that mean I need a lower bench? Thanks!
I love seeing these ladies! They help keep me motivated- at my gym, I only see guys lifting heavy weight (or staring at me while I hip thrust-ha). I appreciate your narration and form check in the clips. Doing the Strong Curves program now (advanced-week 5) and really seeing glute results. Set a new hip thrust PR today of 210 with 8 reps! Thank you so much.
what exercises would you recommend for making the hips appear wider? i assume things that work the medial glutes and lateral quadriceps? i find side lunges very awkward, and never feel like i am doing them correctly, and they seem the most popular for that purpose from searching online.