The next Glute Lab seminar will be held on Saturday, February 27th in Phoenix, AZ.
The seminar will start at 10:00 am and end at 6:00 pm. We will spend several hours reviewing the science of glute training, then have lunch, and then move on to all of the various glute exercises. The lecture covers all of the most up to date research including data from my PhD thesis. Lunch will probably be Chipotle, on me of course. The practical will cover variations of squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, split squats, back extensions, lateral band walks, floor glute exercises, and more.
Although the first seminar was a big success, I received some excellent feedback from the attendees, so this one will be even better. The attendees from the first seminar came from all over the United States, which was very cool.
Just a heads-up. The last seminar sold out in one day. We kept a waiting list and have already sold 5 seats for this seminar, so there are only 15 seats remaining since I’m limiting the seminar to 20 total attendees. Cost is $399 and you’ll pay through PayPal.
If you’re interested in attending, please email Maleah at maleah@bretcontreras.com.
Below are pictures from the first seminar.
Film the seminar for those of us that cannot be there and sell it!
Bret, irrelevant question, but why is hill sprinting regarded as better for the glutes than normal sprinting? Based on your load vector training article and range of hip extension, shouldn’t it be the opposite? Same thing goes for incline walking and normal walking.
You mean bc relatively, there is a greater vertical and lesser horizontal component in hill vs flat? Right. I think hill is still more effective bc the absolute strength needed is greater because you have to move the sin alpha of your body weight, whereas purely horizontal movement physically speaking (not physiologically) is just the struggle against air resistance.
So you trade high frequency/velocity of the movement for strength. So higher strength demands for uphill per movement –> more hypertrophy.
Not quite sure about this, Bret better chime in. 🙂
Great question and great response by Chris. Running uphill is just harder so it places greater torque requirements on the hips when compared to flat running if speed is controlled. However, if sprinting at max speeds, I think the gap would close. That said, I think you’d have higher impulses with hill sprinting (due to a larger percentage of ground contact time), along with higher metabolic stress (less relaxation time in between strides), but with flat sprinting, you have more end-range hip extension (zone of maximum glute activation). And hill sprinting is mostly concentric muscle actions, whereas flat sprinting contains more eccentric components especially in certain muscles. So there are more things to consider. It’d be nice to have a longitudinal study comparing glute hypertrophy between the two with controlled sprinting volume.
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher”
This is excellent, Coach! Congrats on the success of the seminar and the gym looks great. I’m in Alabama right now and it’s not easy to get away. But when the opportunity arises, I’ll be signing up for one. Keep blazing the trail and congrats on the PHD!!
I would love to come to one of these someday! Especially if there is a Chipotle buffet 🙂
Boy do I wish I could be there! An online seminar would be AMAZING!!!
I’m curious as to whether orientation of striated muscle effects development. Glute muscles are oriented at an angle; most glute exercises don’t engage the muscle along the striations. Would there be better development in the glutes if we could isolate and engage the muscle in the direction of the striations?
Great question Cate. What’s funny is that if you look at the fibers, you’d probably conclude that the seated hip abduction machine would be the best exercise for the glutes. But you have to consider more things ub addition to the direction of the fibers, such as the level of activation, direction of vector, degree of stretch, torque angle curve, ability to produce a burn/pump, subregion targeted, etc.
Hi Bret,
Could you please tell me the name and make of the bands you use? Thanks!
In addition to the science covered and the individual movements addressed, how much detail, if any, is given to “tying it all together” (i.e. program design) for optimal glute development? Thanks.
Hi Bret, This is a general ass S.O.S. question and I wasn’t sure where best to pose it to you, but I would like to request your expertise on anatomy and training in solving a quandary of mine and that is why my ass has almost entirely deflated and even more shamefully, developed a crease below it. Since moving to England from the US 2 years ago it has changed shape entirely, transforming from a small and friendly bubble to a sickly, sad, pancake. Never in my life has it looked this way and I am in a near constant state of shock and horror. This is in spite of the fact that I am doing more weight training than ever. When I do lower body days I always have a glute focus rather than a leg focus, and I never neglect hip dominant motions. I follow your blog religiously and I think I’m pretty well rounded save for my lack of anything plyometric.
Stuff I do-do : Hip-thrusts, quadrupedal movements of many planes and kinds, isometric ballet type stuff, squats of many persuasions, split squats, lunges, step-ups, cable kickbacks…..And I do get a glute burn. I know they are activating and they do get sore from what I do.
My question is this: Is it possible that because I am for the first time in my adult life living a suburban, entirely non-pedestrian life style of near constant sitting that in spite of amping it up at the gym, 2 years of being on my ass instead of on my feet has caused my glutes to just give up and die? I had a better ass doing nothing but yoga and walking a couple miles a day to and from the subway. And we all know yoga does very little for the ass, especially hypertrophy.
Or question number 2: is it possible that being 2 years older has led my glutes to atrophy this badly? I’m only 31, not 76 and so far as I know I don’t have any collagen deficiency type illness and am not a marfan.
Or question 3: Is it possible that I’m not taking in enough protein to keep up with the weight training and light cardio and my metabolism is canabalising my ass? I have never been a lifter so the past 2 years are the first my body has dealt with any real amount of muscle, plus I have always been naturally very low body fat.
Any incite would be MUCH obliged!
This makes no sense Ali! I sit much of the day but my glutes stay in shape because I lift hard 3-5 days per week. Same goes for many of my clients. Assuming you’re lifting with sufficient effort, I’d look at lifestyle factors such as sleep, diet, stress, protein intake, etc. Best wishes to you!
Hi Bret …..are you planning any visits or Seminars in EU in near future?