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TRAINING
HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY GROW A BOOTY? MY TOP 5 TIPS
It’s safe to say I know a butt load 😉 about growing a perfect peach. Even with all of the free content I put out there, I still get asked.. “Howww do you grow a booty like that??”. So I’m going to break this down nice and simple for you in 5 top tips - thank me later.. like 6-12 months later (this will make sense once you’ve read point 3).
SOPH'S TOP 5 TIPS FOR GROWING THE PERFECT PEACH
1. PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD
The analogy I like to use to explain progressive overload is to think about it like getting a sun tan. When you go out in the sun the first time you’ll notice you build some colour pretty quickly (preferably a tan and not a burn - slip, slop, slap pls) - but overtime it becomes harder to build upon that tan. You need to stay out longer, or go out when the sun is at its peak UV rays.
Training is much the same - if we hit the muscle we’re focussing on with the same stimulus over and over, it’ll stop being challenged by it and stop growing.
There are a few ways to achieve progressive overload in the gym:
- Increase weight lifted
- Increase reps
- Increase sets (volume)
- Improve technique (greater range of motion)
- Increase time under tension (paused reps, slow eccentrics, quarter reps)
Now here’s where people go wrong with progressive overload:
They think that in order to keep the muscles stimulated they need to mix things up every session so the muscle doesn’t adapt to what we’re dong W R O N G well.. kinda. We don’t want the muscle to adapt too quickly and before its adapted we want to change things however, it takes time for the muscle to adapt to the stimulus.
This is why I program in 4 week blocks (mesocycles). My TWS girls follow the same program every week for 4 weeks before I change it. I design all of my girls programs to build session to session - they will have a focus for each mesocycle. Their goal will either be to increase reps, weight, both or improve technique so they’re continuously progressing.
If you’re after a training program focussed on progressive overload specific for the glutes - check out my Grow your Glutes training program in the Train With Soph coaching platform here.
2. NUTRITION
You’re not eating enough! You know how when we want to lose weight we need less energy available in our body to store so we need to consume less food? Well, we need sufficient energy in our body to go towards building the muscle - enter the calorie surplus.
By slightly increasing our food intake to be above where we maintain, we may see faster results for muscle building.
A few notes;
- Yes you can build muscle when dieting BUT this is for more novice trainers (you will need sufficient protein)
- Yes you can build muscle from maintenance calories (again for more novice trainers) or just a slower approach for more advanced trainers
- Yes you will gain fat when you eat in a surplus - I like a more conservative surplus of 100-200 additional daily calories.
- Some people will need a more aggressive calorie surplus than others for this to be effective
- You’ll need to get comfortable with putting on fat - this is part of the deal, you can diet to lose the fat gained after your building phase
- You need to commit to this - consistently eat in a surplus, ideally from whole foods, sufficient protein + carbs and accept that it will take time (minimum 4 months for a surplus) up to 8 months is ideal
3. GIVE IT TIME
You impatient little thing! Just like Rome, a big booty won’t be built in a day (unless you hit up Kim K’s surgeon). Building muscle takes TIME as I mentioned above anywhere from 4-8 months is a good time frame to be eating in a surplus and doing a building phase. Even longer to see results if you’re doing it from a deficit or maintenance.
People build muscle at different rates, just like people lose weight at different rates too. If you’re really serious about getting results, you need to commit to the long term game plan.
4. EXERCISE SELECTION
You want to be hitting the glutes with a range of exercises (mostly compounds) and working them through all of their functions:
- Hip extension - back extension, glute bridge, walking lunge, deadlifts
- Abduction/ adduction - seated abductions/ adductions
- Posterior pelvic tilt - hip thrusts
- External/ internal rotation - side clams, fire hydrant
Side note - make sure you’re weight training. Cardio won’t grow shit.
In the Grow your Glutes program in TWS I use a Daily Undulating Periodisation scheme where we hit the glutes with low, medium and high reps with a range of low, moderate and light weights. The glutes can handle volume (say 3 sessions a week + 1 lighter training band one if you like) as long as you’re able to recover sufficiently - which brings us to the final point.
5. RECOVERY
If there was one common error in every single persons training program it would be lack of rest and recovery. It is so, so heavily underestimated. Can you guess when most of our gains occur? When we’re recovering! (you get a gold star.. or peach).
If we’re unable to recover properly our training will suffer, we won’t be able to increase our strength through reps, weight or technique and we’ll be stuck with our progress.
What does recovery look like?
- Sleeping more and sleeping better (quantity isn’t everything, quality is key with our sleep)
- Supplementing with Magnesium
- Low intensity walks
- Baths/ saunas
- Plenty of water
- Stretching and mobility work
So, now you know the secrets to glute growth success - but how do you program and progress week to week or mesocycle to mesocycle? You hire yourself a damn good coach to write a program and cut out the messing around - I’ve got you using the exact techniques I’ve used and experimented with for the best results. Let me glutes speak for themselves (ew not like that). Find the perfect program for you and your goals on my coaching page here!
Love Soph x