St. Petersburg, FL, Saturday December 07, 2024
Dear Friend
I’m not going to pull any punches. You’re going to be angry and shocked by what I’m about to share with you.
When you stick to a program by the letter and do everything your trainer tells you, you expect results, right?
Well, what if you discovered all your hard work was causing you to be MORE prone to injury, was having ZERO effect on the shape of your butt and was leaving you with LESS strength and power?
What if you discovered you were ALWAYS going to fall short of the body you want, because…
You’ve been LIED TO about how to train your body’s BIGGEST muscle…
And it's cost you in your performance, your health and even how you look.
I’m talking about your glutes.
Your glutes are your body's most powerful muscle, yet they're also the most misunderstood.
As the engine for almost every lower body and back movement you make, they deliver raw strength and power… but only when properly activated.
It’s like you're sitting behind the wheel of a muscle car. You have all that raw power and strength lying dormant ready for you to unleash... but you don't know how to get past 30.
When you discover the right way to unlock your glutes, everything changes. You can put the pedal to the metal on your gains.
And you know when you've trained your glutes the right way, as you’re the proud owner of a strong, round, healthy butt.
I’ll explain in a moment how you’ve been misinformed about the right way to build strong glutes…
…but if you’re still stuck on squats and lunges to develop your butt, you need to stop NOW.
The "Squat Myth" has, for too long, left millions of men and women frustrated at their lack of progress, struggling to grow their behind.
And it gets worse. Not knowing how to train properly has left you with a problem - weak glutes.
Ignore those who say a strong, rounded butt is pure vanity. It's a sign of strength and good health.
You’ll NEVER get a great butt
with weak glutes.
You’ll NEVER get a great butt with weak glutes.
Weak glutes are often the "hidden" factor in most injuries, including poor posture, lower back pain, knee pain, hamstring strains, muscle imbalances and lower body injury.
Ever suffered a long-term injury that simply won’t go away no matter how much you treat the area of pain? It could be a cause of weak glutes.
A saggy or non-existent butt can be embarrassing. But when you’re denied a strong, round butt it’s a reminder every time you catch yourself in the mirror that your efforts are producing zero effects, leaving you frustrated and angry.
When your glutes lose strength, it affects your whole body. Other muscles are forced to compensate, causing imbalances and severe health consequences.
Here are just some problems associated with weak glutes:
Reduced power
Diminished athletic performance
“Flat butt syndrome”
Low back pain
Leg pain
Knee pain
Hamstring strains
Hip pain
Some upper body pains
Lower extremities injuries
Patella femoral pain syndrome
ACL sprains
Ankle instability
Iliotibial band friction syndrome
Poor posture
Muscle imbalance
Inability to lift heavier weights
Piriformis syndrome
Your glutes are the
powerhouse of your body.
Everything flows from this area. Whether you’re walking, running, climbing, jumping, stepping, sitting or even just standing without moving, your glutes are involved. The stronger your glutes, the more efficient your movement.
Strengthen your glutes, and you will run faster, you will jump higher, you will throw harder.
If this is a SHOCK to you, don’t worry - I’ve got your back. I’ve unlocked the secret to sculpting powerful glutes and a strong butt, and in a moment I’ll share it with you.
But first, let me introduce myself…
I'm Brian Klepacki, MS, CSCS - aka Coach Brian - a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with a Masters Degree in Exercise Science.
I've dedicated the last 16 years of my career to working at the cutting edge of training and exercise science.
As a Functional Movement Specialist, I know it's crucial to separate fact from fiction when it comes to training and performance. Step behind the headlines and you get the real story.
I know what works. I’m in the trenches using trial and error and applying proven principles every day working out with athletes, body builders and fitness models.
And this is where I do it…
Welcome to The Compound, our state of the art training facility in Clearwater, Florida.
The Compound is my testing ground working with elite athletes applying the latest science to improve their performance, health, and wellbeing. Every day, I put these principles into action.
And It’s Here I Cracked The Code Of Training Your Glutes To Force Them To Respond.
You see, everyone BELIEVES they have powerful glutes. But often their weakness is masked by strength in other areas. As soon as you isolate the glutes… then the realization hits.
It’s hard to take when you work so hard.
Body builders who spend their days squatting, doing lunges and deadlifting go to pieces when I put them on glute-specific movements. They’ve built a mansion on foundations of sand.
After a few minutes of glute exercises, they’re floored.
When they discover how weak they really are, they can barely look at me. But it happens all the time.
Compare this to sprinters who train at The Compound. They have a laser focus on glute-specific movements. When faced with the same program, their glutes deliver raw, unbridled power and speed. If you want to understand how to explode your glutes, look at these guys.
And, honestly… have you EVER seen a sprinter with a weak, flat butt?
The problem isn't how hard you workout. It may not even be your genetics or your diet. It certainly isn't your commitment, although it may feel like you’re trying everything and getting nowhere.
You see, it's not your fault.
You've been lied to.
When we trust trainers with our bodies, we expect them to know what they're doing, right?
But it turns out they don't. They rely on routines based on decades-old research and training principles, instead of combining the latest science with, you know, REAL WORLD experience working with athletes.
The worst are Instagram fitness “celebrities” giving out glute advice based on a flawed understanding of human physiology.
They misunderstand the muscle. They misunderstand how to activate the glutes. They misunderstand fundamental training principles.
They don’t give you the complete picture.
(Sure, they may have a great butt… but they’re 20 years old, have never had kids, have great genetics and may be taking extra-curricular supplements. But, hey, let’s not mention that…)
Instead, you’re left disappointed when you don’t get the same results.
That’s why I had to speak out. To fight back against the misinformation and myths that some trainers keep pushing on you.
There are THREE Glute Training Obstacles
standing in the way of you
getting the strong, powerful shapely glutes
you want...
Glute development barrier#1
The squat myth
To understand why so many programs get it wrong, let’s look at the muscle.
The glutes are made up of three muscles, the Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus. Each plays a role in stabilizing, supporting and mobilizing the legs, hips and lower half of the body.
Without getting too technical, there are three planes of motion glute muscles need to experience to grow.
If you want shapely glutes, you have to train all THREE planes of motion to get fullness - vertical, horizontal and rotational.
Most people do squats and deadlifts which are vertical movements. You still need to do lateral movements and twisting movements.
So you see why most programs fail because they don't target all three planes of motion.
You also need to stress each muscle using different exercise strategies.
Here's what complicates it. There isn’t one exercise that targets all three. To guarantee you target every part of each muscle you need three different exercise strategies in all three different planes of motion.
And that's why glute-specific training is the key to unlocking their power…
The Fix - Glute-specific training
To fully develop your glutes, your training needs to focus on two elements: 1) glute-specific movements and 2) targeting all three muscles, with all three exercise strategies in all three planes of motion.
By far, the biggest myth holding you back is that squats, lunges and deadlifts are glute exercises. They’re not. They’re leg exercises. They can activate the glutes incidentally, but they're all about the legs.
If you want stronger glutes, why aren’t you doing glute strengthening exercises?
You can see why it's easy to fall back on big compound moves, but there are 36 GLUTE-SPECIFIC movements to target each part of your butt. Some people - coaches included - may find that intimidating but there's a simple way around it.
There's a "secret" known to many models and fitness competitors who know a thing or two about sculpting a powerful butt. And it may transform how you work out.
Quite simply, they DON'T train glutes and legs together. (Why would they? They're completely different.)
Instead, they dedicate at least two sessions per week solely to hit their glutes. Their leg days fit around that.
It makes sense when you think about it. Glutes are the biggest muscle in your body. They get to have their OWN day.
So the question is, are you serious enough about growing your butt to follow in the footsteps of fitness competitors and commit to glute-only days?
Glute development barrier#2
Super long gym workouts
Let's smash another myth... that super long gym workouts are required to build your backside.
We've already learned that you're going to be training your glutes on their own day. You can get an extremely effective workout for one muscle group in as little as 15-minutes since you're targeting a specific area.
Sure if someone is training their entire upper or lower body that can take some time, but a killer glute workout will be counter-productive if exceeding 15-minutes.
Secondly, if you have a gym membership that's great but not a requirement.
There are lots of exercises you can to add resistance with your bodyweight or other common items that you can use in your workouts when exercising at home or when traveling.
The Fix - Include bodyweight exercises
If you have a gym membership that's great, but if you don't you can still develop your glutes with bodyweight exercises at home.
Study after study proves you can achieve serious growth through bodyweight exercises instead of heaving weights. You really can grow your glutes without setting foot in a gym (although adding resistance can speed up progress).
One study proved bodyweight exercises - hip thrusts - activated a comparable level of lower limb muscles as machine exercises . Another study suggested it was possible to improve muscle power and growth through bodyweight exercise with blood flow restriction . A further study showed muscle growth occurred without the need for resistance at all.
What these studies show are the benefits of incorporating bodyweight exercises without the injury risks associated with lifting weights.
Too much advice focuses on complicated movements that never really hit your glutes. Or the need to use 25 hard-to-find machines in your gym. I want to show you that seriously building your butt is as simple as a well-considered bodyweight plan.
There's a catch, though. None of what I've talked about above will give you the results you want if you're training a dormant muscle...
Glute development barrier#3
"Sleeping Glutes"
Your glutes are asleep. And the reason?
SITTING.
Endless studies show sitting hurts our physical health. It’s a "silent killer”. Unlike a sports injury, you don't realize the extent of the damage done until it's too late.
The only time we notice there could be an issue is when we sit for too long and get a numb butt. "Dead butt syndrome" or gluteal amnesia occurs when your glutes stop firing as they should.
The technical term for this is "inhibition". When you sit for a prolonged period, your glutes aren't activated. They get weak, and it has consequences for the rest of your body. Other muscles are forced to compensate for your glute weakness, and this may result in lower back, knee or hip pain.
They prevent your gluteal muscles from activating so you never perform at 100%. You can’t train a dormant muscle.
What's worse is that you can suffer from this even if you exercise regularly. You can't 'out-exercise' the effect of sitting.
Our muscles are dormant, so we need to wake them up. Time spent training a dormant muscle is wasted. That’s why you never get the gains you expect, despite your hard work.
When you look in the mirror wondering where your butt is and what more you can do, this is it. You need to WAKE UP your glutes.
The Fix - Wake up your glutes
The key to unlocking your glutes is its opposing muscle, the hip flexor. You see, sitting tightens the hip flexors preventing the glutes from firing.
To fire your glutes, we use a two-step protocol. It involves: a) dealing with tight hip flexors first and b) then re-activating the glutes.
Restorative stretching lengthens the muscle fiber to return the hip flexors to their original length.
To re-activate the glutes, we turn to a tool of physical therapists use to rehabilitate injured athletes: neuromuscular activation. This technique restores the mind-muscle link between your brain and your glutes, lost when you sit for too long and your glutes "switch off".
Stretching and muscle activation in that order is the ONLY way to kick your glutes into action from being dormant.
The good news. It only takes an additional three to five minutes of stretches and activation exercises to hit 100% of your potential. No matter what your goal is, adding a “Wake Up Protocol” gets you there faster, safer and probably a lot easier.
So now we know what the obstacles are that are stopping you from getting the glutes you want, it’s clear why…
Squats, Lunges & Deadlifts
Aren't The Only Answer
Squat, lunges and deadlift programs won’t give you the powerful backside you want.
You waste your time focusing on the wrong movements that train your entire legs and don't focus exclusively on your booty.
The latest research proves that the exercise I’m about to share with you activates more muscle fibers in the glutes than any other exercise in existence.
The #1 Exercise to Develop a Rounder, Stronger Butt is… The Hip Thrust
The Hip Thrust can be performed at home or at the gym.
In this position (anatomically speaking now), you are in the best position possible to achieve the highest level of muscle contraction since the muscles are shortest [1], and with consistent tension placed on the hips throughout.
A recent 2017 study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research proves this glute movement really is ideal for protecting the spine and knees from unwanted strain commonly associated with squats and lunges, developing strength and power at short muscle lengths [2], and maximizing muscular hypertrophy of the glutes.
Here's how to perform this move:
Step 1: Begin seated on the ground with a bench perpendicular to you and directly behind you. Lean back against the bench so that your shoulder blades are near the top of it. Begin the movement by driving through your feet, extending your hips vertically.
Step 2: With your chin tucked to your chest and your abs contracted, lift your hips up as far as possible, then reverse the motion to return to the starting position.
If you just added Hip Thrusts to your routine, sure that would help. However, you're on a mission to get the best butt you can and you need to incorporate these other modalities into your programming to take your glutes to the next level.
The strategy I developed at The Compound and successfully tested on my athlete clients includes
these essential techniques:
Restorative Lengthening:
Releases opposing muscles that are inhibiting your glutes.
Neuro-muscular Activation:
Develops the mind muscle connection and primes your butt for optimal recruitment of muscle fibers.
Spine Protecting Movements:
No unneeded pressure on the lumbar spine or knees so that the exercises are 100% safe for people of all levels.
EMG Proven Muscle Recruitment:
Exercise selection backed by science proven to stimulate the most muscle contraction and effectiveness.
Iso-Holds:
An under-utilized technique to build strength and power without lifting any weight.
Time Under
Tension Tempo:
Vary your repetition speed under resistance for the eccentric and concentric portion of the lift to make your workout faster and more efficient.
Don't let the science-talk terminology overwhelm you….
Developing an Athletic, Perfectly Curved Rear Can Actually Be Easy With the "GM3" Method
A "cookie-cutter" approach doesn’t work. I know, I’ve tried it.
Instead, we need the science-backed "GM3" Method to wake up and prime your body's largest sleeping muscle, release the inhibiting muscle group, and include exercises to build strength, muscle and burn ugly fat.
The "Wake Up" protocol of stretching and activation PRIMES your dormant glutes ready for hitting all three of your glute muscles with the three exercise types on all three planes of motion.
This is a straight-up GLUTE plan. It doesn’t include squats, deadlifts or lunges… just movements that set your rump muscles on fire.
Now you can walk away with glutes a pro-athlete would be proud of… in just 2 days a week without the complex training program.
When you follow this approach you will:
Speed up your path to more "junk in your trunk" in less than 30 days
Rapidly add size and power to your glutes, even if you don’t have access to a gym
Unlock the sleeping giant within and experience a new level of athletic performance you’ve had bottled up inside you
When I tested this program with the guys at Critical Bench - the Internet’s longest-standing strength site - they were shocked to discover how common these myths and misinformation were.
After only a few days on the program, the guys and girls over here couldn’t believe the increase in power and strength in their glutes… and these are people who workout EVERY DAY.
Critical Bench CEO Mike Westerdal said to me, “Brian, you have to share what you know… you need to help as many people as you can with this…”
So, after months spent putting everything I knew together for the world to see, here’s what I’ve got for you…