Butt, bottom, booty, bum – whatever you call it, working the backside is a vital part of the balance, power and wellbeing equation and has been ignored for too long, as Tom Tawell reports

Glute workouts are booming, and not before time. As education about the importance of strengthening these muscle groups increases, people are beginning to recognise the wide range of benefits on offer to people across the demographic spectrum. 

The majority of back problems either arise due to issues with the glutes, or are exacerbated by them, meaning keeping a balance in terms of glute power is vital to good body maintenance. They’re also essential for achieving a high functioning physique.

Although glute workouts can create a fuller, firmer posterior for those focused on aesthetics, everyone from everyday gym-goers to bodybuilders, medical professionals, and sports teams are realising the importance of glute activation for physical function, strength, and performance. 

The benefits
Hasit Jethwa, tutor for The Training Room, a UK-based education provider for PTs, believes everyone should add glute exercises to their training routines: “The glutes play a huge biomechanical role in the body and – similar to the core – are heavily involved in many movements,” he says. “Think about your pelvis when it’s fixed or moving, and the chances are the glutes are doing much of the stabilising.

“Most movements are anterior chain dominated (front of body) so it’s massively important to work the posterior chain to balance it out,” he continues. “Much of the population suffers from hip flexor tightness, lower back pain, and IT band tightness, so having workouts that enable correct glute activation scheduled into your programme is going to ease all of those issues as you get older.”

When performed consistently, glute workouts can support people at every stage of life, as Jethwa explains: “One of the biggest benefits of glute training is the prevention of lower back pain, as they play a huge role in stabilising the trunk which reduces pressure on your lower back, including the vertebrae, and avoids potential issues such as disc hernias. Having strong, stable, mobile hips can also help to prevent falls amongst older adults.”

Essential for elite sports
Glute workouts also benefit professional athletes. Alexander Hallafors, founder and director of Scandinavian Top Team, is an elite personal trainer who has coached world champion boxers, UFC fighters, members of the Swedish national football team, and Stanley Cup-winning ice hockey players, to name but a few. He says glute training is becoming one of the fundamental pillars for sports performance and injury prevention across all sports.

“Butt workout machines are starting to be seen as a must-have piece of equipment in all the big performance centres and the training programmes of most of the world’s elite-level athletes,” he says. “The Booty Builder machine, for example, has been a staple in many of my clients’ programmes for the last two or three years.”

Regardless of the sport, and the standard being played, there is good reason why athletes are turning their attentions to glute workouts, as Hallafors explains: “All sports are focused around having powerful hips, and studies have shown that exercises like the hip thrust are better for horizontal power output than traditional squats, for example. This is why many elite athletes are now prioritising glute workouts as part of their training programmes. Maximum strength hip thrusts are also a big part of athletic strength tests to determine physical performance and injury risk.”

Looking at two of the world’s favourite sports, it’s clear to see why glute workouts are so important. “If you’re a football player, you need to be able to sprint at top speed, jump high, and kick with full power; all of which is determined by how well functioning and strong your glutes are,” says Hallafors. “In boxing, you always hear ‘punch with the hip’ and that refers to being able to torque the hip to let the whole body get behind the punch, so the punch gets more powerful. The torque of the hip is controlled by the glutes.” 

Besides the advantages for athletic performance, Hallafors says the glutes play a major part in injury prevention – crucial to the success and longevity of an individual or team: “Strong and functional glute muscles help control the knee, and also have a big impact on lower back health. When it comes to sport, we know that the athlete or team that remains the healthiest, and free from injuries, will ultimately be the most successful.” 

Overall, the appeal and benefits of glute workouts stretch far beyond the demographics sometimes associated with them, namely those looking for a ‘Kardashian-esque booty’. Glute workouts are for all ages, genders, and ability levels, especially when performed with glute-specific equipment.

Operators’ perspective
The glute workout trend is causing growth in the market, with Booty Builder – manufacturers of one of the original hip thrust machines – reporting 800 per cent global growth in 2019.

Gymbox, in London, one of the UK’s most forward-thinking operators, has been championing glute workouts for some time and recently invested in Booty Builder for its club in Ealing, viewing this as an important aspect of its member offering and experience. 

Tom Atkinson, head of personal training for Gymbox, explains what he’s been observing on the gym floor and why the business continues to back glute workouts: “Over the last 10 years, training the lower body has become so much more popular for the average gym-goer, and the emphasis on glute training has grown tenfold. One of the best things about having a ‘hip thruster’ in the gym is that it allows us to highlight to members that the main movement performed in everyday life is the hip extension; something that occurs every time we sit or bend down.”

David Hammond, general manager for Bannatyne Health Club Shrewsbury, which serves a broad demographic, has also witnessed the increasing desire for glute workouts. “Isolating the glutes is certainly a trend and something that people are actively looking to do,” he explains. “We were noticing a lot of people - both men and women - in our free weights area improvising by lying with their shoulders on a bench and a loose bar on their hips to activate the glutes. So, having a machine designed specifically for this purpose allows them to do this more safely and effectively.”

While glute exercises, in terms of functional training, have been around for years in various formats, Hammond also makes the point that people now want to do this with serious weights to achieve the desired results, either for aesthetics or performance. This reinforces the benefit of having specialist equipment. “The members of our gym who use Booty Builder are loving it – it’s what they wanted and needed, and they feel the design and mechanics of the machine work really well to isolate the muscles while enabling them to progressively and safely increase the weight,” he adds. 

Booty calling
The growth of the aesthetic market is undoubtedly a big driver of the new interest in glute workouts, with ‘booty shots’ and selfies a staple of social media channels such as Instagram.

Gone are the days when people asked ‘does my bum look big in this?’ today, the question is more likely to be, ‘Does my bum look big enough in this?’, such is the fashion for a well-formed derrière.

Operators with members wanting to enhance their glutes for aesthetic reasons are finding that the provision of specific glute-building kit reduces their risk of injury while working out, increases the effectiveness of the workout and functions as a strong marketing signal that they are offering members what they want.

The provision of glute-specialised equipment has the advantage that it can be used by a wide range of members seeking different outcomes.  

All demographics
According to Atkinson, glute workouts are being utilised by an ever-expanding pool of exercisers. “There’s been a huge increase in people doing specific exercise movements targeted to every different muscle structure in the lower body, from the hamstrings and glutes to the quads,” he says. “People are really diversifying their training to get stronger and more powerful and that’s being reflected right through the user groups, from your everyday gym-goer to amateur and professional athletes. And it’s not just the women working this area, we see a very even split between men and women doing glute workouts at Gymbox.”

Tracy Morrell, director of React Fitness, UK distributor for Booty Builder says: “We have a very diverse range of customers, from the military and United Nations to sports teams and fitness clubs. This proves there’s a real demand for glute workout equipment across multiple demographics and sections of the industry and, therefore, growth potential in this area. With our expanding family of glute-building products, we’re hoping more people will discover the advantages of these workouts for their physical health and performance.”