Members in the gym often brag about how they lift heavy so then that must mean they’re in great shape. Tell me then why power lifters are mostly round, while bodybuilders are mostly chiselled?

In generic terms this is very true. Commonly in the gym I see lifting heavy will lead to muscle growth (hypertrophy). Men and women alike add as much weight to a bar as possible, lift the bar off the rack a distance of less than six inches to squat, and then rack the bar. This type of movement will not get you the results you are looking for if your goals are overall physique development.

In the example of glute development, most women are about 60% quad dominant meaning that while going up a flight of stairs, or walking, etc., the thighs are doing 60% of the work while the hamstrings, butt, calves are doing the other 40% of the work. It is tricky to get the glutes to say, “Hey, this is hard, we should help lift this weight”. The targeted muscles have to feel like they are doing work or you will not see the results you are looking to achieve.

For a lot of the exercises in your program such as, squats/lunges/deadlifts, the glutes have to be extended which will mean getting the angle between the back of your calves and thighs to less than 90 degrees.

So before you add five pounds to your walking lunges think about this – Did you feel your butt lifting you up or are your thighs leading the way? Are you confident that the reps you performed were completed through a full range of motion?

Workout with this in mind – Go DEEP. Not HEAVY.

– Coach Al

– Photo from Bodybuilding.com of the incredible Jamie Eason