Adding Glutes to Thinner Leaner Stronger 1 year plan?

[phouglas]

Hey lovely ladies,

I'm a newbie lifter (lifted for a few months a few years ago and got really into it but had to stop due to a complex twin pregnancy) I've recently got back into lifting heavy and after dithering over Strong Curves (SC) or Thinner Leaner Stronger (TLS) I decided to go with the TLS One Year plan as I felt SC lacked upper body. TLS seemed like a more rounded plan, however I (like many) dream of building a big, round dump truck of a butt. Is there anyone who has done TLS 1 yr and modified it for better glute building?

So far I'm adding Hip Thrusts to the two lower body days and trying to add one or two glute accessories to any day I can fit them in. Ttime allowing I try to do one or two of mostly either cable pull throughs, abduction machine or glute focused back extensions (although I'm looking at adding cable kickbacks and reverse hypers too).

I'm concerned with

• A) Hitting glutes enough

&

• B) Getting a rounded (pun intended) glute work out to hit and perk that underbutt, grow that shelf and shape those hips.

My current 3 day split (modified) is as follows:

Monday (Glute & Leg Day):

• 3 × Squat (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Leg Press
  
• 3 × Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Hip Thrust (Barbell)
  
• 3 x Glute Accessories (various)

Wednesday (Upper Body & Core)

• 3 × Bench Press (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Overhead Press (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)
  
• 3 × Seated Triceps Press
  
• 3 × Hanging Leg Raises
• 3 x Glute Accessories (various)

Friday (Lower Body & Pull - Legs & Back))

• 3 × Squat (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Deadlift (Barbell)
  
• 3 × Bent Over One Arm Row (Dumbbell)
  
• 3 × Lat Pulldown - Wide Grip (Cable)
  
• 3 × Hip Thrust (Barbell)
  
• 3 x Glute Accessories (various)

Squats are my nemesis, I struggle with achieving deoth and forward lean. Thry just feel completely unnatural *as opposed to deadlifts and bench where my body just gets it?) . I'm forcing myself to just squat the bar at the moment until I feel more comfortable, I'm better with a very wide stance, feet turned out and plates under my heels but it doesn't feel good even if my form looks fine. If I'm still not comfortable I may switch to Bulgarian Split Squats, can I still get glute gains with these?

 

[oldworshipper]

@phouglas Beginner here, so do take this with a grain of salt.

I personally find doing hip thrusts/glute bridges twice a week for my leg days to be tiring enough if you go heavy on the weights. I do that and super set it with B stance/Single leg rdls.

• Depending on the foot position during leg press, different muscles are targeted.

 

[phouglas]

@oldworshipper Thank you, I've heard b stance mentioned a few times so will look into it. Never thought about supersetting, great idea!

 

[thelordismyshepherdloljks]

@phouglas I did TLS as a newbie and modified it with more glutes by adding hip thrusts on lower body days. I did the 4-day split and wrote about it, if you want to see exactly I did.

One note though: you didn’t mention the nutrition side of things. You’re more likely to grow your butt on a calorie surplus and sufficient protein intake. If you stay in maintenance and recomp, it’ll happen but more slowly.

Good luck!

 

[phouglas]

@thelordismyshepherdloljks Thank you I'll take a look at your post! I did a search before posting so not sure how I missed it

 

[catholics_r_christians]

@phouglas As far as squats go the way you are built might mean you have to lean forward a little more to do a proper squat for you

Check out Squat University on Instagram and YouTube. They have videos/posts that help explain how different builds means different styles of squats and they are all good form

 

[phouglas]

@catholics_r_christians Thanks for the advice, I'm only 5ft 2 but I believe I have long femurs proportional to the tibia of my and deep hip sockets which are making squatting very difficult. I can just about reach parallel after lots of practice even though I have more forward lean than I'd like. My work out partner says my form looks fine after much practice but I'm still only squatting the bar as it still feels all wrong and like the movement is completely unnatural for my body? I wonder if part of it is just needing to get stronger and training myself to be used to the movement.

 

[dawn16]

@phouglas That honestly might be a big part of it, my bench press just felt AWKWARD for so many months, and I refused to add any weight to it. Eventually my dad sat me down (he was a competitive powerlifter) and told me “look, your form is completely fine and the only way it will start to feel less awkward is if you actually start DOING it”. He was right, haha.

I would try a low bar squat and play around with that form, but other than that honestly just try adding some weight and the movement will start to become more natural the more you do it.

 

[de]

@phouglas Try a wider stance. My hips dictate a wide stance for me.

Do you do high bar or low? Try the other. I squat low bar, it works better for me.

 

[phouglas]

@de I do a very wide stance anyway otherwise I physically can't squat. I do high bar. Would low bar be okay if I already have a forward lean?

 

[fkjg]

@phouglas Re: squats. they never felt good to me either, even though I can do them with "good enough" form, whereas deadlifts are life. They also tend to put too much pressure on my lower back, because at the bottom, the bar is too far from my hips. I'm tall (5'11"), with long legs, and the length of my femurs clearly don't help. Front squats do feel a lot better, except the bar kills me lol. My solution is the safety bar, which puts the weight somewhere between back and front squats. I can stay more upright, go deeper, and nothing hurts apart from my quads. If your gym has one of those, try it.

And yes, BSS do work the butt a lot, but since they're not easy to load heavy, you have to go with lots of reps, or pyramids. You will feel the burn if you do them right. I love (hate) them, but I never felt like they are a good replacement for heavy squats.

One thing I don't see here that also make my butt burn are single-leg deadlifts.

 

[phouglas]

@fkjg Thank you this is really helpful! I'll have to see if my gym has a safety bar, I haven't heard of them before. I'm okay without of reps if it gets me the shape I want

 

[jaz2001]

@phouglas Regarding strong curves:

I have this comment saved so I can copy/paste where necessary. For anyone who doesn’t know, Bret Contreras is a dirt bag trash human. Don’t give him social follows, don’t buy anything from him, etc etc. Info in the FAQ here or you can Google it. Use his workouts for free if you must but there are many other trainers with glute knowledge and plans, including one of the woman he abused, Sohee Lee. Give her your attention instead. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

 

[phouglas]

@jaz2001 I have seen people say similar, I bought the book a few years ago before this all came out. I'm not doing SC but even if I was he wouldn't be getting any more money etc from me.