The Booty Band Deception

Whats up people,

So I released a Women's bikini program recently, and it has sold well. I got some very encouraging feedback from the ladies that started it

There was one question I got that I ended up going on a rant in answering, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

This should be immensely educational

the question was this

"i just got the program and Im excited to start, I was surprised to see that you dont suggest using bands for any of the exercises? Can I ask why? I got the booty bands and Ive used them on and off, should I use them with your program?"

Im Glad to You asked

To be swift: Booty bands the Way they are used are objectively USELESS

POINTLESS

THEY ARE DOING NOTHING

STOP USING THEM

I will explain why, Strong statements require strong reasoning

Lets look at your ass muscles to learn visual context

Here we have the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus

These are the superficial butt muscles, the ones you can SEE. These are basically your bare cheeks.

The gluteal muscles, their primary function is to EXTEND the hip. Thats what they do. That is what they GROW FROM.

Watch this video of me doing HIP EXTENSION

Every productive glute exercise is some version of loading hip extensions

-Romanian Deadlifts

-Reverse Lunges

-Step-ups

-Glute Thrusts

-Squats with Hip extension emphasis

-Leg with hip extension

-45 degree Hyperextensions (a GLUTE exercise when done correctly)

Basically the hips extend backwards, the hips extend forwards.

If you want someone SPRINT, sprinting is an all out glute powered exercise

The muscles that are most responsible for Lateral Rotation of the femur are the Deep Lateral Rotators of the Hip

These are the muscles that are resisting the Band around the knees

These muscles are underneath the gluteal muscles. They are much smaller muscles in comparison, and they have limited potential for hypertrophy. They can get stronger, but theyre not going to dramatically contribute to glute growth at all

"But Dont the Glutes do External Rotation as well?"

To a degree they DO, but their force output is REDUCED. Your lateral rotators must actively resist against the band, which reduces the ability of the glutes to fire

Read that again. Your glute muscles are WEAKER when you go into an externally rotated position. The only time you want some external rotation is when doing a barbell squat and you need to get your feet wider in order to hip full hip extension because you are unable to achieve depth with a narrow stance

The best raw squatters dont need to get their feet wide to squat. The wider your squat, the LESS it works glutes

If Lateral rotation developed the glutes, we would see this in athletes who train in these positions, but we DONT

The two athletes who do the most external rotation work are Ballerinas and Sumo Wrestlers.

Neither of them have noteworthy glute development. Ballerinas do Lateral rotation constantly, every position in ballet is externally rotated. Yet the glute growth is limited. Dancers certainly have slim and toned bodys, but if what Fitness Influencers claimed was true, they would have dump truck booties. They do not

The other athlete that trains the Sumo position (external rotation, legs wide) is SUMO WRESTLERS

As massive as these men are, they actually dont have big butts. But they have is massive THIGHS.

Sumo squats, sumo leg press, wide stance anything, it is a THIGH exercise, adductors especially, with some quads, it is NOT glutes being worked much.

This brings us back to the booty band

The one usage for these bands is if someones pelvis is unstable and their knees collapse inwards when squatting

the band is useful to retrain them to stabilize their femur and laterally rotate.

BUT, you dont need to wear it continuously while squatting. It would be something you use as part of a warmup progression, and then you take it off and squat.

Its not improving your hip flexion function to keep wearing it, if anything its potentially creating long term dysfunction by creating a motor pattern of excess lateral activation. Anecdotally Ive seen women that use these end up with "piriformis" syndrome where their lateral rotators become excessively tight, and the booty band is the most likely culprit.

Do Your Exercises Normally

And if you are a woman that wants to grow her glutes the RIGHT WAY, get the Bikini Program.

Any questions?

Talk again,

Alexander