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You will have goals for working out. A future vision of yourself. For an increasing number of women, this includes a bigger, firmer and more muscular posterior. There’s no denying the fact that the glutes are on a lot of people’s radar these days which is why we took a look at how to make the best of them through nutrition and fitness.

You are all probably familiar with the gluteus maximus or buttock muscles. They are perhaps what you’re sitting on right now. Fewer of you are probably aware that there are another two glute muscle groups located underneath the gluteus maximus. They connect the hip bone to the femur (thigh bone) to the base of the spine at the coccyx (tailbone) and sacrum bone which connects the pelvis to the spine. They combine to give everything shape back there.

Being muscles, they are no different from biceps and triceps. The way to make them bigger and better is to work them with a training regime. There is plenty of information and advice about growing a bigger booty. We’ve sifted through it all so you don’t have to.

Aesthetics aside, having strong glutes has been proven to help you maintain stability and strength, improve your posture, give you more power and add to your general fitness, health and wellbeing. If you need inspiration check out the next professional sportsperson or dancer who walks past you. Subtly, of course. You don’t want to be caught looking too closely but a bit of research will demonstrate that spending time on a regime of booty building will benefit you overall.

Glute Bridges: are a great starter exercise for all levels. Lie on your back, bend your knees, brace your heels and lift your pelvis for a few seconds and then drop back down. Repeat You can add a weight or resistance loop should you wish, or do them unencumbered.

Hip Thrusts: are easy too. Start with your back against an elevated bench, just below shoulder blade level, with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and your elbows, should you wish, can be rested on the bench. With you chin tucked in, push through your thighs until your hips are forward and your thighs a parallel to the floor. Squeeze your glutes. The return to the start.

Dumbell Reverse Lunges: add a bit of weight. Start by standing straight with your dumbells down by your sides then brace your core muscles. The reverse lunge is a giant step backwards. Start with your your left foot. Bend your right knee until it’s at 90°, and lower your left knee until it is also bent at a right angle. Then push back up and return to the starting position. Repeat with alternate legs.

Dumbell Step Ups: sound simple but they are incredibly effective. Again start with a strong core and the dumbbells by your side. Keep your heels flat and step up on to a box or bench. Your knee should be turned slightly outward. Bring both feet on to the box keeping your torso tall and proud. Reverse to step of the box, then repeat

The Romanian Deadlift: is a classic weightlifting technique that will work your glutes brilliantly. Stand with a bar or weight already in your hands, arms fully extended. Slowly lower it by slightly bending your knees and bending at the hips while keeping your back straight. Go until you feel a slight stretch in your hamstrings – usually when the weight has just passed your knees – then drive your hips forwards and use your thighs to power back up to a standing position. Repeat.

You can eat it ‘if it fits in your macros’ has become established as a way of managing your food intake. It’s become so popular it has been shortened to the handy acronym IIFYM in fitness circles. It describes a world where you can eat anything in moderation if you know the impact it will have on the macronutrients you are consuming.

The term ‘macronutrients’ refers to the main nutrient groups of protein, fat and carbohydrates. The IIFYM centres on balancing, rather than restricting, food choices based on the level of macronutrients you need to achieve your fitness goals – whether that is weight loss or muscle gain for example.

IIFYM has many benefits over other approaches to managing your diet. We have summarised three key points below, but they all centre on giving you choices around what you eat.

Enjoyment: IIFYM allows you to make informed choices about your favourite foods. This means you can even enjoy crisps and snacks, but understanding the amount of protein, fat and calories you’ve consumed will help you know when to stop.

Knowledge: (By tracking foods on MyFitnessPal, over time the understanding of foods and macronutrients improves. In the long term, this will slowly help to improve your healthy habits on your long term lifestyle transformation.⁣)

Freedom from guilt – Labelling foods ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is not helpful. A chocolate bar can make you happy and lentils can make you depressed, so which is good? Which is bad? We can give different nutritional values to food but moral values feel a stretch. It’s much better to feel comfortable enjoying the food you love, even if that is Cheese & Onion crisps, within moderation. You can do this if you understand how they contribute to your fitness goals. This comes from balancing your macronutrients – fat, protein and carbohydrates.

The good news is we can kickstart your IIFYM journey. Assessing your macronutrient requirements is an important part of any initial assessment we do. We will help you set daily targets too. You can then use a food tracker, such as MyFitnessPal, to monitor and report the fat, protein and carbohydrates you are taking on. Our nutrition coaching, including daily communication and weekly check-ins, focuses on keeping you motivated to hit your goals.
You won’t reach your fitness goals through IIFYM alone. It is merely a tool to help you manage your diet. It is the best we have because it informs and educates rather than restricts you. One simple question ‘Is It In Your Macros?’ is all you need to know before making a food decision. In a stroke, that removes the pressure and guilt from keeping to your diet.

Meal plans are everywhere. You can’t avoid them. Intermittent fasting plans, plant-based menus, low-carb and low-fat diets, paleo recipes, the Mediterranean way of eating, Weight-Watchers… the list goes on.

And we know why. Sometimes being told what to eat and when to eat it can be useful. Especially if you’re leading a busy life and want to make shopping quick and easy. The problem is, however, sticking to instructions and eating the same meals day after day without understanding the reasons why they’re important becomes more challenging over time. That’s why people find diets hard to stick to and meal plans become a temporary solution. We are in the business of educating our clients about food instead. We want changes to stick.

Rather than issue simple guides and plans we focus on changing nutrition habits as part of our wider online fitness coaching packages. Changing your diet really only works if, at the same time, you make lasting changes to your exercise routine and lifestyle.

Coached by GLJ gives you all the knowledge and motivation you need to achieve that without a raft of rules to follow. Firstly we get to know you through a detailed one-to-one assessment. One size definitely does not fit all, if you’ll excuse the pun.

It’s important that you feel we match our services exactly to your needs. This is something a general meal plan could never achieve. We then put an individual package together for you that covers so much more than just your meals. Twinned with an exercise plan, our calorie and macronutrients guidance does more than managing your food groups. It educates you so you can make decisions without doing anything as drastic, or hard to stick to, as cutting elements of your diet out entirely. We can honestly say, we allow you to eat any favourite foods including chocolate. You will just know the impact they will have on your fitness so you can decide how much or little you want. It’s so much more effective than a meal plan. And, because it is part of our trademark online fitness coaching, we’re there to motivate and encourage you every step of the way.

We are not focused on weight loss at Coached by GLJ. In fact, many of our clients come to us wanting to weigh more. This is because of our expertise in using online coaching to build muscle.

We know a whole industry has grown up around protein supplements and, of course, high-protein meal plans. They promise great things, but in our view oversimplify the task of adding muscle mass. The right approach will depend on where you start, your general levels of fitness and your preferred method of exercise as much as what you eat. We’re not all fans of lifting weights at the gym, for example. Yes, diet, protein and calories will all play a role but the best way to gain muscle will be unique to you. Your nutrition and exercise plan should be unique to you too. That’s exactly what we specialise in at Coached by GLJ.