Struggling to grow your glutes? Stop using resistance bands
If you’re one of the 1k people who Google ‘how to get a bigger bum’ each month, a recent study suggests that using resistance bands could be what is preventing you from hitting your goals. Here’s all you need to know.
The study’s methods
The study was undertaken on 12 men aged 20-22, with six to eight years’ experience of resistance training. They performed a 5-rep max for barbell hip thrusts; barbell hip thrusts using a resistance band; barbell glute bridges; and barbell glute bridges using a resistance band. The resistance band was always placed around the participants’ thighs, just above their knees.
The researchers used electromyography to measure the muscle activity in their upper and lower glutes, plus the glute medius. The goal was to test the hypothesis that by using resistance bands you better target both the glute maximus (the back of your glutes) and the glute medius (the sides of your glutes), since the bands require abduction tension (ie, you naturally push your thighs outwards to maintain tension).
The study’s findings
Contrary to popular opinion, the use of resistance bands failed to increase muscle activity in the glute medius (the sides of your glutes) in either hip thrusts or glute bridges. What’s more, activity in the glute medius actually decreased during the glute bridges, and the use of resistance bands decreased the amount that participants could lift by around 20kg.
The results did show that use of resistance bands increased muscle activity in the upper glutes for hip thrusts, but the authors of the study noted this was likely ‘trivial’ since hip thrusts are already effective for both upper and lower glute activation.
What does this mean for us?
The most interesting discovery, experts say, is that the use of bands limited how much participants could lift by such a significant amount (20kg). Building muscle is reliant on force output, and if this decreases so much from the weight that you usually lift, your muscles won’t elicit the response needed to grow stronger or bigger – a process known as hypertrophy.
The researchers concluded that using resistance bands for hip thrusts ‘may not produce the expected results’ and ‘cannot be recommended’, at least not with high loads, but it is worth keeping in mind that the sample group only included 12 well-trained males, which may not be representative of females as a whole, or females that don’t have much training experience.
Try it for yourself – if you find that you’re unable to lift as heavy when using resistance bands, the science suggests you’re better off going without.
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