Written by Team MD
07 February 2018

18wolf-feb7

Striated Glutes, Protein Shakes to Build Muscle, Cardio for Recovery & Growth

 

Butt-Blaster Workout

My question is about striated glutes. They seem to be the main area that people judge your condition on nowadays. Do you feel that the key to getting them is just being lean enough, or do you think specific exercises need to be done to bring them out? I’ve also heard people mention that the StepMill helps too.

 

The main thing is diet, of course. If you don’t get down under something like 5 percent body fat, there is no way you will see striations in your glutes. I also feel that training the glutes specifically helps, at least in my case because I don’t have naturally large glutes at all. I train quads one day, and on another day later in the week I do hamstrings and glutes. I use that “butt blaster” machine where you kick one leg back at a time, and I also use the hyperextension bench. Instead of contracting my lower back, I squeeze my glutes at the top— it’s a killer! I got that one from my friend Dennis James. And the StepMill is definitely the best cardio machine to hit the glutes. You can prove this to yourself if you’ve never used it. Try doing 20-30 minutes and watch how sore your glutes are the next day.

 

Losing Muscle While You Sleep?

Some guys talk about getting up in the middle of the night to drink a protein shake. They claim this helps keep the body from going into a catabolic state. Do you feel we are really in that much danger of losing muscle while we sleep? Do you get up and have a shake every night?

 

I do have a shake at night during my prep, just 40 grams of a casein/whey blend. It’s not that I am so worried I will lose mass. I think we all lose about 2-3 pounds of water weight while we sleep anyway. I just feel safer having that constant flow of amino acids in my system. So, I would go ahead and do the same thing. Just have it pre-mixed in a container so you don’t have to mix it up at 3:00 a.m. Just go to your refrigerator, drink it, and get right back to sleep.

 

Cardio for Recovery and Growth

I like doing weights four days a week and hitting cardio on the other three days. One expert said that you are better off having at least one full day a week off from any kind of exercise to let the body recover. But I don’t understand; why should my cardio days interfere with recovery if I’m not working any muscles? And also, if I had to do both weights and cardio in the same workout, I would be in the gym for at least two hours and I don’t like being in there that long— I get too hungry! Do you think I can keep doing my weights and cardio on the schedule I am now, or do I need to change something?

 

I actually think cardio is more important in the off-season than it is when you are dieting for a contest, because we are heavier. Cardio should be done just as much for the health of your heart and lungs as for losing fat or to keep from getting fat. I do it three mornings a week, and I find it helps with recovery and growth— it doesn’t interfere! But I don’t do it after weights in the off-season. I like to keep them separate. Should you have a day totally off from exercise? Only if you feel you need it. The schedule you are on now sounds OK to me.

 

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