How to Increase Size & Strength in your Lower Body & Glutes...

A very popular goal female clients come to me with is a desire to build a strong lean physique while also increasing size in the lower body. Below I will explain how you can get started attacking these goals.

1. Dial in your nutrition, many do not eat enough protein to improve strength and size at the rate they desire. When female clients consume 120-140 grams of protein a day they will not need to train as hard or as long to get the results they want. When you train and do not fuel your body with enough, calories, protein and hydration your strength will increase at a much slower rate which in turn will slow down the growth rate you are looking for. 120-140 grams may sound like a lot of food but in reality its 3 meals, 1-2 protein shakes/bars, 1-2 snacks.

   
   

2. Not lifting enough during the week. Many will train the lower body once a week and think that will be enough volume/frequency. It is not, eventually your body will require more frequency the longer you've been training. You should at least train the lower body 2x/week, but, ideally 3x/week with a goal to increase size and strength.

   
   

3. Too much volume not enough heavy lifting, many do not lift heavy enough. Its ok to have heavy sets of 5 repetitions in your program for certain movements throughout the week. (Squat/Hack Squat/Hip Thrust/Single Leg Work (Lunges) etc.) Combining strength training with more volume on your accessory exercises is ideal. Remember a heavy set of 5 reps should be challenging and if you are doing sets of 8 reps or 15 reps, those last 2-3 reps should be annoyingly challenging to finish.

4. How to program for these goals. Programming will have a well rounded strength training focus for the upper body, while incorporating strength and more volume for the lower body. I'll show a brief example down below.

Day 1: Push/Pull Focus w/Lower Body

1. Barbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets x 8 reps

2. Lat Pull Downs or Chin/Pull-Ups : 3x8-10

3. Back Squats : 3x10x60-70%

4. Seated DB Shoulder Press: 3x8-10

5. DB Rows: 3x8

6. Barbell or Machine Hip Thrust: 3x12-15 (pause 1 second at the time w/60 sec. rest between sets)

7. Lateral DB Raises : 2x10

8. Front DB Raises : 2x10

9. 3-4 sets Sled Push + Reverse Pull (Walk Backwards)

Day 2: Lower Body/Press Focus

1. Back Squats: 3-4 sets x 5 reps x 75%

2. Bench Press : 3x8x60-70%

3. Walking Forward Lunges: 3x16 (8 reps/leg)

4. Incline DB Chest Press : 3x8

5. Barbell or Machine Hip Thrust : 3-4x8 (pause one second at the top) (60 second rest)

6. Leg Extension Machine: 3x12-15

7. Leg Curl Machine : 3-4x10

8. Adductor/Abductor Machine: 3x12-15

9. Calf Raises : 3x12-15

Day 3: Pull/Lower Body Focus:

1. Leg Press: 3-4 sets x 12 reps

2. Lat Pull-Downs or Chin-ups: 3x8-10

3. Barbell or Machine Hip Thrust: 4x5

4. Bulgarian Splits Squat: 3x8 (8/leg)

5. BB or DB RDL's : 3x8-10

6. Cable or Machine Rows: 3x8-10

7. Back Extensions: 3x12-15

8. 3-4 sets Sled Push + Reverse Pull (Walk Backwards)

*Remember, this is a small simple example on how to layout a program to increase strength and lean muscle mass in the upper body with even more focus on developing the lower body in strength and size, I am not including 1RM tests, drop sets and additional accessory movements I like during the course of a training week. This example is also made for healthy lifters without pre-existing injuries and conditions. Hope this helped!

-Michael Andreini, CSCS