Introducing Glutes Builder Home and Box Training
Vol. 1

2022/10/24

Introducing Glutes Builder Home and Box Training
Vol. 1

In response to various changes in our living environments, more and more people are starting to do bodyweight training at home and are considering turning it into a home gym. This time, we'll introduce the newly released compact "Glutes Builder Home" and the "Glutes Box," which will expand the scope of your bodyweight training with just one device! We'll also share tips from Tomo Okabe to improve training efficiency and provide examples of hip exercises using the two types of equipment.

Okabe Tomo
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1985, she is the CEO of Venus Japan Co., Ltd. After graduating from high school, she studied exercise physiology and anatomy in the United States, and while attending the University of Florida, she obtained the NSCACSCS certification, which is required for sports trainers who can instruct professional athletes. As of July 2019, she operates four women's gyms, "Spice up Fitness," in Minami-Aoyama, Harajuku, Nagoya, and Osaka. In April of this year, she appeared on NHK's "Professional: Work Style," which caused a great stir.

We change our bodies through daily training. In reality, what is happening to the body is that it is simply "adapting" to the stimuli that enter it. As a result of this adaptation, the body becomes larger, stronger, or functions improve. Therefore, if you want to change your body from its current state, it is important to understand what changes will occur in the body as a result of that stimuli, and to stimulate your body to bring about the changes you want. In this article, I would like to talk about "stimuli."

The relationship between the three stimuli: There are three major phases in the response to training stimuli. The stimuli cause ① metabolic changes, ② muscle hypertrophy, and ③ adaptations to the nervous system. The three phases are not separate but are continuous, and there are adaptations in between, such as ① leaning towards ② and ② leaning towards ③. The stimuli you apply will vary depending on which of ① to ③ you want to bring about.

What kind of stimulus is needed to bring about metabolic changes (1)? The time under load per set needs to be longer, so a stimulus like high repetitions (15-20 repetitions) with short rest periods is needed. The longer the time under load, the more ATP, the smallest unit of energy, is used, allowing fatigue substances to be metabolized more quickly, improving muscular endurance. Simply put, it makes the body less susceptible to fatigue. The stimulus needed to bring about muscle hypertrophy (2), which increases muscle volume, requires increasing the load on each muscle fiber and promoting muscle protein synthesis through various stimuli (types of training). In terms of repetitions, a maximum of 8-12 repetitions is needed, with a longer rest period than (1), but a stimulus that pushes you to the point of no longer being able to lift. (3) Nervous system adaptations, as the name suggests, are responses that occur in the nervous system and are often referred to as strength enhancement. While not strictly the same, they allow you to contract more muscle fibers at once, more quickly. To achieve this, a maximum heavy load of 4-6 repetitions is needed, and the time under load per set is shorter, as opposed to (1). There is no specific exercise that is suitable for each of ① to ③, and even with the same exercise, the adaptive response will change depending on the combination of load setting and number of repetitions.

One thing you absolutely must not get wrong here is your understanding of the number of repetitions. What we are presenting is a guideline for the number of repetitions when you reach a point where you can't lift any more no matter what you do. For muscle hypertrophy, this means training with a load that will bring you to your limit after 8-12 repetitions, not doing 8-12 repetitions with a load that you can do 50 times.

There are two things to know about these three phases. First, the relationship between endurance, muscle size, and strength is not necessarily equal. It is possible to improve strength without changing muscle size, and just because you have strong endurance does not mean you have large muscles.

Another thing is that endurance, size, and strength all have a mutually enhancing relationship: when you can exert great strength, you become much better at training movements that will build muscle, and when you improve your endurance, you become more resistant to fatigue, allowing you to perform the last few exercises of a muscle-building workout without breaking down.

In short, it's all about balance. All three phases are necessary to keep your body evolving without stopping muscle growth, so it's important to understand this and think about what you want and what you choose at what time, and then put it into action.

It's perfect for advanced users who are well versed in training, as well as those who want to get started. It's a machine that grows with your knowledge and experience.

Always keep your center of gravity on your front leg, and when returning from a lowered position, don't stand up straight, but come up from your hips. Get into a position where the bottom of your front leg is perpendicular to the floor, and feel as if you are using your knee joint and hip joint to rise. Instead of switching legs one by one, if you're doing 15 repetitions, switch after completing all 15 repetitions.

Keep the feeling that your pubic bone is hitting the bench. Raise your chest just enough to avoid discomfort, but tighten your abdominal muscles and avoid arching your lower back. When raising and lowering your knees, feel as if they are rising because of the force in your buttocks. So, it's not good to raise them too high. Raising them too high will put strain on your lower back, so it's OK to raise them as high as possible until your body is in a straight line from your head to your knees. This is the moment when your buttocks are most likely to contract, so it's important to stop the movement.

Keep your entire center of gravity on your front leg. Simply place your back leg on the platform. The aim is to feel a stretch from the hips of your front leg to your hamstrings as you lower. If you feel any strain on the thighs of your back legs or the front thighs of your front legs, it's a sign that your center of gravity is off. There is only one center of gravity point for the front leg that is not in either of these two. Therefore, when you move, it's important to feel for any misalignment every time you move 1 mm, and that you are receiving the desired stimulation. Relying on momentum in your movements is a big no-no.

Be aware that you should be pointing your pubic bone towards your face. Once you've assumed the position, use your knees to open the band firmly and tighten your abdominal muscles to prevent arching of the hips and lower back. Rather than trying to lift your hips, imagine that the movement is occurring as a result of maximum force being applied to the muscles you want to work. It's also important not to kick up with the leg that's on the ground. If you hear a rattling sound from the platform you're standing on, it's a sign that you're kicking, so deal with it by focusing more on your hips.

If you hold a band, you'll immediately be thrown off no matter how high you jump. However, by pulling your hips back from your hip joints as you land, you can transfer all of the force of being thrown off to your hips and hamstrings. It's important to keep your knees from going forward, and as your squat becomes shallower as you continue, make sure to keep your hips firmly lowered to the line of your knees.

Position yourself so that all of your shoulder blades are resting on the platform. Rather than trying to lift the barbell, focus on putting maximum force into your hips, which in turn lifts the barbell. Unlike a deadlift, the hips are under the most strain at the end of the movement, when the bar has been fully raised. Attaching bands to both sides of the bar makes it difficult to use recoil, making it easier to see the contraction of your hips. This can also be modified within the hip thrust.

During a deadlift, your buttocks contract the most when you're standing up. However, since there's no load on your buttocks, attaching bands to both sides of the bar creates an environment where the more weight you pull up, the more strain the elastic puts on them. Conversely, when you lower the bar, the weight load increases, so your buttocks are both stretched and contracted.

When positioning yourself, keep the heel of your front foot on the floor without lifting it. Don't try to push the band up, but rather focus on letting the force in your hips naturally push the band up. Otherwise, it won't be as effective on your hips. Positioning the band above your knees, rather than your ankles, also makes it easier to work from your hips to your hamstrings. Also, don't forget to keep your upper body still so it doesn't move when your knees move.