DAY 7 — THE POWER BEHIND THE CURVE
Why Strong Glutes Matter More Than You Think
By the BEAUX HOMMES Body, Fitness & Culture Desk
For six days, we’ve admired them.
We’ve discussed them in art.
We’ve talked about attraction.
We’ve talked about confidence, clothing, boundaries and why the human backside has occupied artists for thousands of years.
Today we’re going to explain why your backside may also be one of the hardest-working pieces of equipment you own.
Welcome to Day 7 of THE BUBBLE BUTT ISSUE.
And today’s message is simple:
YES, STRONG GLUTES LOOK FANTASTIC.
THEY ALSO HAVE A JOB TO DO.
Your gluteal muscles help you stand, walk, climb, run, stabilize your pelvis, extend your hips and generate power.
They help get you out of a chair.
They help propel you up a staircase.
They contribute when you lift something from the ground.
They work when you sprint.
They help stabilize you when you change direction.
And because they sit at the physical intersection between the torso and the legs, they participate in an astonishing amount of everyday movement.
So perhaps we’ve been unfair.
We’ve spent an entire week discussing how good they look in shorts.
Today—
THE BUNS GET THEIR PROFESSIONAL REVIEW.
FIRST: MEET THE GLUTES
When people say “the glutes,” they are actually referring to a group of muscles.
The largest and most visually obvious is the gluteus maximus.
It is one of the largest muscles in the human body.
Alongside it are the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, which contribute importantly to hip stability and movement.
Together, these muscles help control the pelvis and legs.
Translation for the non-anatomists:
Your backside isn’t just padding.
It is machinery.
Beautiful machinery, perhaps.
But machinery nonetheless.
THE GLUTEUS MAXIMUS: THE POWERHOUSE
The gluteus maximus becomes particularly important when the body needs force.
Standing up.
Climbing.
Running.
Jumping.
Lifting.
Driving the hips forward.
These movements require hip extension—the action of bringing the thigh and torso back toward a straight position.
Anyone who has performed a squat, deadlift, lunge or hip thrust has felt some version of this.
That’s why athletes develop powerful glutes.
Sprinters.
Football players.
Rugby players.
Weightlifters.
Bodybuilders.
Skaters.
Dancers.
The backside isn’t simply following the athlete around.
It’s helping move the athlete.
THE BODY WAS BUILT TO MOVE
One problem with modern life is that many of us spend enormous portions of the day sitting.
Office chair.
Car.
Couch.
Airplane.
Restaurant.
Computer.
Then we go home—
and sit somewhere else.
Human bodies adapt to what we repeatedly ask them to do.
That means a body asked to move regularly usually behaves differently from one asked to remain still for most of the day.
The solution isn’t to panic every time you sit down.
BEAUX HOMMES is quite fond of chairs.
The solution is simply to remember:
Your body expects movement.
Walk.
Climb stairs.
Train.
Dance.
Stretch.
Carry groceries.
Garden.
Cycle.
Move through your world.
Your backside will receive the message.
WHY THE GLUTES MATTER FOR WALKING
Watch somebody walk from behind.
This is an educational exercise.
We promise.
The pelvis shifts.
One leg moves forward.
The other pushes away from the ground.
The hips stabilize the body.
The gluteal muscles contribute to this entire process.
Walking looks effortless because your nervous system has practiced it for years.
But mechanically, it is remarkably sophisticated.
The body is continuously balancing itself on alternating legs while moving forward without falling over.
Your gluteal muscles participate in keeping that movement controlled.
So next time somebody tells you the human backside is merely decorative—
send them for a walk.
THE STAIRCASE TEST
Want to understand glutes?
Walk upstairs.
Now imagine doing it while carrying bags.
Or climbing several flights.
Suddenly your lower body starts making its contribution known.
Glutes and thighs help generate the force required to raise your body against gravity.
This is one reason lower-body strength becomes so important throughout life.
Those muscles aren’t only there for athletic performance.
They support ordinary independence.
The ability to climb stairs.
Stand.
Walk confidently.
Carry things.
Get down.
Get back up.
Those actions become increasingly valuable as we age.
YES—THIS IS AN AGING ARTICLE TOO
Young people often train because they want to look good.
Fair enough.
So do plenty of older people.
Also fair enough.
But somewhere along the way, an interesting thing happens.
Fitness stops being only about what your body looks like.
It becomes about what your body allows you to do.
At 25, squats may be about filling out a pair of jeans.
At 55, they may also be about maintaining strength.
At 75, strong legs and hips may contribute to something even more valuable:
Independence.
Being able to rise from a chair confidently.
Walking farther.
Navigating stairs.
Maintaining balance.
Continuing to participate in life.
That makes lower-body training one of those rare investments that can pay dividends in both the mirror and the real world.
BUNS AFTER 40? ABSOLUTELY.
We reject the idea that building or maintaining an attractive physique belongs exclusively to young adults.
Men can continue resistance training throughout middle age and beyond, provided training is appropriate for their health, ability and experience.
The goals may evolve.
At 25:
How much can I lift?
Later:
How well can I keep lifting?
Those are different questions.
Recovery begins to matter more.
Technique matters.
Mobility matters.
Joint comfort matters.
Consistency matters enormously.
And suddenly the intelligent athlete begins understanding something the reckless younger athlete sometimes ignores:
The goal isn’t merely to build a body.
The goal is to still enjoy living inside it.
THE POSTURE CONNECTION
Strong hips and a capable posterior chain contribute to the way a body carries itself.
This does not mean one exercise will magically “fix” everybody’s posture. Human posture is more complicated than that.
But strength around the hips, torso and back certainly participates in stable movement.
And visually?
Posture changes everything.
A man can possess extraordinary musculature and still disappear into poor carriage.
Another man walks into a room—
shoulders comfortable,
hips underneath him,
head up,
stride easy—
and everybody notices.
Sometimes what people interpret as beauty is partly movement and confidence.
Which brings us to an important BEAUX HOMMES observation:
THE WALK MATTERS.
THE WALK
You know the walk.
We all do.
Someone enters the room and there is rhythm.
Not exaggerated.
Not performed.
Just confidence.
The shoulders move naturally.
The hips move naturally.
The legs carry the body rather than dragging it.
There is ease.
Strong bodies often look attractive partly because strength can influence the way people inhabit physical space.
But confidence contributes just as much.
The most impressive posterior chain in Paris will not compensate for looking as though you’re apologizing for entering the café.
Stand up.
Move comfortably.
Take up the reasonable amount of space your body requires.
You belong there.
THE ATHLETIC BACKSIDE
Different sports develop the lower body differently.
A sprinter does not look exactly like a cyclist.
A dancer does not look exactly like a bodybuilder.
A powerlifter does not look exactly like a swimmer.
Yet many athletes develop strong hips and glutes because their activities demand them.
That’s worth remembering during an issue that celebrates a particular body part.
There isn’t one correct version.
Some glutes are large.
Some compact.
Some highly muscular.
Some rounded through genetics.
Some built through years of training.
Some belong to people who simply walk everywhere.
Bodies tell stories about what they do.
GENETICS STILL GETS A VOTE
This is important.
You can train intelligently and dramatically improve your physique.
But you cannot choose your skeleton.
You cannot completely rewrite muscle insertions.
You cannot order somebody else’s proportions from a catalog.
Some men naturally carry more fullness through the glutes.
Others are built differently.
One person touches a squat rack and suddenly appears to have been carved by a Renaissance sculptor.
Another trains for years and develops more gradually.
Life is unfair.
We knew this already.
Training can influence your body.
It does not make genetics disappear.
So use other bodies for inspiration—
not punishment.
BIGGER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER
We realize this is a dangerous statement to publish during THE BUBBLE BUTT ISSUE.
Nevertheless:
Size isn’t everything.
There.
Our attorneys have been notified.
A strong backside depends on more than circumference.
Proportion matters.
Balance matters.
Function matters.
The surrounding physique matters.
Strong hamstrings and legs help create visual continuity.
A well-developed back and shoulders affect the entire silhouette.
One isolated body part rarely creates a compelling physique.
This is something sculptors understood long before bodybuilding existed.
The body works as a composition.
BUILD THE WHOLE BACKSIDE
For readers who train, glute development usually benefits from a varied lower-body program rather than one magical exercise.
Movements commonly used in strength programs include:
Squat variations.
Deadlift and hinge variations.
Lunges.
Split squats.
Step-ups.
Hip thrusts or bridges.
Different movements emphasize the hips and legs differently.
Exercise selection should fit the individual.
Your experience.
Mobility.
Injury history.
Goals.
Equipment.
And what you actually enjoy enough to continue doing.
Consistency beats the theoretically perfect program abandoned after nine days.
If you’re dealing with pain, significant limitations or medical concerns, get individualized guidance from an appropriate qualified professional rather than trying to train through a problem because someone on social media told you to.
THE SQUAT DESERVES ITS REPUTATION
Squats have become practically synonymous with backside training.
There is good reason.
Properly programmed squatting develops multiple major muscle groups of the lower body and requires coordinated movement through the hips, knees and torso.
But there is no moral virtue in performing a specific exercise.
If a movement does not suit your body, goals or circumstances, alternatives exist.
The gym is not church.
You will not be excommunicated for changing exercises.
Train intelligently.
THE HIP HINGE
Another essential movement pattern is the hinge.
Think deadlift variations and related exercises.
Rather than simply bending at the knees, the hips move backward and forward while the torso changes angle.
Performed appropriately, hinging trains the posterior chain—the interconnected muscles along the backside of the body.
Glutes.
Hamstrings.
Back musculature.
The entire rear view gets invited.
Which seems appropriate for this issue.
THE SINGLE-LEG PROBLEM
Then there are lunges, split squats and step-ups.
These movements reveal a painful truth:
Sometimes one leg has been allowing the other one to do the paperwork.
Single-leg exercises challenge balance, coordination and strength in ways bilateral exercises may not.
They also resemble ordinary life.
We walk one leg at a time.
Climb stairs one leg at a time.
Step over things one leg at a time.
Human movement is full of asymmetry.
Training should occasionally acknowledge that.
THE HIP THRUST HAS ENTERED THE CHAT
Few exercises have become as culturally associated with glute training as the hip thrust.
Yes, the position sometimes looks ridiculous.
No, we are not holding that against it.
If an exercise effectively trains what you intend to train and can be performed comfortably and safely, the fact that somebody across the gym thinks you look silly is irrelevant.
Fitness requires occasional dignity sacrifices.
Every person who has ever made a weightlifting face already understands this.
DON’T FORGET RECOVERY
Muscle isn’t built merely by attacking it.
The body needs recovery.
Resistance training provides a stimulus.
Then the body adapts.
Food matters.
Sleep matters.
Recovery time matters.
Training quality matters.
This is why doing more and more work isn’t automatically better.
The goal is adaptation.
Not punishment.
You should not leave every workout wondering whether emergency services should be contacted.
YOU NEED FOOD
We occasionally encounter people who want to build significant muscle while simultaneously eating as though they are preparing for hibernation’s opposite.
Muscle requires nutrition.
Protein matters.
Total energy intake matters.
Carbohydrates can support hard training.
Dietary fats play important roles in normal health.
Fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods matter too.
The fitness industry loves making nutrition sound mysterious because mystery sells products.
For most people, the foundation remains remarkably unglamorous:
Eat appropriately.
Train consistently.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Do that for a long time.
That’s where the magic hides.
STOP EXPECTING A 30-DAY MIRACLE
Muscle grows slowly.
That’s the part nobody wants printed on the supplement advertisement.
Bodies change through repeated effort.
Months.
Years.
The men with remarkable physiques you admire often possess a training history invisible in the photograph.
Thousands of workouts.
Thousands of meals.
Periods of progress.
Periods of frustration.
Injuries.
Breaks.
Returns.
That should be encouraging.
A good body doesn’t have to be finished by Friday.
THE SEXY PART IS CAPABILITY
Now we arrive at something BEAUX HOMMES believes deeply.
We love beautiful bodies.
Obviously.
Have you seen the magazine?
But physical attractiveness becomes more interesting when the body appears capable.
A strong back suggests lifting.
Strong legs suggest movement.
Strong glutes suggest power through the hips.
A runner’s body tells one story.
A bodybuilder’s tells another.
A swimmer’s another.
Beauty becomes more than surface.
It suggests life occurring underneath.
That may be one reason athletic bodies have fascinated artists for thousands of years.
The body appears ready.
Ready to move.
Ready to work.
Ready to play.
Ready to live.
THE BEST BACKSIDE MAY BE THE ONE THAT WORKS
That brings us to today’s central idea.
The glutes we celebrate visually also perform real labor.
They participate in movement.
Sport.
Balance.
Training.
Ordinary independence.
So perhaps we should broaden our definition of a beautiful backside.
Maybe beauty is not only:
How does it look?
Maybe beauty can also mean:
What can it do?
Can it carry you through a city?
Climb a mountain?
Dance for three hours?
Help you lift something heavy?
Get you out of a chair when you’re 80?
Now the curve starts meaning something more.
BODY CONFIDENCE WITHOUT BODY OBSESSION
There is nothing wrong with wanting your backside to look good.
We encourage reasonable vanity.
Vanity has paid the salaries of barbers, tailors, photographers and magazine publishers for centuries.
But don’t allow physique improvement to turn into a permanent state of dissatisfaction.
Enjoy progress.
If your trousers fit differently—
enjoy it.
If somebody compliments your legs—
say thank you.
If you catch yourself in a mirror and think:
Not bad.
Excellent.
You do not have to immediately identify three flaws to prove humility.
Confidence and self-awareness can coexist.
FOR THE PEOPLE WHO JUST LIKE LOOKING
Today’s article is also for you.
Perhaps you have absolutely no intention of studying glute anatomy.
Perhaps your scientific conclusion is simply:
THEY LOOK GOOD.
Accepted.
But knowing a little about how the body works can actually make appreciation more interesting.
The next time you watch an athlete sprint—
look at the hips and legs.
Watch a dancer jump.
Watch a football player accelerate.
Watch someone perform a heavy squat.
The backside you admire in a photograph is suddenly doing something.
Human anatomy becomes kinetic sculpture.
That’s when physical beauty gets really interesting.
STRONG DOES NOT HAVE ONE LOOK
Please remember this.
Strength isn’t always visible.
A relatively small person may be remarkably strong.
A large muscular person may specialize in an entirely different kind of strength.
Athletic ability varies.
Age matters.
Body composition varies.
Training history matters.
Health conditions matter.
Never look at another person’s body and assume you know everything it can or cannot do.
Appearance gives us information.
It does not give us the complete biography.
MEN: TRAIN WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE
One recurring gym mistake deserves mentioning.
Mirror muscles.
Chest.
Arms.
Front shoulders.
Everything visible while facing the mirror receives enormous enthusiasm.
Then the man turns around.
The story changes.
Training the backside of the body matters aesthetically and functionally.
Back.
Rear shoulders.
Glutes.
Hamstrings.
Calves.
You live in three dimensions.
Train accordingly.
THE REAR VIEW TELLS THE TRUTH
Bodybuilding has understood this for decades.
A physique that looks spectacular from the front but unfinished from behind isn’t complete.
Rear poses reveal:
Back development.
Shoulder width.
Waist.
Glutes.
Hamstrings.
Calves.
Symmetry.
Proportion.
The backside becomes an entire composition.
That is why the rear view is so visually powerful.
The face cannot do all the work.
The body has to speak.
THE POWER BEHIND THE CURVE
So after six days of celebrating the curve—
today we celebrate the power.
The power to stand.
Walk.
Run.
Climb.
Lift.
Dance.
Stabilize.
Train.
Move.
Age with greater capability.
And yes—
fill out a pair of shorts rather impressively.
Two ideas can be true at once.
We can appreciate what the body looks like.
And appreciate what it does.
In fact, perhaps the second makes the first even more beautiful.
DAY 7 ADVICE FOR READERS
Move your body.
Train your legs.
Use your hips.
Walk more when you can.
Climb the stairs sometimes.
Build strength gradually.
Give yourself recovery.
Eat properly.
Don’t chase somebody else’s genetics.
Don’t measure health by photographs alone.
And don’t wait until mobility becomes difficult before deciding mobility was valuable.
Most importantly:
BUILD A BODY THAT HELPS YOU LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT.
If it also looks fantastic walking away—
we consider that an excellent bonus.
THE BUBBLE BUTT ISSUE RULE FOR DAY 7
Yesterday we said:
LOOK LIKE AN ARTIST.
Today:
TRAIN LIKE YOU PLAN TO KEEP USING THE BODY.
Because you do.
Your body isn’t an ornament hanging in a museum.
It carries you through every day of your life.
Take care of it.
Challenge it.
Appreciate it.
Let it recover.
And occasionally—
turn around and admire the results.
We won’t tell anybody.
DAY 7 — THE POWER BEHIND THE CURVE
Yes, strong glutes look fantastic. They also help you move through life.
Strength. Movement. Confidence. Longevity.
THE BUBBLE BUTT ISSUE
08.15.2026 — 10.01.2026
BEAUX HOMMES
A Magazine for People Who Appreciate Beauty
www.beauxhommes.com