Why fitness bros are embracing the ‘big butt' trend
We've all heard the joke – that 'glute days' were something straight men skipped, and even mocked.
The focus was always on having big arms or a six-pack, because that's what women liked.
But now, straight men around the world are no longer neglecting their backsides and are focusing on exercises to give them a 'shelf-like butt'.
Fitness bros are now fighting to use the hip thrust machine and swapping chest presses for dead lifts.
Meanwhile, thousands of men are flocking to pilates classes, which is only adding to the idea that they're more focused on their glutes than ever.
And the fact that over 400 men in the U.S. had Brazilian butt lifts last year backs this up – pun intended.
Even brands are embracing the trend, launching male butt-enhancing leggings, underwear, and chinos.
'It was once laughed at,' said fitness coach John Rusin to GQ.
'And now people are standing in line at commercial centres to use the hip thrust machine.'
Social media feeds reflect this change, with male fitness influencers talking directly to their followers about how to grow their glutes.
But why has this shift occurred, and what are the potential fitness benefits?
Reason behind the shift
Like with most fitness trends, there's no one single reason for the change.
Some fitness buffs simply want to look good from all angles.
For others, it's about how stronger glute muscles help power other exercises, from lifting to running.
For some, like Sydney-based gym-goer Jake, 35, growing his glutes was all about helping his lower back issues.
'I knew that I needed to grow my glutes to strengthen my lower back area,' he told news.com.au.
'The bigger glutes I gained from my rehab exercises were never a priority, but a nice bonus.'
Rusin says this isn't an uncommon story.
Strong glutes are known to help you move better: protect the knees; support the hips; and reduce lower back pain.
'Whether you're a man or woman, you can't afford not to train them,' he explained.
Another reason for the shift is that male aesthetic trends often follow queer trends, and gay men have long appreciated a good butt.
And the GQ writer suggests that female preferences are changing too, with 81 per cent of women who date men saying they 'love a good man butt'.
Gyms are catching onto this shift, with companies like F45 now adding more glute-focused training to their workouts.
'We're adding more unilateral movements like single-leg RDLs and split squats, as well as sled pushes and hip-dominant step-ups. This is becoming more popular,' a spokesperson for F45 told the outlet.
Tide is turning
Jake says he's embracing the trend and will keep prioritising lower-body training.
But he notes there has long been a stigma around these types of exercises for guys in his fitness community.
'I think focusing on glutes specifically has always come with a bit of a giggle,' he said.
'There's this idea that no one wants to be thought of as the guy who wants a good booty.
But if you're skipping leg day, you're missing out – and you'll be the guy on the beach in summer too afraid to wear budgie smugglers.
'Drop the ego and drop your third upper body day of the week.'
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News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Why fitness bros are embracing the ‘big butt' trend
We've all heard the joke – that 'glute days' were something straight men skipped, and even mocked. The focus was always on having big arms or a six-pack, because that's what women liked. But now, straight men around the world are no longer neglecting their backsides and are focusing on exercises to give them a 'shelf-like butt'. Fitness bros are now fighting to use the hip thrust machine and swapping chest presses for dead lifts. Meanwhile, thousands of men are flocking to pilates classes, which is only adding to the idea that they're more focused on their glutes than ever. And the fact that over 400 men in the U.S. had Brazilian butt lifts last year backs this up – pun intended. Even brands are embracing the trend, launching male butt-enhancing leggings, underwear, and chinos. 'It was once laughed at,' said fitness coach John Rusin to GQ. 'And now people are standing in line at commercial centres to use the hip thrust machine.' Social media feeds reflect this change, with male fitness influencers talking directly to their followers about how to grow their glutes. But why has this shift occurred, and what are the potential fitness benefits? Reason behind the shift Like with most fitness trends, there's no one single reason for the change. Some fitness buffs simply want to look good from all angles. For others, it's about how stronger glute muscles help power other exercises, from lifting to running. For some, like Sydney-based gym-goer Jake, 35, growing his glutes was all about helping his lower back issues. 'I knew that I needed to grow my glutes to strengthen my lower back area,' he told 'The bigger glutes I gained from my rehab exercises were never a priority, but a nice bonus.' Rusin says this isn't an uncommon story. Strong glutes are known to help you move better: protect the knees; support the hips; and reduce lower back pain. 'Whether you're a man or woman, you can't afford not to train them,' he explained. Another reason for the shift is that male aesthetic trends often follow queer trends, and gay men have long appreciated a good butt. And the GQ writer suggests that female preferences are changing too, with 81 per cent of women who date men saying they 'love a good man butt'. Gyms are catching onto this shift, with companies like F45 now adding more glute-focused training to their workouts. 'We're adding more unilateral movements like single-leg RDLs and split squats, as well as sled pushes and hip-dominant step-ups. This is becoming more popular,' a spokesperson for F45 told the outlet. Tide is turning Jake says he's embracing the trend and will keep prioritising lower-body training. But he notes there has long been a stigma around these types of exercises for guys in his fitness community. 'I think focusing on glutes specifically has always come with a bit of a giggle,' he said. 'There's this idea that no one wants to be thought of as the guy who wants a good booty. But if you're skipping leg day, you're missing out – and you'll be the guy on the beach in summer too afraid to wear budgie smugglers. 'Drop the ego and drop your third upper body day of the week.'
SBS Australia
12 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Former CDC staffers ring alarm bells over decisions of new US vaccine panel
Every week for a number of weeks, current and former employees of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have been blowing whistles and banging drums at a street intersection near the group's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. They're protesting changes to the US Department of Health now led by Robert F Kennedy Jr, saying that he has brought his long history of vaccine scepticism into his role as the nation's top health official. Among the demonstrators is infectious diseases physician Peter Cegielski. "There have been rallies here every Tuesday maybe since March... The public needs to mobilise because, I mean, there's a clown show running this country and DHHS." The CDC protesters' appearance on the Atlanta corner this week was timed to coincide with the first meeting of the reconstituted US panel known as ACIP or the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices. Kennedy abruptly fired all 17 previous members earlier this month after accusing them without evidence of conflicts of interest, replacing them with seven handpicked others. Among them is new Committee chair Dr Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who publicly criticised COVID-19 lockdowns and was fired from Harvard for refusing to take a COVID vaccine. Dr Kulldorff was one of five members at the meeting to vote for a recommendation that people aged 6 months and older get a flu vaccination only using a single dose formula which is thimerosal-free. "Even if the amount available in the vaccine, maybe that amount is safe - but does not amount for exposed to be exposed to mercury from other sources. So it's cumulative and there is a need. And if we care about public health we should try to minimise exposure to mercury." The reason why that's important is because the panel's recommendations influence the official US immunisation schedule, determine insurance coverage for vaccines, and act as an encouragement for people to get vaccinated. Thimerosal is widely used in lower income countries because they are more likely to use lower cost multidose containers that must be punctured repeatedly, raising the risk of contamination which thimerosal helps to prevent. But the preservative has also been at the centre of controversies and myths about vaccines for decades, with Robert F Kennedy involved in some of that debate. In 2014, when Kennedy was an environmental lawyer, he appeared on Fox 5 New York to promote a book he had published called 'Thimerosal' that alleged evidence had been covered up showing it could cause brain problems, including autism. "You know I've had all six of my children vaccinated. I want to see everybody taking their vaccines. We need full coverage. People don't take them (vaccines) because they no longer believe in the CDC. They can see the science." The CDC says it conducted nine separate studies since 2003 that found no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder, and that multiple scientific studies have found no evidence of a link either. The CDC was not given an opportunity to present evidence before the committee's vote - but Lyn Redwood, the former president of what is now known as Children's Health Defense, an antivaccine group founded by Secretary Kennedy - did air her concerns about thimerosal. "Thimerosal is recognised as a developmental and reproductive toxicant, and is listed as a chemical in the California Proposition 65 list since 1990." Secretary Kennedy has maintained he has always just asked questions that are justifiable and necessary, arguing that the public's trust in vaccines has waned because those questions have not been answered satisfactorily. "We're living now in a time of upheaval, a time of popular revolt against established institutions that have lost the public trust - and that includes medicine. President Trump and I are committed to earning it back." But at least two CDC staff members have left over the changes, and major medical experts and former members of the panel have also expressed concern over its reconstitution. Georgia State Senator for District 42 Elena Parent says the panel is essentially embedding false information and vaccine scepticism into national policy. "This is the very body that has guided our nation's policies for vaccines for over 60 years. And by the way, this is what everyone said when they said 'do not confirm him'. Do not confirm him as the secretary of health. Anyone who knew anything about public health and vaccines said 'no'. These guy has peddled disinformation for years. And what did they do? Fell in line behind Trump and all the rest of them and put him in. And the worst fears are now coming true with this assault on the ACIP." The Secretary's views have also received a cool reception at a Brussels fundraising dinner for the GAVI global vaccine alliance, a group that facilitates immunisations in lower-income countries. In a video recording played to the gathering, Kennedy cast doubt on the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines — which the World Health Organisation and other agencies have long deemed to be safe and effective. He also announced the US will be cutting its funding to GAVI, on the basis that they have allegedly silenced dissenting views and what he has described as legitimate questions about vaccine safety. "Consider the best science available even when the science contradicts established paradigms. Until that happens, the United States won't contribute more to GAVI." GAVI says that's ridiculous. Chairman of the Board Jose Manuel Barroso says the organisation has multiple safeguards and processes in place to prioritise the health and safety of children. "Gavi is indeed a unique organisation in global health with a public-private model that has brought together national governments, donors, vaccine manufacturers, scientific institutes and grassroot organisations to vaccinate more than 1 billion children in low income and middle income countries. And I have to say that Gavi has done it always following the best scientific advice." Doctors Without Borders is among the medical groups to say they believe countless children will die from vaccine-preventable diseases as a result of the U-S withdrawing support for Gavi. The charity's global health advocacy director, Mihir Mankad, has called it cruel and reckless to invoke misleading and inaccurate claims about vaccine safety as the pretext for cutting all global vaccine funding. But GAVI says it will be able to continue much of its work, and has plenty of other willing donors. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said in a statement that Australia is sending $386 million over five years, while European Union President Ursula von der Leyen has also committed money. "Today I am pleased to pledge 360 million Euros to GAVI at this summit, and this is part of a total Team Europe pledge of 2 billion Euros or even more." Meanwhile, back in the US, some doctors are taking matters into their own hands. The influential American Academy of Paediatrics boycotted A-C-I-P's first meeting in protest, saying it will now publish its own vaccine schedule for children and do so independently of the vaccine panel, calling it 'no longer a credible process.' And the CDC demonstrators - which include former Division of Overdose Prevention public servant, Abby Tighe - say they will keep ringing their protest bells on that Atlanta corner for as long as they can. "Let's make it a non political conversation. We have to do the work to de-politicise public health. And I know it's hard and it sucks, but we have to do it because people's lives are at stake."
News.com.au
12 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘We never spoke about it, ever': How rock bottom triggered Sydney man's life-changing conversation
James Wright always knew there was something a bit different about his dad. 'His energy would change from time to time,' recalls the 46-year-old Sydney man. 'Our Saturday morning bike rides would stop, and he'd withdraw socially, spending hours upon hours locked in his study.' Now, James recognises his father's episodes for what they were – major depressive episodes – but at the time, he was simply made aware that there were problems with his dad's health. 'When I was about 13, I remember being picked up early from school by mum, and she took my sister and I into the hospital, where Dad had been admitted to undergo electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT),' James said. 'I remember being warned by the doctors that Dad might not really be able to recognise us or say anything, as he'd only had the procedure the day before.' Growing up in the UK, James says despite his dad's severe struggles with mental health, conversations about it weren't commonplace. In fact, it wasn't until his twenties that James discovered his Nonna – his dad's mother – had also been admitted for ECT. Australia is in the grips of a mental health crisis, and people are struggling to know who to turn to, especially our younger generations. Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, equipping Aussies with the skills needed to have the most important conversation of their life. 'She never spoke about it, ever,' he recalls. 'She lived up in the North of England in Hartlepool, and she must have been one of the first rounds of women to receive that therapy.' It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that James' own mental health began to decline in his mid-teens. According to studies, the heritability of major depressive disorder is between 30 and 50 per cent. Coupled with this, new research by News Corp's Growth Distillery with Medibank found that 28 per cent of parents of 16- to 30-year-olds have never discussed their mental wellbeing with their children. In addition, half of all parents of 16-30 year olds (49 per cent) agree that 'I do/would find it hard to tell my children I'm having challenges or struggling with my mental wellbeing', with only 39 per cent disagreeing with this statement. For James, it meant that for a long time, he struggled alone. 'I was at an all-boy's Catholic school in North London, and I was just beginning to realise that I'm gay,' he said. There were a number of challenges in his life that combined to have a big impact on his mental health, but knowing what his dad had experienced, James didn't hesitate to seek help, first from the school, and then from a GP. 'Even though I didn't discuss it with mum and dad, I think my awareness of dad's condition meant that there wasn't any shame attached to seeking help – it was more just something I knew I needed to do,' he said. 'I knew there wouldn't have been any judgment from them if they had known.' James started taking medication, something he continued throughout his years at university. His mental health was what he describes as 'up and down' for much of his twenties, including a period of intense burnout that preceded a breakdown of sorts. 'I'm an ambitious person,' he said. 'I easily turn myself into a workaholic, particularly if I'm desperately passionate about what I'm doing, and I got myself into a real mess in my mid-twenties, and I think that's probably part of the reason I decided to move to Australia and give myself a fresh start.' Once settled in Sydney, James discovered a fulfilling new career in a workplace where he thrived, and felt his mental health stabilise for years. Then, in 2014, life threw James another curve ball. He contracted HIV. While early detection and antiviral treatment soon rendered the disease undetectable (and therefore non-transmissible) in James' body, the stress and shock of the experience sent him into a spiral of shame and self-destruction. 'I was too ashamed to tell my friends or family,' he recalls. 'I was drinking too much, stopped all forms of exercise and was hiding from the world.' This self-isolation – a tactic reminiscent of his father's – had become something of a hallmark of James' mental health struggles. 'That urge to withdraw socially has been a behaviour I'd been aware of repeating at several points during my life,' says James. 'And once you get better at recognising what's going on, you realise that pulling away is the last thing you should be doing to get better, but at the time, it feels like the only option.' Over the next few years, James' self-imposed exile from Sydney (he bought an ill-fated restaurant in the country in order to justify moving away) and determination to deal with his mental health forced him to face his demons head-on. Eventually, he realised that he needed to open up to his family – and his dad in particular – if he was to properly heal. 'It was in that one conversation – where I told him about my diagnosis and explained what I'd been going through – that we were able to be truly authentic with each other,' he says. That was about six years ago. Today, James describes his dad as his 'best friend'. 'We've had some incredible, raw, beautiful conversations about mental health, our emotions, about what it was like for him when I was growing up,' says James, who speaks about his father's struggles with pure empathy and understanding. 'I completely understand how hard it was for him, and why he needed to withdraw when he did. I feel like I'm able to have a lot of that relationship back now, as an adult, that I missed out on as a kid.' James, who now works as a positive psychology/strengths coach, says embracing authentic communication with his dad has been one of the biggest gifts of his adult life, and something he has adopted as a philosophy. 'Opening up to my family was the final piece of the puzzle,' he says. 'It means I can show up completely authentically, which in turn helps my clients be vulnerable and authentic in return.'
