Bodybuilding Q&A - Jose Raymond Addresses Your Problems
Bodybuilding Q&A - Jose Raymond Addresses Your Problems
Striated Glutes: You Have to Get Lean Enough
What kind of exercises do you recommend to target the glutes and get them ripped? Can anyone get striated glutes, or is it a genetic thing?
Obviously, squats and lunges are going to help develop the glutes, as will the leg press. But for me, I use my cardio sessions to target them a lot more specifically— since I’m usually more concerned about my quads in those other movements. Once I am in contest-prep mode, I’m on the StepMill for 45 minutes every morning, squeezing my glutes hard on every step along with my hamstrings. At night, I usually walk a treadmill on an incline and do the same thing.
Of course, you have to be lean enough to see glute striations or else it doesn’t matter how well they are developed. I hear people complain that they can’t get striated glutes, and I don’t believe that. Some people will obviously have to work much longer and harder to get them. My friend and MD writer Ron Harris is a perfect example. For years he whined that he would never get his glutes truly striated like a pro. Then a couple of years ago he killed himself with his diet and cardio, and sucked down to 201 pounds for the NPC Masters Nationals, and what do you know? He had fully striated glutes. It helps to stay fairly lean in the off-season, so you are closer to where you need to be in the first place when you start your diet.
After having worked with many athletes now and prepping them for shows, I am convinced anyone can get striated glutes as long as they get lean enough, which 95 percent of competitors just never do.
How Long Should Workouts Last?
How long should we work out? I work out for 90 minutes— hope I am not overtraining.
Personally, the only time I go over an hour is on back and leg days, and even then it’s still only another 15-20 minutes. After an hour, I start to lose both my pump and my focus. Plus, I normally do 30-40 minutes of cardio after the weights, so if I was training for a full 90 minutes and had waited an hour after my last meal to train, we’re looking at three hours without eating— which doesn’t work well for me! You are either doing too much or taking too much rest time between sets. There’s no reason all your workouts should be going that long. Try getting them done faster and see what happens. If you start making gains, you will know for sure you were overtraining.
Won’t Change Anything as Long as I’m Improving
After your third place at the 2016 212 Olympia, are you going to make any drastic changes to your program or just continue working hard the way you always have?
I’m going to continue making improvements, because that’s the name of the game in bodybuilding. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my genetics will only allow for so much, and I would be foolish to change what got me this far. Just because I see the insane muscle separation of Flex Lewis doesn’t mean I should try and train like he does. I am what I am, and he is what he is. I can only be the best Jose Raymond I can be.
I do think I could have looked better at the Olympia, and I plan on being better the next time you see me onstage. I’m consistently beating guys who were beating me before, and that’s a great gauge for progress as a competitor. Several years ago, Eduardo Correa beat me all around, and Sami Al Hadaad would have also if he’d already been in the IFBB. Now I’ve beaten them both the last times we competed against each other. I consider myself one of the best in the world at what I do, so there is no need to change anything as long as I am improving.