Muscle Ventures Video Analysis

The picture shows me racked by shock after my first experience with the "Butt Blaster" one of Nancy Arnold's most storied leg exercises from her home gym, The Outback, in Dexter, MI. It's really a pretty simple incline single leg press that somewhat mimics a hack squat. In my experience, it hits a very concentrated area in the head of the gluteus with involvement from the hamstrings in the mid movement and quads in the final extension. It's the focus on the head of the gluteus that really makes the difference.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the machine is mounting it. As you can see from the photo, there are two handles you grasp in front and this odd middle pad. You move the middle pad up or down to support your abdomen when your leg is the most extended. When you have successfully adjusted everything, your elbows should comfortably rest on the front pad and your knees on the knee pad with the middle pad comfortably pressing against your abdomen.

To perform the exercise, place one foot against the back platform and hook it under the toe bar. Then, push back through the heel until your leg is fully extended. At this point, your other knee should be on the knee pad and the middle pad should provide more support to your abdomen than in the resting position. Slowly return your leg to the start position stopping just short of touching at the bottom. This maintains maximal tension on the muscles involved throughout the exercise. After performing the desired number of repetitions, switch to the other leg. With this machine as always, it's best to start with lighter weights and build up.

As the manufacturer indicates, it's hard to get wrong form with this machine. There are, however, a few cheats, you can fail to fully extend your leg and not bring it all the way down. You can also fail to control on the way down.

Nancy and I (Bud) show two renditions of how the exercise is performed below. I start with Nancy because she provides an excellent illustration of form, not employing any cheats. One thing many readers will note is the level of exertion on Nancy's face. It's not an easy exercise.

Nancy (Quicktime, 7.7 MB; WMV, 9.4 MB)

In watching the video, note that positioning on the device is a little awkward. Nancy has had a lot of experience with it, but still has a hard time getting on. Once she is on though, she moves well, getting a full range of motion.

Bud (Quicktime, 8.5 MB; WMV, 10.4 MB)

In my video, Nancy gives me a lot of instruction about achieving range of motion and controlling the weight on the way down. I seem to do pretty well though. My observation is that I probably could have done more weight, but I was not so thrilled with the middle pad.

Additional Links

• Our video for this exercise comes from our recent trip to Outback Gym in Dexter, MI. It was quite a fun experience.
• ExRx provides an excellent set of gluteus exercises and instructions on how to perform them.