Ron Harris Syndrome

I realize that there has been plenty of discussion previously on this board concerning squatters ass, but I’m not sure how thoroughly discussed my particular problem has been.

Hams were always a particular weakness for me, so I prioritized them and started blasting them heavily, especially with stiff leg deads and good mornings. This worked for a time and I definitely brought my hams up to snuff, but it seems that my butt has grown to enormous proportions of late and even seems to be taking over in these lifts, leaving my hams out of the equation more and more.

I think the problem started when I found myself not using my glutes enough and so I began contracting them hard to get the weight up the last little bit on stiff legs. Once I started doing this, it became tough to not do this and now no matter how hard I try, my glutes take over, even when I consciously don’t contract them.

So, now I’ve got a bubble butt and am getting pretty self-conscious about it. My question is, is there any way I can get the benefits of these lifts without the present side effects? Any tips? I find the more I bend my legs, the more my hams get hit (which I want), but the more my ass takes over, too. Keeping my legs straight doesn’t activate as much of the hams for me, but still hits my glutes hard for some unknown reason.

Yes, the problem persists with squats, leg presses and regular deads, too, but nearly as much. I’m looking for ways to minimize the damage, realizing that I’m stuck with the problem, overall, but I’m not wanting to forgo the stiffs and gms.

If you are doing it for bodybuilding purposes, why not try pre exhaust with an isolation exercise before you do your SL deadlifts or good mornings? or even put together a totally different Hamstring program that focuses on hammies a bit more, maybe with some knee flexion involved, instead of so much hip extension… Check out Coach davies article on this issue for some idea, mostly hip extension movts but may provide an alternative view. Other exercises could be any of the leg curl machines, plate drags, one legged swiss ball leg curls, various low cable pull backs. just some ideas…