Experts recommend exercises to help us sculpt a more modeled butt. It seems that shapely butts are becoming more and more admired. Proof of this are the many images of curvaceous stars in the pages of celebrity magazines, the popularity of low-waisted jeans, and even Justin Timberlake’s hit pop song “Sexy Back.”
Everywhere you look, the eyes are in the back. And whatever the shape of your butt, you’ll probably want to improve it.
At a minimum, 99% of women who train want to work with the buttocks, just as many men compare having a muscular chest to being admired, for many women, being fit makes them feel comfortable with their body and image.
“If a woman feels confident about having good buttocks, she’s not too shy to show off,” adds Marilyn Gansel, a fitness trainer and owner of wellness studies at Stanford and Kent, Connecticut. “People are starting to see that curves are sexy.”
But can we really get those rounds, raised, chiseled derrieres that many of us coveted?
Can the butt be improved?
It depends largely on our genetics, it’s something that a self-respecting coach should tell you in the first place. When women ask me, how do I get a big butt? My answer is always the same: What you are born with is what you have to work with.
So, if you’re genetically programmed to have a flat butt, unless you get butt implants (don’t laugh, there’s such a thing), you can do lunges and squats all day and you probably won’t be able to replicate Jessica Biel’s.
That doesn’t mean you can’t improve your strength or form. Can you make a difference? Yes, I think you can take it as far as your body allows. You just need to set realistic goals.
Analyze the butt you have
The butt consists of three main muscles: the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. They work together to help us move our upper legs in all directions.
Every time you take a step, you are using the muscles in your butt. That’s why we have buttocks. They play an important part when it comes to running or walking, even bending and moving. Believe it or not, you work your butt all the time.
Unsurprisingly, it’s evident that walking is the best exercise of all for the butt. For maximum impact, tackle some hills if you’re walking outdoors or use the slope if you’re on a treadmill or treadmill. Just make sure your back doesn’t lean forward.
Stair machines, arch trainers, and elliptical trainers are also great options for shaping the buttocks. For a change, try inline skating or cycling (inside or outside).
After sweating aerobically, try these six strength exercises recommended by several experts:
Centralized exercises for the butt
1. Squat.
Stand with your feet parallel and align them with your shoulders, use a full-length mirror if necessary to check your posture. Slowly lower your hips, making sure your knees don’t go over your toes.
A great variation for beginners is ball squats: standing with your back against the wall, place an exercise ball between your lower back and the wall, then crouch, keeping your feet forward.
2. Standing lunges.
Starting with your feet parallel and spaced away from your hips, take a giant step forward. Slowly lower your body, bending both knees. Bend your knees to no more than 90 degrees, keeping your front knee aligned over your front ankle. Then repeat with the other leg in front.
A more advanced version is staggered lunges, in which you move forward after each lunge, alternating legs. Most people do not use the proper form in this exercise, which can put undue strain on the joints of the knees and lower back.
3. The prone leg rises over a ball.
Lie face down on an exercise ball, with your hands on the floor. When tensing your gluteal muscles, lift one of your legs slightly off the floor, keeping your leg straight. Then alternate sides. As you’re fitter, try to lift both legs simultaneously, but only if you can do so without straining your back.
4. Prone hip lift on a ball.
Lying face down on an exercise ball, rest your forearms on the floor and stabilize the ball under your hips and upper thighs. Using your arms and trunk muscles for support, bend your knees to 90 degrees and bring your feet together. Squeezing the buttocks, slowly move the femurs slightly away from the ball, being careful not to use the lumbar muscles. This is a minimal movement: you should raise your legs to 2 inches maximum.
5. Bridge.
Lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet on the floor and hips apart. Slowly peel the spine off the floor from the bottom, one vertebra at a time, contracting your glutes and hamstrings (back of your thighs) until you have a diagonal line between your shoulders and your knees, if necessary, use a mirror to check your posture. Return to the floor slowly, one vertebra at a time.
6. Lateral leg lift.
Lying on your side on the back edge of a mat, place your feet on the front edge of the mat, then lift your upper leg and turn it outward into the hip socket. Keeping your hips stacked and your torso as still as possible, raise and lower your leg, extending your hand from your upper thigh. Repeat on the other side.
Finding the balance
It’s important to remember that healthy eating habits are a big part of the equation for creating a better shape, for your buttocks and the rest of your body, even.
If the rear is too big, it probably means too big, it can’t be reduced. Speaking of big butts, many of us fear that building muscle in our butt can make them look bigger. This is a question every coach hears, ever.
But women don’t have enough testosterone to build that kind of mass that most people fear. If your butt gets bigger, maybe there’s extra weight on top of your muscles. Remove the weight and you will see the definition.
Genetics also plays a role here. If you feel you have the potential to develop a bigger butt, do your strength exercises without any extra weight and focus more on aerobic exercises.
And how to maximize your buttocks more?
The butt is like any other muscle. You have to overload the muscle in order to develop it to the fullest.
That means doing strength exercises with weight gain, extra repetitions, and shorter rest periods between exercises. Progressive resistance training, along with a high-quality diet, builds muscle mass.
Regardless of your genetics, you and your butt can’t go wrong by getting fitter. The exercise, performed in the right way, constantly and progressively, will shape and tone your butt. You just have to go out and reap the benefits.
This is really a controversial topic, if you have had good results getting a better butt doing exercises, tell us your experiences in the comments.