Wellness Mentor and Personal Trainer
Rescu. readers are in for a huge treat with Bryan Hoare’s tips, tricks and exercises to get THAT perfect butt. No need to spend big dollars on gym memberships this season; these simple exercises will have you shimmying into your skinny jeans and marveling at your butt’s pert perfectness in no time.
The Facts
The Jury is in! Before writing this article I did a momentous Facebook survey to find out what type of butts women wanted and what men found attractive.
Size preferences varied considerably, from: “what I can get in my hand with fingers spread out”; to, “keeping hold of a woman’s curve”, “feminine shapeliness with a medium size”; and of course, “the bigger the better”… Size, it seems, is a personal choice, but the overwhelming response was for curvy, firm and tight.
Butt size and shape is somewhat defined by your genes, but there is still a lot that you can do to show it off perfectly in your favourite jeans. While some celebrities may have cheated their way to a better bottom with butt implants, a lot of great asses are created through active fat-burning workouts, good nutrition and specific muscle-toning exercises.
Trim the Fat
Fat storage is the bane of the butt; curvy as it is, fat is not especially tight or firm – and it definitely doesn’t deposit itself in the right places. Trimming the fat is vital!
Aerobic exercise should be the key part of your exercise program and must, at the very minimum, include 30-minutes of moderate to intensive and repetitive movement 3-4 times a week; with a more suitable amount of exercise being 45-60 minutes 4-5 times a week. The goal is to raise the heart rate and get the body to burn off the extra calories stored as fat. While it is certain that the harder you work-out the greater the benefits, there are also pay-offs from doing lower intensity exercise more often: such as walking for 10-15 minutes 3-4 times a day.
Activities including swimming, cycling, walking and dancing will help to shift the fat; while more targeted exercises might include running or stair climbing. As you probably know, it is not possible to spot-reduce stored fat; but the reason I mention running and stair climbing as being especially good, is that they both require that you carry your whole body through an extensive amount of movement. The more you move, the greater the fat loss will be.
You will need to look at your diet and reduce the amount of calories that you take in; making each calorie count by ensuring it is of a high nutritional value. This means: whole, fresh, un-processed, natural, organic and even home-grown foods. Be wary of carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index (this will bring on a higher insulin release and a grater storage of calories) and of foods that contain a lot of fat – especially saturated animal fat. Make sure to drink plenty of water and include lots of fiber in your diet.
Tone that Tush
As you put the fat on simmer with lots of aerobic exercise and high intensity activities, you can refine the shape and tone by developing the three main muscles that comprise the backside – and which are worked in slightly different ways to give shape, firmness and support.
The gluteus maximus muscle is the largest and most round-shaped of the buttock muscles and is the largest and strongest muscle in the human body. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles provide less of the shape and curve; however, they are the core of the glutes and provide stability to the whole area. Studies show that these smaller muscles are also vital in helping prevent and rehabilitate lower back pain, Achilles problems, patello-femoral knee pain and hamstring & quadriceps injury.
Part One
Warm-up & mobilization: Ensure you warm-up for 7-10 minutes with a brisk walk or easy run. Then to mobilize your hips and thighs: shake your hips from side-to-side 20-times; kick your legs up in front of you 12-times on each leg; try to lightly kick yourself in the bum with your foot 12-times on each leg, and finally do 20 long strides while keeping your torso straight upright.
Standing vertical-loading exercises: Exercises that put you in a position where you are vertically-loaded, such as squats, and lunges do a great job of targeting the gluteus maximus. Repeat repetitions 2-3 times for maximum effect.
i. Squats – stand with feet shoulder width apart and sit slowly backward, as if into a deep sofa chair. Keep your balance by reaching your arms ahead of you and ensuring the weight over the middle of your feet. Keep your shins vertical to the floor and do not allow your knees to go forward of your ankles. Sit back as low as you can go or until your thighs are parallel to the floor – repeat 12-16 reps.
ii. Front lunges – take an exaggerated step forward and lower your body down until your front thigh is parallel to the floor. Keep your upper body vertical and your hands on your hips to maintain your balance. Ensure that your front knee is no further forward than your front ankle; keep most of your weight pushing through the heel of the front foot and the gluteus muscles as you power back to the starting position – repeat 12-16 times for each leg.
iii. Jumping squats – a more advanced version of squats, with the set-up and positioning the same: simply lower slowly to a parallel thigh position and then jump explosively, returning to the squat position each time by keeping the legs soft as you land – repeat 10-12 reps.
iv. Lunge variations
a. Walking lunges – using the same principles of the front lunges – continue to walk forward for 10-14 steps – then turn and lunge-walk back the same number of lunges to the starting point.
b. Jumping lunges – start with a front lunge and then jump-up into the air and change the leading leg, to land with the opposite leg on front – do 12-18 reps.
Cool down & stretch: Do a walk for 5 minutes and then; stretch the back of your legs (hamstrings) by lifting one leg up and placing it in front of you on a low chair and reaching forward to touch the foot. Next, place one knee on a padded chair about knee height, bring that foot to the backside and hold it whilst standing straight up. Finally, sit on a low chair or stool and place one leg across the other with the ankle resting on the knee, with your back straight lean forward taking your head towards that ankle. Repeat each exercise with the alternate leg and hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
