My Butt is Out of Shape!

What exercises are best to lose some inches and firm up my backside?

First, we need to know how much body fat you are carrying. A fitness evaluation with body measurements will give us a good idea. If you are carrying a large amount of fat on your backside, we need to get that off. The way you should approach that is through diet and calorie burning type exercises (i.e., jogging, cycling, aerobic dance, aerobic kickboxing, etc.). Simultaneously you should do a well rounded weight training program to boost your metabolism and the fat burning process.

Within the weight-training program you should include these excellent buttock exercises. These exercises were tested by (Conde Nast Women’s Sports and Fitness) using an EMG Electromyographic recorder to measure the amount of gluteus maximus’ (otherwise known as the buttocks muscle) muscle activity. They tested 10 of the popular buttock exercises on an individual. The results are as follows in order from the most muscle activity to the least:

• One-leg squat
• Glute kickbacks
• Sumo Squat
• Lunges
• Deep squat
• Step-ups
• Bridging
• Half-Squat
• Front Squat
• Leg Press

I recommend that you include the first seven exercises in your program.

We talked about the size and body fat of your buttocks, but what about the shape? The shape of your buttocks will dictate how many sets and repetitions of these great exercises you should do.

If you are happy with the shape but just want to tone up and firm the muscle a bit, then perform 1 to 3 sets of 20 to 30 repetitions on each exercise with very slow, controlled, deliberate movements.

If you want to add a little lift and/or shape to your buttocks then add some weight to your exercises and perform 3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions.

If you have a sagging and/or flat back side and want to add some muscle mass back there to lift and fill out your back side, then add some heavy weight to your exercises and perform 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions.

References:

• Conde Nast Women’s Sports and Fitness. The Butt Project, July/August 1999, Pages 118-123.

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