- Introduction – Get a Great Looking Butt!
- Butts for beginners – Take a simple approach
- Step it up – Raise your butt
- Firm up your butt – It is taking shape
Introduction – Get a Great Looking Butt!
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Who doesn’t want to have a great looking tush? Everyone does, so it is easy to find information online on the best exercises for getting a great-looking butt. Some of these solutions involve special apparatus, while some may even encourage the use of special pills or foods that will shrink and shape your behind. However, the best recourse for getting an attractive tush is to utilize good, old-fashioned butt workouts. These exercises will get you the results you want in a timely fashion and will help you keep that great-looking butt over time. It is tough fighting the effects of aging, and the butt certainly feels those effects, but proper exercise techniques can help it stay in top form for a longer period of time.
When it comes to getting a firm butt, there are hundreds of products and people ready to make promises that they just can’t deliver on. However, a good butt can be had with a little work and a better understanding of the process you need to go through to get it. First, understand the muscles of the butt, which are called the gluteal muscles. Three muscles make up the area: the gluteus maximus muscle, the gluteus medius muscle and the gluteus minimus muscle. Each of these have unique shapes and require different types of exercises to get toned and firm. Second, you must eliminate the fat that can get stored in the area due to inactivity. If fat is in the way, no one will be able to see your tight behind.
Butt workouts can only do much. It is up to you to develop a good, consistent eating plan that allows you to lose excess fat as you shape your body. This plan should consist of eating healthy foods and avoiding foods high in sugar and fat, which can wind up stored in your butt. A weight loss plan takes extreme dedication and planning, but the results can be phenomenal, and can make your workouts much more successful.
The butt workouts below give you some excellent tools for shaping, toning and firming that most stubborn of areas. By burning fat through a proper nutrition plan, adding a good cardio workout, and following these exercises, you will start to see results in no time. Remember to stay motivated and believe in yourself. No one can change you but you. You can find more information about healthy eating under “Weight Loss” and “Healthy Recipes”.
Butts for beginners – Take a simple approach
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Equipment: none (hand weights are optional)
Time duration: 5 minutes
Frequency: daily
This exercise is comprised of squats and lunges.
Squats provide a great workout for your hips, butt and thighs. This is a good beginner exercise because it works well at all skill levels and serves as a functional exercise, building strength for daily activities, helping you complete tasks around the house by providing stronger support in the butt and hip area.
A proper squat is just that: you simply bend at the knees while keeping you back straight and titled slightly forward. You can use hand weights if you like and bend your arms as you bend your knees, adding an element of cardio. When preparing to squat, make sure your back is straight, do not bend it as if trying to pick up something off the ground. The goal here is to tighten the butt area, so let that area do the work in this exercise, not your back. Bend your knees to an approximately 90-degree angle. If you can not bend them that much, bend them as far as you can and work your way to a deeper squat. One squat equals to one movement bending down, then standing back up.
A lunge is the extension of the squat, but instead of bending both knees straight down, you are moving one leg forward out in front of you, as if about to take a long stride. To do a proper lunge, start in a standing position and then step forward with one foot, planting the foot ahead of you while keeping you back straight. Again, let the butt area do the work! Ideally, the front leg should be at a 90 degree angle, while your back knee is facing the floor. However, you can work your way up this level. The key is not to use your back and to not stretch too much during the lunge. In this exercise, the butt should bend the leg. One lunge is one step down and one step back to a standing position. You can use hand weights and bend your arms as you are bending your legs for an added element of cardio.
Workout:
1. Do 10-15 squats.
2. Rest for 30 seconds.
3. Do another 10-15 squats.
4. Rest for 60 seconds.
5. Do 10-15 lunges with one leg pushing forward.
6. Rest for 30 seconds.
7. Do 10 -15 lunges with the other leg pushing forward.
This workout can be done daily for up to a week, then can be done twice daily. Increase the number of workouts each week to where you are spending about 15 minutes per day working your butt muscles. Then, you can move on to the next level of exercise.
Step it up – Raise your butt
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Equipment: Raised platform (preferably one that is adjustable)
Time duration: 8-10 minutes
Frequency: daily
This exercise combines the efficiency of the squats and lunges and adds an element of power, as you will actually raise yourself off the ground by using your hips and butt. To do a proper step up, place one foot on a platform and push through the heel to lift the body up. You should feel your glutes stretching as you do this. If you have access to a staircase, you can perform this exercise on a stair. The more you do step ups, the higher you may be able to lift. The ideal goal is to have your knee at a 90-degree angle on the platform at the beginning of the lift. One step up is to lift the body to a standing position on the platform and then return to the original position. Make sure that you are concentrating your weight on the stepping leg. Do not use your back. Keep it straight as you lift. Take it slow and really stretch the glutes. You do not need to place your non-stepping foot completely on the ground, but you can get a more complete exercise if you work up to that point.
Workout:
1. Alternate step ups on each leg to a count of 20 (10 on each leg)
2. Rest for 60 seconds
3. Repeat this process to another count of 20
4. Rest for 60 seconds
5. Repeat this process to another count of 20 and add arm curls while performing the lift
6. Rest for 30 seconds
7. Repeat for another count of 20 and continue with the arm curls
8. Rest for 60 seconds
9. Repeat for another count of 20 and continue with the arm curls, preferably with hand weights.
This workout will give you 50 step ups on each side. You should do this every day for one week. Another another 50 on each side the next week for a total of 100 step ups each day for each leg. You can do both workouts together or split them up. For the third week, add 50 more step ups to each leg, bringing it to a total of 150 step ups for each leg each day. You can raise the difficulty even further by raising your platform higher. Some exercise platforms come with extensions that make it easy to add on to the original platform. Once you have achieved this goal, it is time to add another level to your workout.
Firm up your butt – It is taking shape
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Equipment: Exercise mat, hand weights and raised platform
Time duration: 20 minutes
Frequency: every other day
This workout will combine the previous two workouts with hip extensions and one-legged deadlifts.
Good hip extensions require you to lie face down on your exercise mat, then get on your knees, keeping your arms flat on the mat. This is not the same process as doing a push-up, as you want to let your glutes and hips do all of the work. With your arms lying flat and your butt in the air, raise your bent leg as high as you can, feeling the stretch in the hip and the butt. You can tuck a hand weight behind the knee for added difficulty, as the bent knee will keep the weight in place. This exercise specifically targets the largest butt muscle, the gluteus maximus.
The one-legged deadlifts look similar to a rocking motion, but you are requiring your butt and hips to do the rocking. You will need some type of deadweight to hold out in front of your body. Keep your front foot flat on the ground and the knee slightly bent. With the other knee slightly bent and slightly behind your body, lightly resting on the toe, tip from the hips and lower the weights as low as you reasonably can. Remember to keep your back flat or with a natural arch and make sure you keep the abs contracted to protect the back. Squeeze the glutes of the working leg to raise back up.
Workout (combined with other exercises):
1. Do 10– 15 squats
2. Rest for 30 seconds
3. Do 10 – 15 lunges
4. Rest for 60 seconds
5. Do 10– 15 pull ups with each leg
6. Rest for 30 seconds
7. Do 10 – 15 hip extensions on each side
8. Rest for 60 seconds
9. Do 10 – 15 one-legged deadlifts
10. Rest for 5 minutes
11. Repeat the work out.
Due to its intensity, this workout should be done every other day for about three weeks. After this time, you can increase the amount of repetitions or adjust the difficulty level (by adding weights or raising the platform). You can change the order of the workout routine to suit your taste, just make sure to rest between exercises and to adhere to proper form. The trick is not to do it quickly, but to do it correctly.
You can supplement your workout routine with a host of outdoor activities that work your glutes, including cycling, hiking, running, walking and kickboxing. It is matter of personal preference.
Here is to your new great-looking butt.
