"It's beautiful to be symmetrical," says Pilates guru Siri Dharma Galliano, who helped Carrie-Anne Moss get her sculpted buns to play Trinity in The Matrix movies. All women want it: That shapely, sculpted, and defined
butt we see in the magazine ads for cellulite cream. Closets full of
skinny jeans and fitted skirts have us focused more than ever on lifting,
tightening, and shaping our behinds.
Yet our glutes do more than just help us look good
in our clothes. The butt consists of three main muscles: the gluteus
maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. They work together to help
us move our legs in all directions. Because they're connected to the
hips, the lower back, and the legs, strengthening the glutes can help to
stabilize the back, says Galliano.
But what many of us really want to know is this:
Is there a butt workout that can actually help us get those round, lifted, and chiseled derrieres we covet?
It depends.
"If you're a 45-year-old mother of two and you start
doing glute exercises, you're not going to look like a 20-year-old
woman who's never had kids," says Maryland-based fitness trainer,
speaker and consultant Jonathan Ross.
Fat cells the body has deposited around the hips and
thighs are less responsive than in other parts of the body, Ross
explains. "Progress is still possible. It just takes a lot of i dotting and t crossing when it comes to nutrition and exercise," he says.
Realistically, you can improve the strength and shape of your butt with diet and exercise. But if you're expecting to look just like that picture in the magazine, you may be disappointed. Try this
Butt workout - Six exercises for glutes
Aerobically, walking
hills is a great butt workout. Indoors, use a 5% to 7% incline grade on
your treadmill, says Michele Olson, PhD, CSCS, exercise physiologist at
Auburn University in Montgomery, Ala.
Climbing stairs is another great choice for working
the glutes. Find a stadium, or use a stair machine, elliptical, or arc
trainer to help define the butt. For variety, dust off those inline
skates and hit the pavement.
1. Squats. One of the best exercises you can do for your butt, hips, and thighs is the squat, say experts. Stand with feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower your hips, making sure not to let your knees go out past your toes.
Variations are endless. "I like plie squats to
really work those deep rotator muscles," Olson says. To do them, stand
with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, legs turned out. When
squatting, keep knees over ankles; press through the feet and squeeze
the glutes as you come up to standing.
For an advanced version, progress to squat jumps, says
Todd Durkin, CSCS, owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, Calif., and
trainer to 30 NFL athletes including Drew Brees. Each time you come out
of the squat, leap off the ground.
2. Lunges. Beginning with your feet parallel and
hip-distance apart, take a giant step forward or backward. Slowly lower
your body, bending both knees. Bend your knees no farther than 90
degrees, keeping your front knee aligned over your front ankle. Step
together and repeat.
Alternate legs or do all sets on one leg and then
switch for a greater challenge, says Olson: "You're cutting the rest
time by half, and even though you do the same amount, your legs will be
working harder."
Beginners should stay in the lunge and just lower and lift by bending the knees, she says.
Ross likes tweaking a forward lunge to really target
the glutes: While lunging, reach both arms down toward the floor
outside the front foot (hold a medicine ball or light dumbbell for added
challenge). Durkin adds a hop to alternate feet for the advanced
client.
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