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For many man, a washboard butt means that the only protruding shape on their derriere is the lumpy wallet in their pants pocket.

Guys, if this describes you, then you need to do some work to bulk up. For women, the problem is just the opposite: the glutes tend to run heavy because the butt has become a fat storehouse.

First let’s look at the muscles. The gluteals are your butt, which are comprised of three muscles. The largest is the gluteus maximus, the major stabilizer of the pelvis in charge of straightening the hip joint. The medius and the minimus are beneath the maximus. All together these three muscles help you move your thigh out to the side of your body (abduction) as well as rotate and extend the leg.

Men who have a flat bottom need to follow a very different lifting program than women who need to reduce this area. For a man’s type of body you should aim for mass butt building exercises that include squats with heavier weights.

Exercises for the Flat-Bottomed

If your moon is not full and you want to bulk up the back end, your weight lifting regime should be about doing fewer reps (8 to 10) but using heavier weights.

Here’s a just a sampling of exercises you should consider.

Squats

The barbell squat will aid both glute and quadriceps strength. Position your feet about one to two inches past your shoulder width and lower yourself down, in a slow controlled motion, and squat to a parallel position.

Once you’re in this deep squat, clench your glutes as you rise up to the start position. This exercise works just about the entire lower body, but if your quads fatigue before the glutes do, check your leg positioning to better isolate the glutes. Do three sets of 10 reps, working to muscle failure.

Enjoy!

You can do this with a The Smith Machine ( right) which combines the use of free weights with the safety and control of a rack without the need for a spotter. The Smith Machine has been building better bodies for decades and can get you where you want to be… Bigger, Faster and Stronger.

Stiff-Legged Dead Lift

While standing, hold a straight bar and keep your feet about shoulder-width apart. Keep your knees soft. Slowly lean forward from the waist until you feel a good stretch in the hamstrings.

Then clench your glutes, contract your abs and keep your head up as you rise up to the start position. Do three sets of 10 reps.

Hack Squat Machine

As you work your quads, glutes, and calves, the engineered smoothness of the Leg Press / Hack Squat Machine spares your bones and joints.

To use: sit in the sled and position your feet higher on the platform than you normally do, because now you’ll want to put the load on the glutes.

Make sure you lower the weight a little, to keep from stressing your knees.

You need to perform a deep squat (knees to the ears) to force yourself into a great degree of hip flexion, and then extend out of it.

Angled Leg Press

This machine incorporates a unique 7-degree design to ease the stress and strain on the back and joints. Lie comfortably on your back, position your feet on the bar and press, and extend up.

Whether you work with free weights or on the Angled Leg Press, all of these types of lifts need to be done with what is called progressive overload.

The idea is to push the muscles beyond their normal demands so that they will adapt by becoming stronger and building more muscle fibers.

The result: a rounder rump.

An Awesome Set of Glutes

No matter which body shape you have, do the exercises to some level of muscle fatigue. Feeling a burn or some discomfort is a good thing but if you lift until you can no longer move, you’ve probably gone too far.

If you’re an athlete you’ll benefit from training the glutes as their development will increase your speed and power. Whatever your motives, the glut workouts for men mentioned here will improve muscularity and functional strength for anyone who does them.

Women! Don’t forget to work your buns as well!

Recommended Reading:

101 Ways to motivate yourself and get in shape. Number 43 may surprise you. Read all 101 NOW at Bodybuilding.com!

Because Too much tush is a turn-off!

Maybe you’ve dreamed about having the kind of buns the models have, but you haven’t been exactly motivated to tone the tush. Motiviation? The thought of your upcoming beach vacation should inspire you to get into swimsuit shape.

In addition to weekly cardio and a proper daily diet, you should perform some easy exercises that can be done at home or in a gym to get your gluts in great shape.

If you’re looking to firm up the buns, pay special attention to the following exercises. You want to be sure to use higher reps (15 to 20) and lighter weights. And don’t dilute the workout by letting your glutes relax and simply pushing with the legs. Get intense! It is critical to use a mind-to-muscle connection when working the glutes.

Design a routine that will kick your butt

Women who want to reduce the size of a large fanny need to stay away from lifting heavy weights. Instead, the focus should be on doing shaping and reducing exercises that include lunges with light weights, or no weights at all. And don’t fall for the myth that many women seem to have; you will not “bulk up” if you lift weights. In fact, you will actually lose dress sizes if you train properly with weights.

Here’s a sample of the routines women can do to work the glutes:

Raised leg curls Get down on the floor on all fours. Raise your left leg to about butt level and extend it straight, away from your body and roughly parallel to the floor. Curl your heel toward your butt until your lower leg is perpendicular to the floor. Keep your thigh parallel to the ground. Later on, you can add a pair of ankle weights to increase the load. You can also use a leg curl machine if you find this floor exercise is too difficult.

Standing Kickback Hold the back of a chair or bench for balance. With your feet together, rotate your right foot to the right with all the rotation coming from your hip joint. Slowly lift the right let behind you keeping the knee soft but not bent. The actual movement will only be a slight lift. Inhale and slowly lower the leg to the starting position. Repeat with the other leg. You can also use a cable machine or wear ankle weights.

Lunges Using Dumbbells, hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Bring one leg forward; making sure that your bent knee does not go past your toes. Lower yourself in a controlled manner until your back knee is close to the ground. Push on your front leg while squeezing your buttocks to help you move back up to the starting position. Complete all reps on one leg then switch to work the other. You can do this stationary, or as walking lunges.

Butt Squeezes This is an excellent way to increase the muscle tone of the glutes. Butt squeezes (isotension) require no equipment, no time worries, and you can do them anywhere-even standing in line at the grocery store. Do them standing or seated by simply contracting your glute muscles, and holding the squeeze for as long as possible. Then relax and repeat. Try to do three sets of 15 reps, and do them often!

And on the machine…

The Stair Climber In addition to a great aerobic workout, climbing on a high-impact Stair Climber / Stepper targets your butt, hips and thighs. Elliptical cross trainers are also effective since your legs and hips move constantly (like cycling) giving you a full range of motion in the muscles. Increase the machine’s resistance and you’ll get a good muscular workout, and a great cardio workout, but without killing your knees.

Work hard to achieve that tight tush

Women need to focus on being more intense while most men, who tend to ignore working out the lower body completely, need to do some work on the butt and legs. Just remember that you need to squeeze hard at each peak contraction when doing reps. Gluteal muscles go deep and you need to reach those far removed fibers to see real results.

Even if your aim is purely aesthetic – and not for athletic performance – putting in the gym time can give you reason to look forward to those revealing days at the beach.

Recommended Reading:

101 Ways to motivate yourself and get in shape. Number 43 may surprise you. Read all 101 NOW at Bodybuilding.com!

author: Daniel Yan

The Atkins diet hit the diet scene in 1972 when Dr. Atkins published his book, “Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution”. And the Atkins diet was really revolutionary. Most diets of the day focused on counting calories and maintaining a low fat diet. Calories were felt to be the enemy and the fewer you ate, the better off you were. Dr. Atkins paid less attention to calories in his diet and more to reducing the number of carbohydrates in the diet. To followers of his diet, the carbohydrates were the problem. The diet promoted the use of lots of protein and a moderate amount of fat with the idea that your metabolism will cause you to lose weight on this diet.

The Atkins diet was not taken very well by many nutritionists who were promoting diets low in fat and protein. This was about the time that the four food groups turned into the food pyramid. Fruits, vegetables and grains were near the bottom and should be consumed the most. Unfortunately for the Atkins diet, these were things that were to be avoided on the diet. Near the top of the food pyramid are fats and meat proteins. We weren’t supposed to eat many of these types of foods on a healthy diet and yet they were prominent in the Atkins diet.

The Atkins diet included menu plans high in bacon, fried meat and even fried pork rinds. While there were some salad greens on the diet plan, you were allowed to add fatty dressing to the diet plan. The Atkins diet plan really promoted eggs, cheese, meats at every meal and, in some cases, protein bars or protein drinks. This was a time when cholesterol and triglycerides were being better understood and their role in heart disease was made more clear. Experts felt that the Atkins diet plan was too high in cholesterol and other fats, making one’s risk for heart disease greater. Dr. Atkins continued to promote his diet plan, amid a great deal of controversy.

Atkins Diet Foods

The Atkins diet also included some Atkins products, like Atkins hot cereal, Atkins protein shakes and Atkins protein bars. Instead of having regular hot cereal, you would choose the Atkins variety of hot cereal. The company made money off of these specialized products and still does, but to a lesser degree. As long as carbohydrates were counted and Atkins products used, the diet was expected to help you lose weight.

It’s unclear how successful people were in losing weight on the Atkins diet. If dieting is truly based on calories, the Atkins diet certainly weren’t lacking in them. Since the origin of the Atkins diet, more is known about the effects of cholesterol (from meat protein) and triglycerides (from other fats) on things like stroke, peripheral artery disease and heart disease (coronary artery disease). Doctors are more likely to check cholesterol and triglycerides in patients and doctors are active in putting people on medications to lower these fats in the blood. Few doctors would recommend such a high content of cholesterol and fat for patients at risk for heart disease. Few would recommend this kind of diet for even normal people. Still, there are those who still go on the Atkins diet in the hopes of losing weight.

The Atkins diet is gaining in popularity and we want to bring you the most up-to-date information online. Also check out our latest information page at http://www.atkinsinfosite.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Yan

It’s a good idea to get to know and understand the Glycemic Index, because choosing foods with a low GI rating more often than choosing those with a high GI may help you to:

•  Control your blood glucose levels

•  Control your cholesterol levels

•  Control your appetite

•  Lower your risk of getting heart disease

•  Lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes

Proponents say eating foods with low glycemic index numbers, such as yogurt and peanuts, help keep glucose and insulin levels in check, reducing disease risk later in life, in addition to helping some people lose weight.

The basics

The Glycemic Index is a scale that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods by how much they raise blood glucose levels compared to glucose or white bread.

When you eat food that contains carbohydrates, the sugar (glucose) from the food breaks down during digestion and gives you energy. After you eat, your blood glucose level rises; the speed at which the food is able to increase your blood glucose level is called the “glycemic response.” This glycemic response is influenced by many factors, including how much food you eat, how much the food is processed or even how the food is prepared (for example, pasta that is cooked al dente – or firm – has a lower glycemic response than pasta that is overcooked).

Good carbs, better carbs

Not all carbohydrates are the same. Highly processed carbohydrates — sugar and white bread, for example — are considered the benchmark against which other foods are measured. Foods that raise blood sugar higher than either of these foods are considered high-glycemic index foods. Those that raise blood sugar less than these two foods are ranked as lower glycemic index foods.

Not only do low GI foods raise your blood glucose more slowly and to a less dramatic peak than higher GI foods, but most low GI foods are all-around healthier choices. Low GI foods are usually lower in calories and fat, while also being high in fiber, nutrients and antioxidants. Choosing low GI foods more often may help you increase levels of HDL (healthy) cholesterol in your blood and might help you control your appetite, as they tend to keep you feeling fuller, longer.

Remember that the Glycemic Index is just one part healthy eating. Don’t forget to:

•  Eat at regular times

•  Choose a variety of foods from all food groups

•  Limit sugar and sweets

•  Reduce the amount of fat you eat

•  Include foods high in fiber

•  Limit salt, alcohol and caffeine

•  Choose heart healthy fats such as canola and olive oil.

LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX FOODS

Choose these most often-

Skim milk
Plain Yogurt
Soy beverage
Apple/plum/orange
Sweet potato
Oat bran bread
All-Bran™
Converted or Parboiled rice
Pumpernickel bread
Al dente (firm) pasta
Lentils/kidney/baked beans
Chick peas

MEDIUM GLYCEMIC INDEX FOODS

(choose more often)

Banana
Pineapple
Raisins
New potatoes
Oatmeal
Popcorn
Split pea or green pea soup
Brown rice
Couscous
Basmati rice
Shredded wheat cereal
Whole wheat bread
Rye bread

HIGH GLYCEMIC INDEX FOODS

(choose less often)

Watermelon
Dried dates
Instant mashed potatoes
Baked white potato
Parsnips
Rutabaga
Instant rice
Corn Flakes
Rice Krispies
Cheerios
Bagel, white
Soda crackers
Jellybeans
French fries

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