Sculpt the Buns: Glut Workouts For Women
Saturday, December 20th, 2008Because 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.
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