Simple Butt Lift Workouts
#withDavida
What part of your body do you like the least? If you’re female there’s a good chance you said your butt. I was recently asked to participate as an instructor on a television show segment encouraging people to use the stairs. In this segment the camera took many long views of my derriere as I climbed the stair-stepping machine. A wave of heat overcame my body and I squinched my face looking at my rear end filling the screen. On the bright side, I was climbing those stairs like a champ, strong, steady with good form. I may not like looking at my butt but it works well.
The gluteus maximus muscles are the largest in the body and when well developed burn more calories. They are the engines that make you go. They function both to produce high levels of force at low speeds through small ranges of motion, as well as low levels of force at high speeds through large ranges of motion.
There are a lot of different ways to work those muscles and which you choose depends on your goal. Athletes have strong butt muscles because they’re needed for running fast or jumping high. As you might guess running and jumping are perhaps the fastest exercises to give a butt lift. For greater strength and tone also target the fast twitch muscles.
To do this you can…
-Add shorts sprints to your run.
-Add one-legged hops like skipping with high leaps
-Add squat jumps where you sit back and then spring both feet forward
Another way to tone and lift the butt, which can also improve running and jumping, is to do weight bearing exercises. There are some fancy and complicated calisthenics peppered throughout fitness magazines.
But simple straightforward exercises like the following will do the trick.
–Try static squats while holding a dumbbell in front of the chest and engaging the core. Or a squat machine at the gym might help you maintain better form.
-Static Lunges are another way to target the butt along with thigh muscles. For less stress on the knees keep your stance long and focus on bending the back knee and maintaining shoulders over the hips.
-An exercise called donkey kicks can hit both the glutes and the hamstrings (see link below). You can perform the exercise wearing weights around the ankle or placing a small weight in the crease behind the knee. While on hands and knees flex the foot, keeping knee bent, push your heel toward the ceiling.
If you’re looking for a lower impact way to improve your look in jeans, yoga is another good way to lift your butt. To target your rear be sure to
-Sit deep when taking chair pose
-Make a long stride when lunging into Warrior poses and you can also strengthen the thighs
-The bridge pose while lying on the floor allows you to really contract the glutes and also strengthen low back muscles.
If you’re new to any of these exercises start slow and exert yourself until the muscles fatigue. Don’t forget to discuss any new exercise regimen with your doctor.
Resources:
Gluteus Maximus: https://medium.com/@SandCResearch/how-should-we-train-the-gluteus-maximus-ac35d1bd3c39
Donkey Kicks: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=donkey+kick+exercise&view=detail&mid=2DF91AAE16B5FAD8F5EC2DF91AAE16B5FAD8F5EC&FORM=VIRE