Lots of women aren’t satisfied with their butt, but not everyone has the same complaint. That’s because booties come in all shapes and sizes. You’ve got to hit up your backside with the right kind of move to get the results you want.
We asked top fitness pros for their best butt workouts to lift and tone six common butt shapes.
1V Shape
A V-shaped butt is full on top and wide on the sides but disappears lower down as the butt muscle approaches the top of the thigh. The trick to enhancing this shape is ensuring the entire buttocks muscle gets a workout. You won’t find any better advice for doing that than from original Buns of Steel star, Tamilee Webb.
Webb’s favorite exercise for rounding out a V is called the Step Up. Find a stair or aerobic step bench that’s high enough so that when you step on it, your knee is at a 45-degree angle to your hip. Start by standing in front of the step, feet hip-width apart. Leading with your right foot, step onto the bench with both feet. Step down leading again with your right foot. Repeat 10 times; then switch to leading with your left and repeat. Work up to three sets of 10 on each leg.
2Saggy
There’s a reason A-listers like Heidi Klum, Faith Hill and Liv Tyler all have gravity-defying glutes: their trainer David Kirsh. One of his secrets for firming up flabby buttocks muscles and burning fat off the backside is The Sumo Squat, a big move that works even the deepest, hard-to-hit muscle fibers of the hips and buttocks.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes angled slightly outward. Lift your right leg in a circular “roundhouse” motion up to hip-height. As you place your foot down a few inches to the side of your foot’s starting position, squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Straighten back up to starting position and repeat the same “roundhouse” movement with your left leg. Flow smoothly from one rep to the next with no breaks in between. Do 12 reps each side. Work up to three sets.
To banish all excess fat from your rearview, in addition to your butt workouts, Kirsh also suggests eating a healthy diet and doing 45 minutes of cardio daily.
3Double Butt
You know about the double chin, so how about the double butt? That’s when your butt has an extra fold to it. If you’ve got one, Lara Hudson, star of the “10 Minute Solution: Pilates” DVDs, says that the absolute butt workouts to lose a double butt combine cardio and strength training, such as cross-country skiing or pulling a Rocky by running up (and down) stairs, along with performing Prone Leg Circles.
“I love Prone Leg Circles for this particular issue because it tones the lower back as well as the buttocks, hamstrings and inner and outer thighs,” Hudson says.
Lay face down with your legs out straight and your forehead resting on the backs of your hands. Pull your abs in. Zip your thighs together and lift your legs a few inches off the floor. Next, moving from the hips, make small circles with your legs in opposite directions. Circle 8 times, then reverse the direction and do 8 more circles. Repeat the pattern twice more, then rest by pushing your butt back into Child’s Pose and holding for 30 seconds.
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4Big Butt Exercises
A little junk in the trunk is sexy, but when it gets too out of hand, Terri Walsh, owner of the A.R.T. Studio NYC, says your best bet is to reduce your weight overall with regular strength workouts and a sensible diet. “When you lose fat over all, some will drop off from the butt,” Walsh notes.
To tone the muscle and lift everything up into an enviable bubble, Walsh likes this Booty Slimmer move:
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Keep your legs straight, reach forward and touch your fingertips to the floor or as close as you can without bending your knees or straining your lower back. Stand back up, and then step your right leg back and across as you bend your knees into a curtsey. Stand back up again. Repeat the reach forward and now curtsey to the left. Continue alternating reaches and curtseys until you complete 16 forward moves and 8 curtseys on each side. When you’re ready for a bigger challenge, hold a weight in both hands for the reach forward, in your right hand as you curtsey right and in your left hand as you curtsey left.
5Flat Butt Exercises
Do you pour yourself into skinny jeans and find that the rear is only half full? Fitness pro Jessica Smith, star of the “10 Pounds Down, Better Body Blast “ DVD, recommends Power Booty Pushes to inflate a flat butt.
Stand on your left leg with your right leg out to the side and your right heel lifted off the floor. Bend down into a crouched position, reach your right hand to the floor in front of you and extend your left arm behind your body. Using the power of both legs, spring upward and jump to the left. Land in a crouched position with your left leg now out to the side, your left hand in front of you and your right arm back. This equals one rep. Continue alternating sides for one minute. Work up to three sets with 30 seconds rest between.
“This move is perfect for perking up a flat butt because it does double duty,” Smith says. “It engages the fast twitch muscle fibers in your buns and spikes your heart rate to help zap away fat for a more shapely, toned backside.”
6Bubble Butt Exercises
Round, high, tight. Finally a butt type you can get behind. How do you get this desirable rear asset? Exercise DVD star Jennifer Gilardi recommends squats and lunges and lots of stair climbing, walking and running up inclines. Gilardi says adding this Star Lunge to your repertoire really adds some oomph to your baddonkadonk.
Stand tall with your hands on your hips. Step your right foot a stride’s length forward and as your foot contacts the floor, bend both knees until the right thigh is parallel to the floor and the left knee nearly touches the floor. Push off the right heel to stand back up, then immediately step your right foot out to side, bending both knees until thighs are parallel to the floor. Stand up, then immediately step the right foot back a stride length, bending knees so that this time, left thigh is parallel to the floor and right knee nearly touches the floor. Stand back up. Repeat the same pattern using left leg. Continue alternating to complete 10 reps on each leg. Hold dumbbells when you’re ready to work a little harder.
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