A nicely shaped bum can do wonders for your physique and your confidence.
Here are 6 training tips on how to get great glutes
1.Wake up your sleepy bum with quality warm up
As the we spend on a lot of time sitting on our backsides, they are considered a sleepy muscle group. Forget static stretches to warm up the bum, instead get your butt to work by doing exercises such as dynamic warm ups, body weight squats, lunges, monster walks (with an elastic band around the ankles).
2. Train using classic lifts
Do deadlifts, squats, lunges, the bum has to work hard engaging a lot of muscle fibres which results in greater fat loss .
When doing squats try to move deeper than parallel as this activates the glutes much more than partial squats. If you are experienced at lifting then try power moves like clean and snatches as these require serious effort from the glutes to create that force.
3. Train legs individually
Single leg work can specially target the bum muscles. Step-ups, lunges, split level squats and single leg deadlifts are perfect for greater muscle growth for lovely, rounded glutes. Single leg work also addresses the strength imbalance between the right and left side of the body.
4. The top dollar bum builder
Using a barbell you can do barbell hip thrusts, This involves bridging the body and using the bum muscles to create the upward thrust. This exercise is perfect is you don’t want to grow your quads or hamstrings but want to target the bum specifically.
5. Do sprints or strongman to drop fat in the hips and thighs.
A study of 45 young women proved that bike sprints done 3 days a week produced over a 5lb weight loss and an increase in lean muscle by over 1lb. Most of the weight was lost from the thighs and trunk. Try sprints on a treadmill or outside for 30 seconds x 4-5 times with 1-2 minutes recovery, build it gradually towards 10 times as you get stronger and fitter.
6. Use fat for fuel
For an amazing bum , you cant have a layer of fat covering them up. At rest, women burn more carbs for fuel than men and less fat. Women also tend to have a higher fat storage after eating hence our higher body fat percentage. These higher fat stores are essential during pregnancy and breastfeeding. However, how do you make your butt leaner not fatter? In order to make the body more capable of burning fat , limit carbs in your diet at certain times ensuring your body is forced to burn fat. For example, reduce your carb intake on non training days but higher on training days. Incorporating weight training and sprints into your workouts also forces the metabolism to become more flexible.
