Personal Train No. 2: Bumped Up Booty

For those of you that love to know what my personal fitness training is…here you go. Brandon, my trainer is here to help you guys get into summer shape. I have asked him to explain and give you guys some of the same routines we go through together. Enjoy.

____

Some people are gifted with a perfect posterior. The rest of us however have to work for it. The effort is worth the payoff though. I mean who doesn’t appreciate a well shaped booty?

Statistics even show people with nice butts are happier and more successful…ok so I completely made that up. But I wouldn’t bet against it either. Aside from the fact a strong and sculpted backside is arguably more attractive, it’s even been shown in research and practical experience to be a huge factor in athletic performance and even low back pain prevention. And those facts I didn’t make up. So I think we can all agree no matter if it’s for aesthetics or athletics, a strong, firm booty is a plus!

Quick anatomy lesson. Your keester is made up of three muscles that largely determine its shape, however there are smaller muscles beneath these that are important for control and stability of the pelvis. The three large muscles consist of the appropriately named gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. When you hear people talk about the “glutes” these are what they’re referring to, with the glute max being the largest and most responsible for the shape of our butt.

Cool fact, the glute max is actually the largest single muscle in body. Especially if your name is Kim Kardashian. Which means it’s a pretty important one for almost all movement of the hips. It may have even played a big role in our early ancestors survival! The gluteus maximus is what powers us during fast running (not so much on the leisurely strolls through).

So a strong and healthy backside is what could have allowed our paleo ancestors to chase down dinner during their hunts…or away from becoming the dinner of hungry predators. Have you ever admired the built booties of world class sprinters? That’s no coincidence my friends. While sprinting can go a long way towards building better glutes on its own, there’s plenty of other exercises that will bump up that booty, without having to hit the track.

Here’s a program that targets all the posterior hip muscles, and are the best exercises I know of for getting those glutes to grow. Just keep in mind that seeing noticeable changes in ANY muscle takes time. If you do this program consistently and progress up accordingly, then expect 2 to 3 months of commitment for the changes to really happen. However, you may start getting compliments much sooner. So be prepared for the extra attention. Do this workout once a week, along with your regular workout schedule. In order to keep the necessary stimulation for growth to take place, you’ll have to steadily progress up the challenge on each exercise each week. This can be done by adding a bit more weight, or a few more reps to each exercise, week after week. It doesn’t have to be a huge jump either. Maybe five more pounds one week, and five more reps the next week should suffice. Just make sure that you’re adding a little bit more every week.

Did I mention that it’s really important to consistently do a bit more each time you do the workout yet? Start by doing two sets of each exercise, after one month, you can add a third set if you feel you’re ready for it.

Warm-up:

— Floor glute bridge: 2 sets X 20 reps (Tip: squeezing a rolled up towel between your thighs can increase the tension in your glutes, stabilize the pelvis and de-emphasize low back involvement)

— Lateral band walks: 2 sets X 20 reps each way

** You can use either dumbbells, a barbell, or even kettlebells (if you have them handy) for any of these. However dumbbells or kettlebells are my favorites for everything except the hip thrust, which I would recommend a barbell for.

Workout:

Hip thrust: 10 reps

Step up to balance: 10 reps each leg

Stiff-legged deadlift: 10 reps

Squat: 10 reps

Rear foot elevated split squat: 10 reps each leg

Goblet squat: 10 reps

Lateral lunge: 10 reps each leg

Finisher:

Treadmill:

Step 1 – Set incline to Level 12 and speed to Level 3.7. Walk for 1 minute

Step 2 – Keep incline but set speed to Level 5.5. Run for 1 minute

Step 3 – Repeat this for 5 rounds.

Note: To continually make this more challenging, increase the speed of the run by 0.2 each week, or add an additional round.

 -Brandon Cole