Toning Butt Muscles
Written on: November 27, 2005
Whether you're a girl or a guy looking to tone their butt muscles, the same exercises work for both sexes. It's not rocket science, it just takes consistency. Now we're going to take this article in two sections, because while you might want to "Tone your butt", what you do to acheive this goal might differ from what someone else might have to do. If you have a large butt, performing butt exercises will only worsen the problem, therefore you must focus primarily on diet. But if you're one of those who has "NO BUTT", then you will need to perform butt exercises!
To decrease and define butt size
As the image to the left illustrates, the actual "gluteus maximus" muscle is not as big as most imagine it to be. Our behinds are as big as they are because our body likes to store fat there. So the matter of reaching that "toned" muscular state is first acheived by eliminating the fat that resides there. So you must focus on losing overall bodyfat, which is accomplished by operating on a negative calorie diet and regularly working out on an exercise plan that includes both cardiovascular and resistance training. Visit our fitness articles to read more about how to do each.
Once you're able to eliminate that execess fat and reaching an ideal bodyfat percentage, you can then focus on performing the exercises mentioned in the section below to help define it and give it shape. Remember, you will never have a noticably toned behind if your bodyfat is too high. You can have the most muscular butt in the world, but if there is too much fat covering it, it will look like the standard flabby butt! That is why this step is very important for those who might have a butt that is too big.
To increase the size and definition of your butt
A lot of women and also men suffer from "flat butt syndrome" (yes, that's something I just made up). But it certainly a reality for many unfortunate individuals. If you're one of those people, don't worry - Inflating the size of your butt is actually quite easy. Toning butt muscles revolve entirely around one primary exercise, the Squat. Squats can be performed many different ways. Usually squatting with your own bodyweight is simply not enough resistance to force the muscles to develop, therefore it's practically a necessity to have access to a squat rack, or heavier dumbbells. I recommend squatting with a barbell or a smith machine and squatting down deep (Deep Squats).
Performing 6 sets of about 8-14 reps per set at once a week is sufficient. You will notice within a few months at this pace, your butt becoming fuller and more defined. Squats are a magical exercise for the butt, because the butt really responds well to them.
Depending on where the current physical state of your body is, you must follow either or of the two sections above, and in time you will have yourself a muscular and toned butt!
