
Introducing The Butt Muscles, Also Known As The Glutes
The major muscles of your butt are your glutes, short for gluteal muscles. The biggest is the gluteus maximus, which means 'big backside' in Latin! The gluteus medius and minimus also go to form the buttocks but they work and con be considered together for most purposes. The glutes do three jobs: They extend the hips, they work to keep the body upright and they counteract the hip flexors. Extending the hips means straightening the body against any load, so heavy back squats and deadlifts are powered to a large degree by the glutes. So is running and jumping, which explains their size and strength.
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- www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/slideshow-build-a-better-butt

Squats Are A Great Tool For Building The Butt Of Your Dreams
Squats are one of the exercises that everyone should know how to do and everyone should do. Squats to partial depth tend not to recruit the glutes much; full depth squats, where your hamstring touches your calf at the bottom of the rep, recruit the glutes significantly, and a heavier load will also require the glutes to work on keeping the back erect too. One major benefit of using squats to build glutes is that you'll be squatting. If there's one movement with massive carry over into every other movement and athletic feat, it's the squat. If there's one that stimulates the most muscle, leading to the biggest adaptation, it's the squat.
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Lunges Can Give Great Gluteal Activation - Which Gives You A Great Butt!
Lunges require that the lead leg act concentrically: without being stretched first it encounters the load as a 'dead stop.' Although it appears to be an eccentric action it's actually encountered this way in the muscle and it leads to great adaptations. A lunge is a sudden step forward that stops suddenly too, followed by a 'recovery,' where you push back against the floor to return to the starting position. In the step forward, the glutes of both sides are slightly active; in the stop phase, the glute of the leading leg fires strongly; and it has to fire strongly again to recover. Leave a second between the stop and recover phases to get the best results by requiring two 'deadstop' contractions, and don't lower yourself into the movement; stop hard and push hard.
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Leg Lifts For Strengthening The Glutes And Lower Back
Leg lifts are a good way to load the glutes slightly. They can help warm up a tight low back or prepare the glutes for more intense exercises, while for those new to exercise they can be a strength move in themselves. Do leg lifts by starting out on all fours and extending one leg backwards, trying to feel the contraction in your glute as you do it. Hold for a second, retract and repeat. If this is too easy for you, you can get more out of leg extensions by using ankle weights: because of the leverage, a little goes a long way!
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Bridges - A Great Hip And Glute Exercise!
Bridges are one of the most beneficial exercises there is. They help build strength in the back and core, and they're also a great way to develop strength in the glutes. Start by lying on your back and get your heels as close to your backside as you can. Drive up with your hips and tense your glutes, coming up on your feet and shoulders. Relax your neck. As you get stronger and more confident in your bridge you can start doing full bridges on your hands as well as your feet; just remember to tense your glutes all the way through the move!
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Try These Swiss Ball Exercises To Activate and Tone Your Glutes
Swiss ball exercises help to support you while you're beginning to develop strength in your glutes. Use them to do bridge-like or extension exercises with your body supported, allowing you to practice the movements safely. Try these moves: One-leg deadlift Stand with your hands on the top of the ball. Extend your right leg behind you, leaning forward slightly and keeping your heel up and toe down. Bring the right knee back toward the ball, then return it to the starting position. That's one rep: try for 12. Assisted bridge Start sitting on the ball and slowly walk out until you're in the bridge position with your shoulders on the ball. Lower your hips until they just hover above the floor, then return to the start for one rep. Again, try for 12.
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Mountain Climbers With A Twist For Extra Glute Power
Mountain climbers work the core, legs, back and glutes. They're a great exercise choice for a finisher or a light session. To work the glutes more, try combining them with a move humorously known as the 'fire hydrant.' Start in the mountain climber position, and extend the bent leg behind you and up toward the ceiling, keeping your toes down and heel up. Retract and switch sides using the conventional mountain climber switch, then repeat the 'fire hydrant' move. This will help to strengthen your whole body, but will especially impact the glutes, leading to a stronger, firmer butt.
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Watch Your Diet When You'Re Trying To Achieve That Perfect Butt
A lousy diet will scupper your training for sure. Watch out for that. Make sure you aren't eating too much, but don't go overboard and eat too little either. The butt is a prime area for fat to be laid down, and a fatty belly or hips will contribute to making your butt look worse. Try to keep a food diary for a week or so and then work from there, reducing your calorie intake about 250 calories a day until you start getting the results you want (if you're starting from being underweight, go the opposite direction and raise your intake by about 250 calories a day). Make sure you eat plenty of vegetables and lean meat and get the butt you want!
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Go For The Maximum Intensity And Volume Regularly To Get A Great, Shapely Butt
The glutes are big, strong muscles. It's hard to overtrain them and they respond extremely well to all kinds of training stimuli so try having a once-a-week session where you go 'all out' to get the biggest response you can from your glutes. Activate them with leg raises and then hit them with heavy squats, before some endurance work doing bridges for time or repetitions to build hypertrophy and strength. And remember, your glutes are such big powerful muscles that when you train tis way you're doing your whole body good, stimulating hormones that will cut down on body fat and create a slender, toned look.
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A Walk In The Hills May Be Just The Thing For Your Butt
Walking uphill is a harder task than many people realise, and it recruits the glutes strongly. Hiking is best, because the uneven ground makes your legs 'turn on' neurologically, but walking up gentle roads can be a good way to get stronger glutes too. Whichever you choose, walk upright and pay attention to your hip posture, and try to feel your glutes driving your hips forward as you step forward and up. Making a longer hike out of it will mean adding a backpack, which will help you keep an eye on your posture and add some weight too!
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