It comes as no surprise that ever since the emergence of Kim K. and the rest of the voluptuous Kardashian clan we have all been wondering how to get bigger, perkier and more toned booties!
While the majority of us have heard time-and-again “JUST SQUAT” it is important to inform you that there is a very particular way to squat to be working the glute muscles. Generally, the majority of the time, people are squatting away not realizing that they’re building their quad muscles and aren’t hitting their booty hardly at all.
When it comes to building the perfectly shaped glutes, your form and stance while doing each exercise is vital!
So get ready to throw away all that you have heard about how TO/NOT TO get the perfect booty. Chances are what I am about to tell you is going to completely blow your mind and be the opposite of everything you have come to know about building your glutes. But if you want the perfect butt by summer time, I suggest giving these exercises a try.
- How to do a squat to that will get your booty burning without building massive thighs: most of us are used to the form of a squat, but tend to be distributing our weight improperly and in the wrong form for what we are focusing on- our glutes.
You are going to want to start standing in a comfortable stance with your feet no more then slightly beyond shoulder width apart and your feet pointing forward. When you go to squat down, the depth of your squat shouldn’t be the focus. In fact, if you’re pushing yourself to squat as low as possible, you’re inevitably going to be breaking your good form and are entering into a movement that has a great potential to cause injury. You want to keep in mind while you’re squatting that you want to be feeling the muscles that are at work throughout the exercise; in this case, you should feel your glutes working throughout the movement. As you lower your torso down into a squat you will only need to go as far as to have your hips and thighs parallel with the floor/ creating a 90degree angle.
Another tip that will help you squat for your glutes is to push your hips back and out while you’re squatting. This is a different action then the usually “push down/lower into your squat”. By pushing your hips back and out you’re putting all your weight into the back of your heels and distributing the majority of your weight into the glutes, forcing your glutes to be the main working muscle throughout the movement.
- I have personally heard people saying, “DON’T DO ANY CARDIO, YOU WILL BURN OFF WHAT BUTT YOU DO HAVE” an uncountable amount of times, to no avail. Here is the thing, just like with your squat, there is a definite difference in the way you do cardio to burn off weight then you do when you’re trying to tone and shape your lower body.
If you want to tone your lower body and lose fat while simultaneously keeping the butt you already have and even gaining a more-shapely butt, here is how you do it:
Choose the Stair Master over the Treadmill. The Stair Master gives you all the benefit of getting in your cardio and still focusing on your glutes and legs to be working and perking throughout the exercise.
If you’re going to choose the Treadmill and don’t want to watch your hard work to get the butt of your dreams, go straight out the window, make sure to keep the resistance level higher then normal. If you’re walking: walk up hill. If you’re running: run at an incline that is attainable for your skill level (I would suggest between .5-3.0 range).
