Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Butt Exercises

If your goal is toning your gluteal muscles there are several butt exercise to achieve the desired results. Working your gluteal muscles, as with any other muscle can make them toner, and more beautiful.

Whether you want to take inches off and tone or turn a flat tush into a nice round one these exercises can do the trick. The gluteus muscles are the center of the body. It helps with your balance because it is the biggest muscle in the body. Butt exercises provide lower body strength for lifting as well as other movements such as pedalling a bicycle.

If your goal is a bigger butt then add more weight and do less reps. These butt exercises will definitely add quality muscle to your rear. If your goal is toning then light or no weight is the key. This will firm what you have plus burn the fat off.

Butt exercise 1
Standing kickback with no weights

Stand facing a walk, lightly holding on with your hands for balance. Lean slightly forward so that your whole body is in a straight line. Shift your weight onto your left leg. Slowly raise your right leg as far behind you as you can, feeling the contraction in your butt. Your knee should be slightly bent. Don’t arch your back or over extend yourself. Hold on for a second, then slowly lower your leg. Finish the set, then switch to your left leg.

Butt exercise 2
Duck squat with dumbbell

With your feet farther than shoulder-width apart, your knees unlocked, and your toes pointing out, hold a dumbbell by the end, using both hands with your arms extended. Your chest should be out, your shoulders back, your abs tight, and your back straight. Keep your head in line with your spine and look straight ahead. There will be a slight forward lean to your upper body, which is natural. Slowly squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Don’t bounce, and don’t let your knees turn in. Hold for second. Then, keeping your feet flat on the floor, rise slowly with your hips slightly forward and your abs tight.

Butt exercise 3
Kneeling Kickback

Get down on your hands and knees. Keeping your right knee slightly bent slowly raise you right leg behind you until your thigh is parallel to your torso. Hold for a second, and then slowly return almost to the starting position. Immediately raise your leg again before it touches the floor. Finish the set then switch legs.

Butt exercise 4
Alternation Lunge

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your hands on you hips. Keep your upper body upright and your head in line with your spine. Take a long step forward with your right foot. Plant that foot firmly on the floor an bend your knees until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Don’t let your right knee extend past your right foot. Your left leg should be extended behind you, the knee slightly bent and the heel raised. Immediately step back with your right foot, pressing your left heel to the ground. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart. Repeat the exercise with your left foot. That makes one repetition.

I am a 32 year-old personal trainer from Birmingham, AL. My experience includes over six years of Personal Training. I have studied diet techniques, weightlifting, and nutrition for over 10 years. This includes the study of kinesiology at the University of Alabama. Visit my website at www.makeoverfitness.com for more information.

Easy Butt Exercises For A Tone And Shapely Butt

Everybody wants a nice butt. And with the right butt exercises anyone can have a good-looking, firmly lifted bum. Men & women, young or not so young, underweight or overweight – getting a nice set of glutes is a function of following a series of targeted exercises that bring about the desired end result.

Yes – there are nutritional considerations as well. These depend on your current state of fitness and your long term goals. So, for now, I’ll assume you have a pretty good handle on the nutritional component.

As for the properly structured butt exercise program, which you may not have found, just yet, I’ve put together a mini butt workout routine which you can incorporate into your current workouts. This routine specifically targets the muscles that lead to very nice improvements in the buttocks area.

Bear in mind, I’ve been training people since the late eighties. Speaking strictly from experience, I can tell you that the following butt exercise routine is responsible for helping many women dramatically change the appearance of their problem area.

These exercises can be done anywhere, anytime – no excuses.

Lying on your side, do 10 reps of each exercise:
1) Bring both knees forward so your hips are at a 90 degree angle. Then straighten your top leg out in front of you, still keeping 90 degrees at the hip. Lift the top leg slowly about three feet off the ground & down.
2) Straighten both legs so your body is in a straight line. Tilt the hips forward slightly. Lift the top leg about three feet off the ground & down.
3) Repeat on the other side.

On the elbows and knees, butt in the air, do 10 reps of each exercise:
1) Extend one leg straight back with your toe on the ground. Lift that leg up toward the ceiling & down. Then switch legs.
2) Lift your knee off the floor. Extend that same heel back and up so your leg is pointing toward the ceiling & then bring the knee back into you. Then switch legs.

Standing up, do 10 reps of each exercise:
1) Start with your feet together. Step out in front in to a lunge position. Touch the ground with opposite hand. Come back up & step back to the starting position. Then switch legs.
2) Put one foot up on a step (12 – 18 inches high). Slowly step up and down with the other foot. Then switch legs.

If these butt exercises are easy, try going through the sequence twice. If you still need more of a challenge, increase the reps to 15 or 20 per set. Do this routine three or four times per week, and within 2 to 4 weeks you will start to see the changes you are seeking.

By being consistent with a properly structured buttocks exercise program and paying attention to your nutritional intake you can get a super sexy butt no matter what your age or previous exercise experience.

Joey Atlas, Exercise Physiologist, is the mastermind behind The Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Makeover, a home exercise program of Butt Lifting Exercises & Workouts.

See www.ButtHipAndThighMakeover.com for fitness tips and exercise instructions.

Leg Exercises

A well defined and developed body is important for the overall health and look of a body. How many times have you seen a guy with a big upper body and tooth pick legs. This not only looks bad, it can lead to injuries and cause stress on the knees and hamstring injuries.

Leg exercise helps with the overall development of your body. You should devote an equal amount of time performing leg exercises as you do your upper body.

To achieve a well defined, strong, and balanced legs you must incorporate several leg exercises. Your leg exercise workout must have different exercises from different angles to develop all the parts for your Legs. Developing strong legs is crucial to preventing injuries to other muscles during exercises.

To get the best results you need to do 6-10 reps of each leg exercise. Choose a weight that you can do up to 10 for three sets. Once you can do 10 then move to a higher weight for maximal results. You can build up your Leg muscles by doing a variety of leg exercises with and without weight.

Choose at least 2 exercises from The Entire Thighs and Quadriceps group. Always do leg curls for hamstrings. Every week or so change exercises within each group.

Here are a group of the best leg exercises

Entire Thighs

Leg press
Sitting on a leg press machine, position your feet together against the crosspiece about should-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward. Grasp the handle grips or sides of the seat. Bend your knees and lower the weight as far as possible without changing the position of your hips. Do not lower the weight so far that your hips start to curl up off the seat! Then slowly push the weight back up using your heels, not your toes. Do not lock your knees at the top, but rather take the weight to just before lock. Then being to lower the weight again SLOWLY. You can change your foot positions to vary the angle on the muscle.

Squat

This is the best leg exercise for size, power, and overall development of your leg, it can also be the most dangerous. Make sure you have proper form when performing this exercise.

Hack squat
Step up with dumbbells

Place a barbell on your shoulders like you would if you were doing Barbell Squats. Step up onto a flat bench with your left leg. Then step up with your right leg so you are now standing on the bench. Step down with your left leg, then your right leg. Repeat, starting with your right leg this time. Be careful not to fall! Use lighter weights. Can also be done with two dumbbells in your hands instead of a barbell

Quadriceps

Dumbbell lunges

Place a barbell on your shoulders like you would if you were doing Barbell Squats. Step up onto a flat bench with your left leg. Then step up with your right leg so you are now standing on the bench. Step down with your left leg, then your right leg. Repeat, starting with your right leg this time. Be careful not to fall! Use lighter weights. Can also be done with two dumbbells in your hands instead of a barbell

Leg extension
Using a leg extension machine, sit in the seat and hook your feet under the padded bar. Adjust the pad and/or the seat so that your knees hang off the end of the seat and the footpad rest on the lowest part of the shins. Grasp the handles on the machine or the edges of the seat to keep your hips from lifting up as you perform the exercise. Extend your legs until knees are straight, making sure you remain seated flat on the machine. Raise the weight all the way, lock and hold briefly, then slowly lower the weight back to the starting position. Get the full range of motion and feel the muscle being worked during the entire movement. Do not SWING the weight up!

This is the best leg exercise for toning the quads an adding strength around the knees.

Lateral Squat
Double leg power jump
Cross your arms over your chest. With your head up and your back straight, position your feet at shoulder width. Squat down until your upper thighs are parallel, or lower, to the floor. Jump straight up in the air as high as possible, using thighs like springs. Immediately squat down and jump again. Can also be done with a barbell on your upper back or with dumbbells hanging at your sides.

Hamstrings

Leg Curl

Lie face down on a leg-curl machine and hook your heels under the roller pad. Your legs should be stretched out straight so that the pads rest on the back of your ankles. Grasp the handles under the bench for support. Remaining flat on the bench, curl your legs up until your hamstrings are fully contracted. Release and lower the weight slowly back to the starting position. Concentrate on using a full range of motion and do not SWING the weight up. You can point your toes to intensify the burn in your hamstrings.

This is probably the best leg exercise for your hamstring area

I am a 32 year-old personal trainer from Birmingham, AL. My experience includes over six years of Personal Training. I have studied diet techniques, weightlifting, and nutrition for over 10 years. This includes the study of kinesiology at the University of Alabama. Viist my website at www.makeoverfitness.com for more information.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tone you butt technique


How to tone your butt is the most frequently asked question, especially among women. This is because for women, the fat tends to deposit there more than other areas. To make things worse, all the fabulous clothes that women wants to wear, needs a firm and tone butt! To be honest, nothing looks better than a tight pair on jeans on a well tone butt.

A lot of people gain weight on their butt without them noticing. First of all, you can really see in front of the mirror. You will only notice it when somebody makes a comment and by that time, it is already too late.

But not to worry, you can still lose that fat on the butt and thighs. Proper weight training, dieting and cardio workout can help you achieve the tone butt. The only thing is that you have to patient because it might be the last part that tones down. Understand that losing body fat is not an overnight process. It takes time and effort but surely the results is well worth the wait

The butt muscle, which is also called the glutes, is just like any other muscle in the body. It just have o be hammer with weights and it will tone up. Coupled with cardio and dieting, the fat will melt off.

Here are some workout, cardio workout and dieting tips to help you tone up the butt.

Tone Your Butt 1

Workout you legs with weights! A lot of people hate training legs. This is because the leg muscles are usually covered and it is not so noticeable compared to the arms and shoulders. This is a very strong reason for you to consistently train your legs. There are 3 leg exercises that is a must do for the butt. These exercises are the barbell squats, 45 degrees leg press and the walking lunges.

These are excellent compound exercise that works more than one muscle at a time. The barbell squats and walking lunges are free weght exercises and require lots of effort in balancing during the exercises. This will put extra amount of pressure on the butt. Do not go to fast in the exercise. The tempo should be one second up and two seconds down.

Tone Your Butt 2

Do not forget about the hamstrings. Make sure you perform these 2 super hamstring exercises that can really workout the butt as well. The exercises are the dead lift and seated or lying down hamstring curls. Perform these hamstrings exercises at the end of the leg workout.

Tone Your Butt 3

Perform isolation exercises as well. These exercises can specifically target the butt muscle without involving other muscle groups. Make sure your perform these exercises at the end of the workout because if you tire the butt exercises at the beginning of the workout, you would not have enough energy to do the other leg exercises like squats and leg presses.

Isolation exercises for the butt are the glute machine and the abductor machine. An excellent way to use the abductor is to lean forward while keeping your back straight. Use the drop set technique. A drop set is a set, which consist of 3 sets. The first set uses heavy weights and low reps, for the second set, reduce the weight but increase the reps and for the third set, increase the reps again and decrease the weight.

Tone Your Butt 4

Choose your cardio machine that works the butt muscle more. Although all cardio machines are made to achieve the small goal, which is to burn body fat, the cardio machines focuses on different muscle groups. The best cardio machines to tone up the butt are the stair master or stepper, the new Technogym Wave and the elliptical trainer done backwards. Perform 3 to 5 cardio sessions a week for optimum results. One cardio session should be about forty-five minutes at the intensity of 75 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.

Tone Your Butt 5

You can also workout your butt without any gym equipment. Use the stairs more and avoid the escalator and lifts. Climbing up stairs is one of the best ways to tone up the butt. So, the next time you plan to take the lift, skip it and head on for the stairs for some extra workout. You can also tone up the butt by squeezing your butt muscles and holding it for the one minute. This is what we call an isometric contraction where the muscles are working but there is not movement involved. Do three sets, holding the contraction for at least one minute.

There you go ladies and gentleman. A fabulous workout to get a well-toned butt! Use this workout once a week and make sure you have at least 72 hours of rest before repeating this routine if you intend to do twice a week. Make sure the intensity is high during the workouts, which means, rest should be one minute to one and a half minute. The weights you use should be challenging as well, if you are breezing through your workout, you are not getting much done.

About the author:
Yu Chung Leong is an experienced and motivated personal trainer for many years. He is passionate about health and fitness and enjoys helping people achieve their fitness goals. He writes many free weight loss tips at www.lose-fat-tips.com

Yoga Dance Based Butt Exercise For The Ideal Female Body Shape

Would losing 25 pounds and over 20 inches get your attention? Using innovative butt and thigh shaper workout programs in the privacy of your home can give you success in creating a dramatically improved female body shape. Lose tummy fat, "saddle bag" thigh fat, get rid of arm fat, improve muscle tone plus feel even better about yourself.

Creating A New More Attractive Body Image. Yoga and dance based trunk and butt exercise is all about body sculpting and creating a sexy, younger looking curvaceous female body shape. And, yes, it's also for you guys out there who've begun sporting side heavy love handles and an increasingly pear shape body.
Take the big target areas, a fat tummy, a fat waist and "thunder thighs". Everyone knows that exercise to reduce stomach fat can sound like the ultimate grudging hard work.

Body Shaping Exercise Program Candidate - Yoga Booty Ballet. The exercise and body gadget market place is brimming with possibilities to help your body image goals. Consider a body contouring "hybrid" workout option like yoga booty ballet which will have you moving between:

* Yoga postures that increase your muscle tone and flexibility
* Meditation to quiet your mind and to regain focus on yourself
* Ballet to produce stretching and balance and strength
* Dance to push your pulse, burn more calories, especially from body fat reserves
* Strength moves that challenge your muscles and create stronger bones

Traditional Yoga For Balancing Movement And Mind While You Lose Body Fat. For novices, yoga movements re-orient your mind-body balance. Elemental yoga positions such as Downward Facing Dog, Sun Salutation, plank position, Child Pose, Cobra and others can be used to gain strength in your trunk. You'll learn about proper balanced breathing techniques, posture and balance, curious and wonderful new stretches to parts of your body you never knew existed, and how to gain control over the "monkey chatter" inside your mind.

Working On Your "Booty" - For Women And Men. You don't have to be a lanky svelte reed-thin model to get spectacular body contouring results from yoga and dance based home or gym clinic programs. Women and men in their 50s, 40s, 30s or 20s tone up and shape up in fun workouts that take less than 45 minutes.

Dance As The Ultimate Thigh And Butt Shaper. Who fails to admire the enormous fitness, beauty and athleticism of dancers? Their body shape did not occur by accident. You can slowly and carefully transition yourself into any of the dance disciplines, ballet or modern dance or even hip hop style dance exercise and get huge body shaping results. Consider ballet moves, with toes articulated into rhythmic tapping, gentle leg raises, arms stretching, hips stretching, muscles contracting in a coordinated manner as you deepen the stretch and increase your one legged movements and glute work. You can't help but lose pounds, and inches of thigh fat, waist fat and more.

Building Strength And All-Over-Body Muscle Tone. Your abs, buttocks and arms get the brunt of the strength section of well designed yoga dance body rejuvenation workout programs. You'll find yourself combining squats and leg raises to tone muscle and burn inner thigh fat with overhead arms holding light 2 pound weights to counter-weight and place muscle toning focus on your upper arms. There's no better way to begin your body contouring and reduce arm fat than incorporating lightweights into continuous movement.

Get additional body shaping and butt exercise information and then decide for yourself what’s best for creating and improved body image.But and Thigh Shaper www.beauty2morrow.com/body/yoga-booty.htm

The Best Butt Exercises for a Sexy Firm Butt and Thighs

Want to know what the best butt exercise is to get that sexy tight firm butt? I don't think I know one single woman that doesn't want to achieve a tighter firmer butt.

Well, the answer to your quest for the best butt exercise is not in some fancy machine or butt blaster. In fact, most of your best butt exercises are simply done with bodyweight or free weights. I'll cover one of the most effective exercises for tightening the old buttocks in this article.

It's called the single-legged Romanian Deadlift. It's a great exercise for firming both the butt and the back of the thighs. Also, because this is a single-legged exercise, it really helps strengthen your ankles and other stabilizer muscles throughout your legs.
Here's how to do it:

1. Looking straight ahead, stand and balance on one leg, and kick the other leg out slightly behind you.

2. Maintain a very slight bend in the knee throughout this exercise.

3. Now start to bend forward while simultaneously pushing the butt and hips back and keeping a flat (not rounded) back.

4. While bending over and pushing the hips back, kick your other leg out behind you and reach down with your hands towards the toe of your foot that's planted on the ground and try to touch it. You should feel a stretch in the hamstrings as you get to the deepest part where your back is parallel to the floor.

5. Then, focus on squeezing the butt muscle hard while you reverse the movement and bring yourself back to upright (all the while maintaining that flat back)
Alright, that was one rep! Now do 5-10 reps with each leg for 2-3 sets mixing this exercise into one of your normal workouts (or even just try this at home in your living room). At the end of a couple sets, I guarantee you'll be feeling this big-time in your buttocks and the back of your thighs!

I know it may sound a little complicated, and the first time you try this butt exercise, you may really need to concentrate on your balance. But after a couple sessions of practicing these one-legged romanian deadlifts, you'll start to get the hang of them and be able to focus more concentration on keeping the butt tight throughout the range of motion.

Once you get this down and practice this killer butt and thigh exercise regularly, you'll be well on your way to showing off a tighter, sexier butt! See below for more amazing butt and thigh exercises.

To discover more of the world's most effective butt and thigh exercises, go to www.sexybuttexercises.com and grab free instructions and photos.