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Work it Out: Double Your Derrière

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This may seem odd, but I need a bigger booty.

You ladies with ba-donk-a-donks are luuuuucky!

Since this post, it has grown a good amount!  Even my mom commented on how it’s looking better. 😉  However, we still have lots of room for progress.

sprint2table-workitout

While these exercises may not exactly double your derrière, they will help!

For those who want their booty to firm rather than grow, don’t shy away from these.  Exercise builds muscle, which burns fat.  This leads to a shapely, muscular arse.

joined for the mirrors

No shame in admiring hard-earned progress!

For each of the following exercises, do 3 sets of 10-12.  For more advanced rears, try going 4 sets of 15.

1. Floor Jackfloor jacks

Lie on the floor or a mat with your face down.  Spread your arms out over your head and your legs wide behind you to form an “X.”  Move your legs and arms in and out, much like a jumping jack.

Throughout the exercise, keep your arms and knees straight and off the floor.  Think about engaging and squeezing the glutes as you move your legs together and apart.  This keeps the focus on the upper and side glute muscle.

Note: If this bothers your lower back, try moving your arms and chest lower (or even all the way to the floor), focusing solely on the leg movement.  Once you gain strength, add in the upper body.

2. Lunge jump

Lunge JumpsStand with your feet together, elbows bent 90 degrees.  Lunge forward with your right foot (A).  Jump straight up as you thrust your arms forward, elbows still bent (B).

Switch legs in midair, like a scissor, and land in a lunge with your left leg forward (C).  Repeat, switching legs again.  That’s completes 1 rep.

This move hits the whole lower body, engaging the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.  The added bonus is that it also engages the core and hips!

Need a challenge?  Make it harder by holding weights in each hand.

Note: This can be hard on your knees – if you have knee trouble do a regular single legged lunge.

3. Abductor 

adductor exerciseI love to call these machine the “yes” and “no” machines.  You can see why…

The exercise pictured hits the inner thighs and bum muscles.  Sit in the machine and grip the handles on each side.  Slowly press against the machine with your legs to move them towards each other while exhaling.  Be sure your upper body remains stationary throughout the exercise to prevent injury.

Hold the contraction for 2-3 seconds and return your legs back to the starting position in a controlled manner.

These machines are often 2-in-1, or have a neighboring machine where you do the same thing, only you start with your legs together and move them away from each other (i.e. the “yes” machine).  This works the outer thighs and glutes.

For a real challenge, apply the 24s method to this one!

4. Fire Hydrants

fire hydrants exercise

While these may feel… awkward… to do, they do work.  Be confident and rock them out.  And make sure your bottoms are providing full coverage to avoid peep shows. 😉

Get on the floor on your hands and knees.  Lift one knee up and out to hip-level (or as close to it as you can).  Keep your knee bent at a 90 degree angle, ankle flexed.  As you raise your leg, take care to not let your weight shift over to your support side.  Slowly lower your leg to the starting position for one rep.

Do 10-12 reps on one side, and repeat with the opposite leg for one set.  In addition to targeting the outer glutes, fire hydrants engage your core when you take care to keep your tummy tight and your back straight.

Note: Fire hydrants are also great for strengthening the hips.  If you have to sit all day at work… do these!

5. Single Leg Ball Squat

single leg ball squat

You know that bottom part of your bum that gets all saggy and wrinkly?  Single leg squats with a Swiss ball will blast that problem area, as the assistance of the ball allows you to engage the glutes even more exclusively than even a “regular” squat.

Place the Swiss ball against the wall, and lean your back against it.  Stand on your left leg while pressing your back into the ball with your lower back.  Stretch your right leg out in front of you in a horizontal position parallel to the floor.  If that’s not yet possible, just raise your leg as much as you can.

Squat down to a sitting position using the Swiss ball as your support.  Be very careful to keep the knee of the supporting leg behind the toes to avoid knee injury.  Stop when the leg is bent to 90 degrees, then slowly press back up to the starting position.

Need a challenge?  Raise your toes off the floor for an even more targeted hit to your thighs, hamstrings, and glutes.

Note: I struggle with balance and find that stretch my arms in front of me and focusing on a point straight ahead helps!

***

I think I’ve officially posted about butts more than another other part in my Work It Out series.  This is funny because what I really want to do is work out chest and biceps.  Every.  Day.  Balance…

Bare it all: What are your thought on your bum?  Good?  Needs work?  Big?  Small?

Has anyone tried the leg workout without touching the floor?  This is oddly one of my favorites.

Comments

  1. Haha, I totally need this. I definitely have a small butt, that I have a hard time building.
    I just accept it most of the time:)Haha, I love fire hydrants, they may be my favorite!

    • I have always been in the same boat… but it CAN be built (I never really believed it!).

  3. I’m a member of the big bottom girls club. So I have other issues with my backside.
    Honestly, I can’t do fire hydrants without giggling. And I hate lunges. That’s why I should do them more often.

    • HA! love that mentality – my trainer tells me to do more when I say I hate something.

  4. Great to hear that you are making progress!
    I hate jump lunges and do them a lot 🙂 And totally need to try the Single Leg Ball Squat! My butt is small but in an ok shape so I take that 🙂

  5. threee cheeeeers for progress!!
    and one for my booty.
    🙂
    the forties have been BOOTY ROUGH 🙂 and Im in need of lifting it upward 🙂

  7. 24s on the abductor…OUCH! Hurts so good! The booty, well that one’s a constant piece to work on. When I was a cardio junky, it was a little saggier. Now that I’ve got an even mix, I’m liking it better. These are some of my favorites here! I also love the pretzel move (barre move) for the upper outside of the buttocks. It really gets in there to give you the round shape at the top of your booty!

  9. Yay for booty progress!

    I’ve always considered myself pretty blessed in that area – my lower body in general puts on muscle fairly easy. I’m thinking I might add in those single leg ball squats to my workouts later today though, I certainly wouldn’t complain about a little extra added lift 😉

  10. My butt is kinda flat. It’s not good when my jeans stretch out and by the end of the day, I look like I have poopy pants.

    • I swear to you, that can be fixed. I never believed it, but my ass was pancake flat before – and I have NO genetic help.

  12. This is great, Laura! Like most runners, I have weak glutes, so I’ve been working really hard in this department! My coach has recently started my whole team on a plyometrics circuit, so that has really helped (none of us could sit down for 3 days after our first session- haha!), but I’m always looking for other moves I can do to improve in this area 🙂

  13. YES!!!!! You are looking great AND as a 55 year old with a butt that does not want to stay lifted, I see a couple moves for me to add in!!!! I have not done the ball squat in a log time & love the X one!!!

    I have a post tomorrow that will have glute work in it too! 🙂

  14. Love that your mom noticed 😉 I always had a high round booty from 20+ years of ballet. It’s not nearly has high and round with running, but it’s still definitely there. I do include lots of glute work though. I need to add in the single-leg with stability ball. Good call. I like the split lunges, bulgarian split squats, and weighted donkey kicks. Also, tried and true rear leg lifts (a la ballet style).

  15. I’m working on mine! In the past few months I’ve made progress, though, so I’m very excited. There’s still work to be done, however, and I’m excited about this post. Three of the exercises you described are moves I’m not doing, so that means they’ll be new to me . . . which hopefully means a new challenge followed by more muscle. 🙂

  16. I had NO idea the Yes/No machine helped your butt!!! You know I’m one of those that needs to firm and not enlarge… eek… Congrats on your progress!! Next time we hang out I will check it out and tell you how fabulous your bum looks these days 😉

  17. I LOVE butt workouts! I was blessed with a the 2 “B’s” – Boobs & bootie. I am striving to keep both afloat and defy gravity! 😉

    • That’s where the posture comes in. Keeping a straight back and tight core will help! ANd don’t feel like you have to do a TON of weight.

  19. I DO need to work on it… I came the realization the other day that I think my butt is flatter than my stomach 😮

  21. Um, at 55, gravity has begun to take its toll on my butt. But, I do what I can, bad knees and all. Love the one legged squat with the ball. I also do a similar one, with one leg back in a lunge position.

  29. I love my bum! And yes, of course I’d open a comment with that. And I also love bum exercises. I’ve gotta give floor jacks a go. And fire hydrants–but I may save those for the safety of my own home (where booty shorts can flash what they will, and it won’t matter ;D )

  30. love jump lunges – oh they are killer.
    we have ‘somewhat’ bubble butts if you will 😉 it is a family trait, but it is one body asset we are proud of hehe

  31. Ugh, my booty is the toughest place to target! I cannot get that thing to grow, grow, grow! I really love this post. It includes some exercises that I have been doing (I’m doing something right!), but has some new ones that I would absolutely love to incorporate into my workouts! Thanks for the great post. Looking forward to more. 🙂

    • I swear to you it IS possible. just takes patience (and work). Let me know if you try some of these out!!! 🙂

  32. My butt is actually where I DON’T need work. I’ve been told it looks GOOOOOOOOD. [Did someone I dated tell me he liked to walk behind me up stairs? Yes. Was positive butt reinforcement the best thing he did for me? Maybe.] Abs though. Yoga has been showing me that my core is NOT as strong as I thought….

  33. As soon as I read your post ‘I like big butts’ started playing in my head 😛
    I’m not a fan of a big bottom but for some toning in that area I would like to try these exercises – thank you 🙂

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  34. I have never seen that floor jack move but it sound GREAT! May have to steal it as a boot camp move and direct people to your post for the explanation. All the others are ones I love for sure and use often.

  35. Ummm booty is so not my problem BAHAHAH!! Big booty over here lol! As I’m on this weight loss journey it’s coming down but I still want to it be shapely and curvy b/c that’s just cool HAHA!! Love this post though. Thx for the exercises 😀

  37. Ughh hahs I have the opposite problem. ..I wish my booty had an easier time slimming down! My sis&I got wjat ppl have referred to as “ghetto booty”?! The rest of the women in our family have regular, fairly flat butts! Not sure what happened…best of luck to you!!

    • LOL! You are lucky!! just remember – muscle burns fat. These are good to firm up too. 🙂

  38. these are awesome! I have the.smallest.butt.ever [heavy sigh…] I love that all but one of these I could do without a gym or gym equipment (and in my pjs as I roll out of bed in the morning!). Thanks for posting – us gals with small tushes need to work together!

  39. thanks for this post. nice butt! I think we really did meet in the middle. i need to lift today. haven’t lifted for a while (been so nice out i’ve just been walking and running and playing outside).

  40. Ohhhh, I like those floor jacks! Definitely keeping those in mind! I swear, I’ve got an ARSENAL of workouts saved up for whenever I’m back to 100% with my knee…I’ve come a long way, but there is STILL so many ways I’m limited. I seriously hope it doesn’t suck too bad at Blend this year. Keep your fingers crossed that I’ll have some miraculous improvements in PT over the next two weeks! 😉

Trackbacks

  1. […] Adductor/Abductor […]

  2. […] written multiple Work It Out posts about the booty.  My mission is to get one.  Last season I made some great progress, but […]

  3. […] Floor Jack (or Bird Dog) […]

  6. […] Wall ball squats – 4 sets of 20 reps […]

  7. […] Work it Out: Double Your Derriere  […]

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