Hill Sprints for Bigger Glutes!

 

Hill Sprints for a Bigger Booty!!

 

I'm lucky to have such a steep hill close by.  Hill sprints are great are for your glutes, legs, heart and overall body composition.  You will definitely feel the burn in the butt shooting up those hill.  Sprints are a good idea for high intensity cardio and are perfect if you're short on time.  Remember to also have a protein shake after to build up what you tore down!

 

Unless you've got a good bit of weight to lose, I don't recommend running if you want bigger glutes.  Running eats away at your fat stores and possibly muscle over time.  Stick to sprints and uphill walking for cardio.

Single Leg Glute Exercises

Single Leg Glute Exercises

 

These are a big tougher of on form, but it gets better with time.  I'm still practicing on my single leg exercises.  Just a reminder to build bigger glutes you want to incorporate these into bilateral exercises too, like squat variations, hip thrusts, etc. AND lift heavy weights (with progressive).  I am recovering from a back injury so I'm avoiding those exercises as of right now.

 

 

 Bulgarian Split Squat (lunge)

Single leg Deadlift

 Hip Hyperextension

Alternating Butt Lift

 Step Ups

 Walking Lunges

 I forgot what this is called!

Alternating Hip Thrusts

 

 

This was an okay alternative workout, but I'm not counting it as actual "weight lifting."  These exercises can help shape your glutes and help them become more perky, but are not the best option for putting on mass.  This workout was more like a short session of high intensity cardio, which I finished off with hill sprints.

Pumped Glutes After Workout

These are my measurement directly before my butt building strength training workout (exercises listed in my last post).  I gained at 1/2 inch "pump" after my workout. 
So what is muscle "pump"?                    

It's that tight, full feeling you get after training muscles.  Blood is pumped to your muscles to give your cells the energy

they need to fuel your workout.  The pump is the blood and other products pooled in your muscles.  Muscle pump is a good indicator you've effectively targeted that body area and with proper diet should experience muscle growth over time.  To get that muscle growth you need to be progressively moving up with weights and doing the right exercises to target those muscles.

Losing Weight and Improving Booty-Part 1

Part 1: Using Stairs to Shed Fat and Shape Your Butt

 Note: This exercise is intended for those who wish to lose weight while improving the look of their glutes, if you wish to pack on glute mass this is not for you.

Climbing stair is a great way to get your heart rate pumping and shedding pounds.  Using correct technique, you can also help get your glutes into shape. 

Correct Techniques

1. Step with heel FIRST onto the step.  This is crucial if you want to target your glutes and not just other leg muscles.

2. Skip a step in between.  This allows for your thigh to be more parallel to the ground and in turn reaches deeper in to glutes.

3. Mind to muscle connection.  Each time you step up literally think about using your glues and SQUEEZE.

Why this sheds pounds:

In a 10 minute walk, I burn around 50 calories

In ten minutes of stair climbing, I burn about 100 calories

That's a 50% increase in the amount of calories burned!

(Based on heart rate monitor and being 132 lbs, if you weigh more you'll burn more calories)

Why this helps shape your booty:

The action of hip and knee joints is extension, this type of movement uses your leg and glutes muscles to propel you not only forward (as in walking) but also upward.  The more you can make the connection with your glutes and the deeper you can sink with the leading leg, the deeper you will reach your butt muscles.

Beginners: start with walking up the stair focusing on squeezing the glutes and descend back down the stairs quickly (but safely!) to keep heart rate up. 

Intermediate to Advanced: Change it up! Step out wider, move faster, add in leg lifts, change up descending patterns.