Want A Tight Butt? 3 Simple Exercises You Can Do At Home
Now that the weather is getting warmer here in Toronto (Spring is finally here!) more and more people are peeling away the layers they wore for the last 6 months (although we’ve had an unusually warm winter.) The coats are no longer covering our backsides and I can see more people heading outside to enjoy the sunshine. As a holistic exercise coach and trainer, one of the “curses” of the position is that I see dysfunction easily. Like a car mechanic can tell what’s wrong with a car’s engine just by hearing the different sounds it makes, I can see what muscles are weak and what muscles are overworking just by one’s movement. Lately I’ve noticed an alarming number of dysfunctional hip movements. Most of the time it comes down to weakness of the glutes. It’s like what should be muscles, have turned into wet noodles in people’s pants. No wonder they’re unable to stabilize the pelvis and cause back pain overtime.
The best way to avoid letting your butt sag inside your favourite jeans and setting you up for injury is to strengthen and tone your glutes. Let’s get rid of all the excuses of “I have no time to go to the gym” or “I feel so out of place in a gym” or “Group classes take forever” or “I hate running”. None of that matters. You can do these three exercises in the comfort of your own home.
They require absolutely no preparation or set up. The only equipment you’d need is a chair, a step, or a few books (either will work to get the same effect and result)
Complete them in succession with no rest in-between them. Once you’ve finished one circuit, rest 30 to 60 seconds and do it again. Starting off with 2 circuits will be plenty for the long time out of shape (literally) butt. As it’s starting to shape up, you will want to increase the number of circuits and decrease the rest between them.
Start up with Hip Hikes
1) Hip Hikes
After 12 – 15 reps per side, jump right into Wide Stance Squats with Hands behind your head:
2) Wide Stance Bodyweight Squats with hands behind head
3) Single Leg Supine Hip Extensions
Do these daily for 3 weeks and report back on the firmness of your tush and the increased stability of your pelvis in the comments below.
