Closer's ultimate bum toning exercises
Thursday 21 August 2008
There's one simple, harsh truth about the perfect bum; it's hard to achieve. If it were easy we'd all be strolling around in hotpants, even in December!
Toning your glute muscles (they're the ones in your butt) takes some dedication but it's amazing what a few short moves every night can achieve. Often people will complain they aren't noticing any difference having followed toning exercises religiously, but this can be because you are still carrying excess fat around the area. If you spend some time on cardio exercise (running, cycling and swimming are great) then you'll be burning fat and all your hard work will show through.
Now on to the ultimate bum workout...
Squats
If you really and truly want a better bum, then the squat is your best friend. Doing as few as 20 squats a day will help give your butt definition and stop you feeling quite to scared about getting naked.
You can intensify a squat by holding dumbbells in your hands but don’t over-stretch yourself if you’re a squat novice; it’s far more important to get the form right but only do small movements than be squatting down low in the wrong position.
The perfect squat
Varying the width of your feet will change the emphasis of the exercise. The closer together your feet are, the more you will work your quads (the muscle on the front part of the thighs). As you move your feet further apart, you'll feel the exercise more in your hips and bottom.
For a basic squat to tone your bum stand with your feet hid width apart, hands on hips. Slowly bend at the knees as it you are sitting down on an imaginary chair. Make sure your knees never move past your toes, and hold the position for a few seconds before rising back up and repeating.
If you have any trouble with your knees it’s best to avoid squats.
For a variation on the squat try Kathy Kaehler’s version, which has toned Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore’s bums.
Stand with your back against a wall with your feet planted hip width apart, a foot from the wall. Slowly slide your back down the wall until you knees are in line with your ankles and level with your hips (it will be like you're sitting but without a chair). Hold for 60 seconds or as long as you can manage, before slowly rising back up. Repeat until you can’t take the burn anymore!
Lunges
Lunges are another classic bum toning move and whilst all trainers recommend the classic lunge, David Kirsch offers this alternative lunge with an added extra kick to really target those glutes, taken from his best-selling book The Ultimate New York Body Plan.
Sumo Lunge with Side Kick and Frog Jump
Stand in a “sumo” position with your feet slightly wider than a shoulder’s distance apart, your knees bent and your body weight over your heels.
Take a large step sideways with your right leg, bringing your right knee in toward your chest and then over to the right and then over to the right in one continuous motion
As soon as your right foot touches the ground, bring your knee back into your chest and a complete sidekick, kicking your right heel out to the side into the stomach of an imaginary opponent.
Lower your right leg to the floor into the sumo position. Squat down while sticking your butt out. Keep your knees just above – not in front of- your toes.
Spring up while thrusting your arms overhead. Land on your heels, rolling forward onto your toes. Repeat with a sumo lunge and sidekick with your left leg and another frog jump. Continue alternating right to left until you have completed ten lunges on each side and twenty frog jumps.
Trust us, after 10 of these on each leg you'll be feeling it in your bum!
Coleen Rooney (it still feels wrong calling her that) works out with Elise Lindsay who has shared some of her top moves in new fitness bible, How To Get A Celeb’s Body.
Our fave butt move was the glute squeezes on all fours:
Get on all fours in a tabletop position (back flat, hands underneath the shoulders and knees underneath the hips) and engage the abdominals.
Lower the forearms to rest on the floor. Extend one leg behind you, bend the knee and flex the foot.
Squeeze the glutes and push up towards the ceiling, focusing on the bottom – do NOT let the back arch, keep the hips level.
Lower the right leg back to its starting position. Do two sets of ten to twelve repetitions.
