About a week ago I wrote an article discussing the pursuit of a six pack. If the goal of a six pack is usually number one for most people, I would say that a nice butt is a close second. I would have to say that this mainly applies to the women in the world, however guys like having a nice butt too. Who wants too have a drooping butt? Not I. It seems like the minute women hit 40 they develop the long butt. Men, on the other hand, have what the show King of the Hill calls diminished glutes, or no butt at all. How does this happen? How can kids have nicely developed hips and then all of a sudden they disappear? Well, it doesn’t need to be this way. You can have the perfectly shaped butt you had at 18 well into your life, if not for the rest of your life.

The first thing we need to address is the primary role of the butt, or hips. Sorry if I am offending anyone with my terminology. There are three major muscles that make up the butt, the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. The gluteus maximus functions to extend the hip or move your leg straight backwards. Your gluteus medius acts as a hip abductor or the movement sideways, away from the middle of your body. The gluteus minimus acts as a secondary muscle that helps the gluteus medius function among a few other roles. I will just be focusing on the gluteus maximus and medius because they play a more integral role in the shape of your posterior. Imagine the gluteus maximus being responsible for providing the lift and shape of the bottom of your butt, while the gluteus medius provides the shape to the outside of your butt.

The problem that people begin to run into from early age moving into adulthood is their increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The kids who are active have well developed glutes because they use them on a daily basis when running, jumping, and climbing. The glutes are actually one of the most important muscles used to perform these activities. Then as we age we become less and less active, requiring less and less work from our glutes. At some point we require such little use from them that our body can actually forget how to properly use or glutes, which can cause lots of serious issues especially low back pain. I will spend more time evaluating this phenomenon later. For now, let’s start with what you can do now.

I have actually previously provided a lot of the information you need in order to acquire the perfect hind end. The posts regarding the jiggly inner thighs, the squat, and the lunge all pertain here. As I have continuously stated I am an advocate of keeping everything as simple as possible. The same applies here. I don’t think you need lots of crazy exercises to achieve a nicely toned derierre. Stick to the basics with the proper technique and you will be amazed with the results you get, and so will your significant other, if you know what I mean.

Let’s start off by examining the larger of the two muscles that provide the shape for your hips, the gluteus maximus. As previously stated the gluteus maximus extends the hip. Common sense would then say to perform exercises that involve hip extension. There are a few exercises that I love doing to work this muscle. The first exercise is the squat. Nothing fancy about it, just a standard squat. The key though, which I mentioned in the previous post is going down until your butt touches your heels, or as close as comfortably possible. The reason this is so important is because from the bottom to when your thighs are parallel to the ground your glutes function as the main muscle. From parallel up to the top your quadriceps take over. So, by doing a quality deep squat you will be working your gluteus maximus.

There is a variation of the squat that I will do to provide a little more emphasis to the gluteus maximus. I call it the “sumo squat”. For this exercise you want to double the normal shoulder width stance of a standard squat, while still keeping your toes pointed straight forward. From this position you perform the same squat technique by keep your hips pushed back a little and focusing on keeping your knees out. The knees out is probably the most important aspect of this exercise. The result of performing the sumo squat is a shift in emphasis away from the quadriceps to the hamstrings and glutes. Some people refer to the sumo squat as a plie squat. However, I plie squat doesn’t maintain the toe forward position, which I feel is extremely important.

The next exercise I focus on to work the gluteus maximus is a Romanian Deadlift. This exercise always sounds scary but it’s not. This exercise focuses on the glutes a little bit more than the squat since it is a pulling exercise and the gluteus maximus’ main role is to pull the hips into extension. The deadlift is a fairly straightforward exercise, however in my experience most people perform it incorrectly. If performed with improper technique there is an increased risk of lower back injury. The key points to focus on in a deadlift are keeping the knees slightly bent and above all else maintaining a straight back throughtout the exercise. By first pushing your hips back, similar to the squat, you will begin to bend from the waist. Then by focusing on keeping your chest up you should maintain a straight spine, which should prevent any injury. Since, this is a fairly complicated exercise I will write more on it in the next few days.

Beyond those two exercises you could perform various forms of a lunge of step ups. The key to always working the gluteus maximus is to focus on pulling your leg straight back and getting your hips rotated underneath you. Let’s practice, stand up, shift your weight onto one leg. Now with the free leg, standing straight up, pull it sraight back. You should feel your gluteus maximus tighten up a little. There is a possibility that you will feel your hamstring tighten or maybe even cramp. This potential issue is beyond the scope of this article. I will try to evaluate this at a later time. For now though, that is basic hip extension. When perform lunges or step ups if you always manage to get your hips in this position you will be working your glutes. This can be applied to any activity you do from walking to swimming to resistance training. There are other exercises that I use to more specifically isolate the gluteus maximus, but I think the previously mentioned exercises and techniques are a great starting point and will provide general overall muscle tone.

Let’s move on to the gluteus medius. As I mentioned earlier the gluteus medius acts as a hip abductor. This muscle plays a large role in one of my first posts, The Dreaded Jiggly Inner Thigh. There I discussed the importance of maintaining stable knees throughout the three primary exercises, the squat, lunge, and step up. For now I think this focus should still be maintained, which will begin to tighten up the outside of your hips. By maintaining the slightly abducted position, or knees out, while performing the three exercises the gluteus medius will be required to work almost nonstop providing great benefit. Overtime, as with the gluteus maximus, other exercises intended to isolate the gluteus medius can be incorporated. For now, stick with the basics and perform them well.

It is extremely important to start off slow with the basics and progress from there. If you begin to incorporate too difficult of exercises too quickly injury or muscular compensation can occur. Don’t feel the need to push yourself too quickly because you think it will provide faster results. I guarantee if you master the basics you will be extremely close to your goal if not already there. From that point you incorporate more difficult exercises to add the finishing touches.

The butt of your past isn’t gone forever if you learn how to properly get your glutes to work again and then incorporate their use in your exercises. Nothing fancy is necessary, just the standard exercises performed with the proper technique. The key to achieveing buns of steel, as with any other fitness goal, is the actual act of exercising. This is where the motivation and psychology come in, which I have written a fair amount on. The key is convincing yourself that you must make a change otherwise pain will result, in whatever form it may be. I guarantee the pleasure is worth it. Having your significant other, or anyone for that matter, compliment you on your nice butt will make you feel very good.

So decide today that you are no longer happy with the way things have been. You are ready to make a change for the better. Head to the gym or just do some exercises right now. Whatever it takes to get you on the path to success. I guarantee once you achieve a little success the drive and excitement will lead you to greatness. Carpe diem, seize the day, there is no better time than now. Good luck.

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