The Ultimate Way to Shape Those Glutes!

 

This is a great article from cutandjacked.com. Personally, my butt has always been a favorite feature of mine but we don't just want a big one, we want a shapely, toned one!

Next to a sleek and sexy, toned midsection, high, tight glutes are the focus and desire of many women. They want the hard muscles of a fitness model combined with the round derriere of a pop star. Women like fitness supermodel Jamie Eason and actress/singer Jennifer Lopez have a booty that is the envy of many women, and their motivation to sculpt shapely glutes that they can be proud to show off in a bikini, lingerie, that ultra-clingy party dress, or even their favourite pair of tight jeans.

Where to start? What to do? How does one go about building up the muscle without it being too much? How do they get the round shape lifted high off the back of the legs? How do they create that sleek and sexy side silhouette?

To shape the perfect glutes, you have to target each muscle of the butt.

There are three muscles that make up the gluteals:

1. Gluteus Maximus - this is the largest and most superficial of the gluteal muscles and forms the bulk of the buttock mass;
   
2. Gluteus Medius - this is largely covered by the gluteus maximus; and
   
3. Gluteus Minimus - this is the smallest and deepest of the gluteal muscles.

Many muscles - such as the Iliocostalis Lumborum, Multifidus and Quadratus Lumborum, Iliopsoa - also insert into and around the pelvis and play a role in how the glutes can appear, usually by contributing to the posture through effects on pelvis tilt, etc.
To shape the perfect glutes, you have to target your butt from many angles and there are a variety of exercises and activities that you can do to hit and develop each of the gluteal muscles for that desired perfection.
• Gluteus Maximus - worked through flexion of the thigh;
• Gluteus Medius - worked through adduction and lateral rotation of the thigh; and
• Gluteus Minimus - worked the same as the gluteus medius.

Squats

If you want muscle, then you cannot neglect squats. The biggest exercise one can do, squats naturally release more Growth Hormone and Testosterone than any other resistance exercise. More anabolic hormones released means more potential for muscle growth, and the more muscle in the glutes, the better your butt will look.

Deadlifts

Although deadlifts do not target the gluteals specifically, it is a multijoint, compound exercise and therefore works multiple muscles, including the gluteals. More importantly, the deadlift is one of the most important exercises that you can do to improve your posture. Improving your posture can have a dramatic effect on the appearance of your butt.

One-Legged Deadlifts

A unilateral exercise, one-legged deadlifts work the glutes in more planes than the deadlift does, as well as adding variety to a training session. Working the gluteals in more planes means that more muscles are targeted. The more muscles targeted and worked, the better the overall muscular development of the butt, and the better the muscular development, the better its aesthetic appeal.

Lunges

Lunges can be performed multiple ways to hit each muscle in the glutes, as well as developing and shaping the rest of the lower body. Static lunges are the most common type of lunges done. Walking lunges are a progression from static lunges, incorporating a level of functionality that can be transferred into daily living. Using another plane, side lunges add more variety into a training programme, and not only can you focus more specifically on either the quadriceps or hamstrings - depending on the length of your stance - but it also hits the adductors.

Step-Ups

Using only bodyweight or using additional weight, step-ups are an excellent exercise for developing the glutes, as well as working the legs - more quadriceps or hamstrings, depending on how high the step is.

Stairs

The gluteus maximus is used when climbing stairs and running, and therefore these activities are excellent for developing the muscle. Climbing stairs, either at a steady pace or sprinting will help in attaining firm, round buttocks.

Sprints

Have you ever seen a sprinter with a square, saggy butt? No, because their training makes for the complete opposite. Power and explosiveness, speed off the blocks, anaerobically exhausting the body with intervals, working the legs and gluteals. Sprinters are among the leanest individuals on the planet, a product of their training methods and mode, making sprints the perfect cardio for helping you get lean enough to show off your hard earned muscle, shaping your butt as you desire it.

Conclusion

Building and shaping your glutes so that they sit high off your legs, hard and muscular, yet round enough that they give that perfect silhouette to your figure is not impossible, and through incorporating a few different exercises into your training programme, you too can have the sexy, shapely butt of a fitness model.
Exercises that develop each of the gluteal muscles and target them from all angles are the best to use, and include squats, deadlifts, one-legged deadlifts, static lunges, walking lunges, side lunges, and step-ups. Stairs and sprinting can also be used as part of a cardio programme to shape the glutes into the butt you desire.

Written by Rosie Chee, BExSpSc
Facebook: Facebook.com/pages/Rosies-MuscleRevolution

REFERENCES

Delavier, F. (2006). Strength training anatomy (2nd ed.). France: Human Kinetics.
Marieb, E. N. (2004). Human anatomy and physiology (6th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.

Photo Credit: Tony Mitchell

Why I Refused to Drink Shakeology

I wanted to share this blog that a fellow coach wrote today. I think all of us have doubts about supplements, workouts, and claims made by many companies these days because so many out there are false.
I can tell you, I have been working out most of my life and my diet was pretty good, not the best but good enough for me. I started Shakeology in December 2011 when I became a beachbody coach and I will seriously take this for the rest of my life. In all the years working out, dieting, etc. I have never seen or felt results like I have in the last 6 months.
It really is an amazing product. It is definitely not a fix all or a magic pill. If you put in the work, time and nutrition that your body craves, you will see yourself change in the way that you are looking for. Simple as that.

Did you know that it took me over a year before I broke down and ordered my first shipment of Shakeology? I thought that it was dumb. I thought that it was expensive. I thought that there was no way that it could ever do all of the things that Beachbody was claiming it did. I thought that there was no possible way that Beachbody had held the integrity of each ingredient that they claimed Shakeology had in it. I didn’t believe in shakes, and I didn’t see how this one was any different from a Slim Fast or a Special K drink. No, thank you.

I thought all of these things as a Beachbody coach!

I became a coach because I had such a great transformation with Turbo Jam, and I loved Beachbody’s workout programs. This new reach into the supplement direction seemed fishy to me. I loved Beachbody, but this was a direction that I wasn’t willing to take for myself or recommend to my friends and family members.

So, after a year of ignoring what everyone was saying about it, I finally started looking into Shakeology a little more. After researching, I realized a few things:

1. The reason it seemed pricey was because Beachbody really DID maintain the integrity of every ingredient listed. All of those whole foods were still whole foods in the bag. Just in powder form. OK, I can dig it.

2. It’s not a “weight loss” or protein shake. It’s a meal replacement shake that gives you EVERY veggie that you need for the entire day! It’s not that I don’t like veggies, but I’m more of a carb kind of girl. Knowing that I could get everything in for 160 calories was pretty cool, and I liked that it didn’t have preservatives or other nasty ingredients that other shakes contain.

3. It would replace my multivitamin. OB doctors were even telling their patients to drink it instead of taking a prenatal vitamin. Say what?!

4. When it came down to it, the price broke down to $3 a day. I can’t get any meal for $3 a day, much less one that will provide me with all of the nutrition that I need, along with probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and antioxidants.

So, whatever. I’ll order one month of it on home direct so that I can get the free shipping, then cancel it before the next shipment goes through. I’ll give it one month.

To cut things short, I didn’t cancel it before the next shipment came in. In fact, it’s been coming to my house ever since. We get two shipments a month at my house now, because my husband can’t live without it either. We drink it every day. Religiously. My body screams for joy every morning after I drink it because I’m finally giving it the fuel it needs. I’m happier, I’m healthier, and I finally found the missing puzzle piece in my life. (Yes, it’s that serious.)

http://laurenhfitness.com/uncategorized/why-i-refused-to-drink-shakeology/