Did you try adding in those glute bridges yet or just squats??
squats and lunges…more squats…wall sits…ugh. it’s torture!
Since Cookie is torturing herself to get a nicer ass, I figured I’d post some tips.
There are two things most women are trying to accomplish with their butt at the gym: losing fat, and making it more round and “bubble butt” shaped. Let’s tackle that in order.
(I know the medically inclined followers are going to mail me about this - I’m making some big oversimplifications here!)
Losing the fat
People are under the misconception that if you want to lose fat on body part X, you work out that body part. Do crunches to lose the flab on your tummy, for example. It’s bullshit. Your body does not break down fat on the area right next to the muscles you’re working. It breaks down fat from all over your body in response to needing more energy in the bloodstream to keep your muscles working.
So if you want to lose fat, anywhere (including your butt), you have to use up your body’s ready energy and then cause it to need MORE energy to fuel muscle movement. In other words - you have to use up energy (doing either cardio or lifting…) and then do cardio to make your muscles need more oxygen and glucose. Then your body will go “whoa… better break down some of the emergency stores!”
This is why it’s not really a great idea to lift weights after you do cardio. You burn through your ready energy on the treadmill, then you need it for lifting. But those are very short, intense contractions, not a steady rhythmic pace, so you’re left with: not enough energy in your blood to do your reps, and not enough constant muscle use to keep your muscles doing the “oxygen + sugar = movement” thing. So do your lifting first, use up your energy there, then do your cardio to start the fat-burning engine.
Making your butt round
There’s a big ‘ol muscle in your butt. (several really but who’s counting?)
You gotta make that muscle big to make your butt round, just like a big bicep makes your arm round.
There are tons of exercises to do this, and it’s best to do at least 3 or 4. I do squats, lunges, and fire hydrants a lot. The basic rule is this: use heavy weight.
"But I don’t want to look like those bodybuilder girls!" you say. You won’t. They eat 4,000+ calories a day and work out for hours, every day, for a couple years, and many of them use hormone blockers and stuff. I mean, you gotta really try to look like that. And it won’t happen overnight even if you do, so it’s not like you’re going to wake up and go “holy crap I’m super ripped!”
So, use enough weight that you’re only capable of something like 8-10 reps. You should be struggling to lift that bar, your leg, your body that 10th time. Then take a rest for two minutes, and do another set of 8-10. Do several sets this way.
You want to wake up the next day with a sore ass. It’s sore because…
You don’t build muscle at the gym. You break down muscle at the gym, and build muscle resting at home.
All those hard muscle contractions make little microscopic “tears” in your muscle. Then they repair themselves, stronger. That’s when you build the muscle. So it’s important not to work the same muscle group two days in a row - give it a day to rest.
Now, your body is going to get stronger from that heavy lifting, but you won’t really build more muscle unless you give your body the actual material necessary to build more muscle. Protein. So you want to build muscle somewhere? Tear it down, rest, and eat lots of lean protein.
So the “nice ass workout” looks like this:
Do squats, lunges, and other exercises that make your butt muscles contract. Use heavy weight, so that you can only do 8-10 reps in each set. Do lots of sets until you can’t do any more…until your muscles “fail.”
Then do your cardio. It’s not super important what kind of cardio, as long as you get your heartrate up to 60% or more and keep it there for 20+ minutes.
Then rest your butt the next day. No butt exercises!
Make sure you’re adding a lot of protein to your diet, or you’ll get stronger but not build bigger muscles. And bigger ass muscles, combined with less ass fat, is what makes it round and high. :)
This concludes Tara’s boring fitness advice! (´ε｀ )♡
Mmm
