1. Monitor Your Diet
No matter how married you are to your gym membership, your exercise efforts can be undercut by poor eating habits. You may even already have great glute muscles, but they're hiding under layers of fat. Strive to consume a balance of fruits, vegetables, low-fat proteins, whole grain carbs and essential fatty acids. Limit your alcohol and saturated fat intake, and avoid the refined sugars found in baked goods and other sweets. Eating four to six small, healthy meals throughout the day will keep your metabolism revved, your calorie burning efficient and your energy boosted.
2. Hit the Hills
It's impossible to spot tone, so to reduce the size of your rear you need to lose overall weight by incorporating cardiovascular workouts into your exercise routine. For maximum fat-burning benefit, do 20 to 40 minutes of cardio three to five times a week. To make your cardio workouts more derriere-friendly, add some hill climbing. Inclines or stairs intensify glute work, and will also increase your calorie burning. In addition, cycling and hiking are excellent ways of targeting your glutes--especially on those butt-burning hills.
3. Concentrate on Your Core
While you may be most concerned about whether your butt looks good, there are excellent reasons for functionally training your glutes as well. Your glutes are part of your core muscles, which means that they are at the center of most everyday movements. Your butt is made up of the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus muscles, and they contract every time you take a step, sit down, turn around or squat. In addition, your core muscles--butt included--are essential to stabilizing your spine and maintaining your posture. Yoga, Pilates, BOSU and balance ball exercises are all geared toward working your core muscles. When you increase your core strength and stability, you're doing more than trying to fit into your old jeans.
4. Isolate Your Glutes With Resistance Exercises
There are dozens of exercises you can do to sculpt and round out your rear, and some of the best are squats and lunges. When you're doing these exercises, remember to keep your weight planted in your heels and squeeze your butt each time you return to a standing position. Keeping your knees behind your toes is also critical to avoiding joint injury. Other effective glute exercises include step-ups, dead lifts, leg presses, outer thigh lifts, balance ball pull-ins and bridges. As the exercises become easier, try adding additional repetitions or dumbbell weights for added intensity. A safety tip--when doing these glute-centered exercises, remember to keep your abdominals pulled in to protect your lower back.
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