Mommy Fitness: Glute Training

June 10, 2013

Besides hard abs, there’s nothing I seek more than a round glute! I’ve been working on my bottom since I noticed it deflated after having three kids all in a row. Growing up I always had a bit of a ‘bubble butt’ – but as my lower back became weaker and my hips became wider during pregnancy…it seemed like my butt started losing shape and size.

In these past couple years I’ve been trying to ‘up’ my glute training. I started with a lot of deadlifts (I like stiff-legged), lunges and step ups. I also started incorporating more squats this year. (I used to avoid them in the past because I thought it built so much overall mass in my legs – which I already have). Since I joined a new gym I am also starting to perform more ‘butt blaster’ machines – where you kick back.

This is what I’ve learned in trying to build a better booty:

1. You have to dig deep. The deeper you squat/lunge the more you feel it in your bottom.

2. Push through your heel and imagine the area you are trying to challenge.

3. Get heavy. You can’t perform high reps if you want to get some muscle on your behind, you have to break your muscle fibers, which require you to challenge it via a heavy, heavy weight.

4. Use a variety of different exercises to target different angles.

5. Concentrate on the motion and focus on control.

In the exercise below I was coached by my friend/training partner who encouraged me to go as s-l-o-w as possible while squatting down into a ‘nearly sitting’ position. My legs were a bit shorter than shoulder width apart and I focused on pushing through my  heels. We used a smith machine and I only added 50lbs to it. I naturally move faster during the concentric (squatting up) phase, but was forced to really control that upward motion. It was pretty intense. I performed 3 sets of 10.

2 Comments

  • Reply karina October 18, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    hi i just see ur pic in yahoo news and you just became like a light in my way i have 3 boys too age 7y 4y and 9months im a young mom im 24y n i use them of excuse im like i cant have ur body because i have 3kids but look at u n u have 3kids but i dont know how start :/

  • Reply Jennifer March 22, 2014 at 3:31 am

    I too am a Filipina. Only 5′ tall with short legs that were once very muscular from dancing. They build bulk very fast. What leg exercises do you recommend for someone with short legs that get too bulky with standard leg moves?

    Thanks!

  • Leave a Reply to karina Cancel Reply