Bigger chests and bigger biceps; there are few men who wouldn’t welcome such physical changes in their lives. When it comes to male machismo, bigger is better, because bigger is buff. But what of the fairer sex? Is bigger necessarily better for female gym enthusiasts too? While men beckon bigness most of the time, the ladies love littleness.
It’s simple fitness economics; rest assured that substituting wobbly fat with firm muscle will be a good trade any day of the week- Matthew Muscat Inglott
Few women get upset about losing weight. However, in a few rare cases, there is a big but, which often turns out to be ironically, a little butt. We are left with the rare situation whereby women actually bust their butts to make a body part bigger.
I am questioned from time to time by women concerned about their collapsing curves on how to increase their butt size, so the time has come to tackle this rear-side issue head on.
The moment the body is pushed into fat-burning mode due to calorie restriction or increased physical activity, energy is sourced from our long-term stores. Our long-term energy stores are basically those fat deposits under our skin.
These occur all over the body but tend to accumulate in some areas more than others. For some, these problem areas might be the belly and for others they might be the hips and thighs, to name but a few.
But when it comes to losing fat the big problem is that we have no control over where exactly it is lost from. It would be nice to choose say, our tummies, and have our bodies burn fat solely from this area. Unfortunately, biology does not permit it. The body will source a little fat from anywhere. We tend to lose it all over, in an evenly distributed fashion.
Sounds reasonable enough, but this system tends to leave problem areas still looking like problem areas, because although you have lost inches from every part of your body, the original problem areas are still slightly larger by comparison.
We are essentially left with not enough fat loss in the problem area, and too much everywhere else. We may become unhappy with a gaunt-looking face or a smaller chest or butt. Be patient and don’t give up on the fat-loss regimen that has already won you terrific results. All we need in this case is a little body-scaping.
When fat is lost, the shape of the muscles beneath are revealed in greater detail. To alter body shape through any means other than fat loss is only possible by targeting the underlying muscles. So for a bigger butt our aim is to develop bigger gluteus maximus muscles.
A well-developed set of glutes can match your previous size and best of all, be firmer and better shaped, confidently defiant of gravity’s continuous tug. It’s simple fitness economics; rest assured that substituting wobbly fat with firm muscle will be a good trade any day of the week.
For budding booty hunters, here are my four top tips for busting those butts back into bootiliciousness.
Tip one: the squat. The best exercises for building muscle are those employing large muscle groups and acting on more than one set of joints simultaneously. This sort of muscle teamwork leads to the lifting of more actual weight and therefore a more effective training stimulus.
The king of all such muscle-building moves is the squat, and it just happens to be the best exercise for specifically engaging the glutes.
Keep a wide stance and push your knees out hard to engage the glutes further. The cardinal rules for squatting are: weight over the heels, back tight/chest up, and sit back as though you are looking for a chair positioned too far behind you.
Tip two: maximum effort. Combine squats with good old-fashioned effort and you’d be amazed what you can achieve in the gym, whatever your goals may be.
By pursuing a set of squat repetitions to the point where you cannot complete another full repetition may be defined as maximal. This is also known as working to momentary muscular failure.
For squats, we will focus on the 15-repetition mark, so we must therefore use a level of resistance we can only perform 15 repetitions with and no more. Working this intensely might be harder and heavier than you’ve ever gone before, so you might need to work up to it over the course of several weeks initially.
You will need to perform two sets with this weight separated by no more than three minutes’ rest. Once you’ve achieved the desired level of exertion, you can progress using the two-for-two rule.
Tip three: progression. The two-for-two rule of progression basically means when you can perform two extra repetitions over the course of the two sets, then it’s time to increase the weight in your next workout.
Always push for those last few repetitions, and when you can perform two repetitions over the target weight over both sets, which in our case would be 17 repetitions, then it’s time to move up by five kilos in your next workout.
Tip four: no buts, just start squatting today for a bigger and better butt.
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