BUILD MUSCLE, GET SEXY!
Atoned butt truly turns heads. More than adding instant curves to the female figure, glutes are your body’s powerhouse. Your glutes are the largest muscle group in your body. Strengthening your glutes helps increase your metabolism and improves your performance in just about every physical activity — while making you look sexy.
More and more girls are veering away from just trying to be skinny and are embracing an active lifestyle with the hopes of getting fit. A quick browse on Instagram will show you that fitness models are becoming the it-girls in the spotlight, rocking toned abs and sculpted backsides.
We caught up with Japanese trainer Tomo Okabe who specializes in glute training and has built a big following online through Instragram and her website Glutes In Motion. Tomo has over 10 years of experience in specialized female personal training. She owns Spice Up Fitness, a successful all-female training studio in Japan.
“Asian women are usually skinny. The secret to looking sexy is improving your waist-to-hip ratio, and the best way to do this is by building your hips and glutes,” Tomo shares. Her client base includes so many women who have transformed their bodies completely by doing one thing — strengthening their butts!
Tomo gives us the equation to make sexy curves. “The ideal waist-to-hip ratio is 0.68 to 0.7. Losing weight or fat is not going to make you sexy,” she explains. “In order to sculpt your body, there are three things you can do. You can build specific muscle groups, lose fat, and store fat. Where you build muscle and where you don’t can be controlled, but how and where you store fat is genetic.”
With this in mind, the best strategy to get sexy would be to build mus- cle. For this purpose, Tomo Okabe swears by hip thrusts. It is one of the most effective exercises to enhance glute strength, size, and aesthetics — giving you a higher, rounder and firmer butt. This workout improves athletic performance and strength while reducing overall risk of injury as strong glutes take stress off the lower back. Unlike squats, hip thrusts train quads and hamstrings to a very small degree. Therefore, this is an ideal workout for women who want to build their butt without making their legs bigger. To do hip thrusts, you will need a bench, a barbell, and a mat or towel for padding or support. You might need a friend or personal trainer to assist you with initially setting up the bar. Wrap the barbell with the mat or towel, or fold it and place it under the barbell. Start with your shoulder blades against a bench with your butt on or slightly off the floor (if you cannot reach the bench). Bend your knees to 90 degrees and make sure your feet are flat on the floor. Place the barbell over your pelvis area. Squeeze your glutes, lift up your hips and hold for one to two seconds. Brace your core throughout the entire exercise and make sure you don’t hyperextend your lower back at the top.
“In a hip thrust, you squeeze your butt where the load is heaviest unlike in a squat where you squeeze where the load is lightest,” Tomo adds. “When you squeeze, you use more muscle fibers helping that area grow.”
Another great exercise to try is the reverse lunge high knee. It works the butt, quads, and hamstrings. Stand with feet hip width apart, holding a weight in each hand. Step one foot back into a reverse lunge, bending knees 90 degrees. Stand up on the opposite leg and bring the bent leg up towards your chest, then bring it back down into a reverse lunge. Repeat for 60 seconds, then switch sides.
Women cannot train exactly like men. Our bodies are different and must be addressed differently. A good exercise program for women would have high sets and reps and short resting periods in between sets. Women should train as hard as men but not train the same way men do.
“Do not underestimate the fact that you are a woman,” Tomo concludes. You are sexy, strong, and beautiful. It’s time to harness and bring out all the power in your glutes, and the rest of your body.