How to get a bottom Gwynnie’s Pop like
(or at least make yours perkier!)
THERE are many enviable things about the multimillionaire Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, but top of the list has to be her pert bottom.
Last week, the 43-year-old mother-of-two showed off a derriere that seemed to defy the ageing process — looking far perkier than it did five years ago.
While Gwynnie puts her new bottom down to 12 hours of gruelling exercise a week with her personal trainer Tracy Anderson, the reaction has proved something women have always known: we are obsessed with our bottoms.
TANITH CAREY reveals the secrets of their shape, size, origins and — crucially — how to get one like Gwynnie’s ...
BORN TO BE BIGGER
ON AVERAGE, men’s body parts are bigger than women’s — except their bottoms. The male pelvis is narrower and heart-shaped, where a female’s is broader to enable her to give birth.
Men do have larger gluteal muscles, usually about 20 per cent bigger, but women have a much thicker layer of fat on top, around three times more than in other parts of their bodies.
BEAT THE DROOP
IN THE same way that breasts are suspended by fine ligaments, the fat in the bottom also contains a network of fibres to help it defy gravity. These are called septi and run through the fleshy tissue like a supportive mesh.
However, due to the fact that we don’t support our bottom cheeks in the same way we do our breasts — with bras — these fibres lose elasticity quickly.
Plastic surgeon Anne Dancey says: ‘Over time these will stretch, especially if you put on weight. The heavier the buttocks, the bigger the droop.’
To make matters worse, muscles in the buttocks shrink with age, giving a deflated look.
Plastic surgeon Sultan Hassan says: ‘The buttocks flatten as older people often become less mobile and their gluteal muscles and fat cells atrophy. Combined with loss of elastin and collagen, this all adds up to droopiness.’
DON’T SIT DOWN
IT’S a jibe that has a scientific basis: sitting on your bottom will give you a fat behind after all.
The very act of sitting puts pressure on fat cells, making them up to 50 per cent bigger.
According to a study published in the Biophysical Journal, the more the buttocks are compressed, the more the fat cells expand, creating a wider, flatter behind.
Professor Amit Gefen, of Israel’s Tel Aviv University, who led the study, says: ‘We found fat stores in fat cells expanded when they experienced sustained loading — such as when you’re sitting down. The results suggest that if you are seated for a long time, you are more likely to store fat in your bottom and it will widen.’
IT’S A GIRL THING
MORE than nine out of ten women suffer cellulite at some time in their lives. But it’s not just the fact women have fatter bottoms that gives them dimpled skin on their backsides.
Women also have less connective tissue in the flesh of the buttocks, allowing excess fat to bubble up to the surface.
In women, the septi run vertically, keeping fat organised in columns. If cells expand, it rises to the top like a muffin spilling over the tin.
Men not only have more of these threads to make their bottom fat firmer, they also criss-cross more — anchoring the fat down more securely, preventing it rising up.
Furthermore, men’s skin is up to 25 per cent thicker. This helps keep excess fat cells from showing through the skin.
SWEAT IT OFF
SORRY, ladies: Gwynnie’s right. An awful lot of hard work goes into getting a pert bottom.
The key to a pert rear is the gluteus maximus muscle. But it is only really activated by explosive upwards movements such as jumping and running.
Personal trainer James Davis says: ‘You need to attack the glutes from every angle. Though the squat is still key, there are dozens of ways of doing them.
‘In a single workout, I will take clients through six to eight methods. You can place your feet wide apart as you come down into a sitting position, place them closer together or use weights such as kettlebells to activate different parts of the glutes.’
Mixing the tempo — doing the exercise faster or slower —also makes a difference, says James.
But however many squats you do, if your muscles are hidden under fat, you won’t see them.
Personal trainer Max Bridger says: ‘To see a change in the glutes you need to have a relatively low body fat, less than 15 per cent in men and less than 25 per cent for women (most women are closer to 30 per cent).
‘So, you need a good diet plan alongside weight training to improve the likelihood of a bubble butt — the most enviable shape.’
BUTTOCK CLENCHING
IF YOU don’t have the time — or money — for 12 hours of personal training a week, there are exercises that can fit into your day.
‘Many of us stand incorrectly, with our bottom pushed out and pelvis tilted forwards, which means we lack muscle in that all important body area,’ says personal trainer Cornel Chin. ‘Clench as often as you can, whether you’re standing, sitting or driving.
‘When you walk upstairs, always take two steps at a time to really engage the glutes properly. Stand on one leg when you’re washing up or type while standing — which makes the muscles work. Clenching for just ten minutes a day will give results in as little as a week.’
MASSAGE AND MOVE
TRY Silver Wave Short AntiCellulite shorts (€35, micromassage.
co.uk). The material — 3D Wave Knit — has been created to mimic the action of a continuous anticellulite massage. They compress, which is good for those prone to water retention. As you move they stimulate circulation, keeping skin smooth.
It is claimed the best results are achieved by wearing them for eight hours a day for four weeks, which requires dedication.
CHEATING PANTS
THERE are all manner of wonderful shapewear solutions, from Spanx to the Marks & Spencer Lift and Sculpt jeans range.
The new Italian-made Chicabel pants can reduce buttock width by as much as three inches, using compression panels that haul in the offending droop.
WRAP IT UP
NOT an elegant solution, but great for instant (if temporary) inch-loss is the Universal Contour Wrap Professional Slimming Body Wrap Kit (€70, universalcontourwrap.com).
Stir the packet of powdered clay into hot water and then soak the vast pink bandages and wrap them around your buttocks.
on the accompanying plastic suit and leave for an hour. The combination of compression and clay is said to draw out toxins while compressing soft fatty tissue to create instant inch loss. Some websites suggest wrapping yourself in clingfilm and lying under a heated blanket will have the same effect, but the clay body wrap sounds more convincing.
MELT FAT
SADDLEBAGS — the sacks of fat that droop from the side of each buttock — are famously hard to get rid of. As expensive as a red carpet dress, there’s CoolSculpting by Zeltiq (€1,050, coolsculpting.com). Two million treatments have been carried out globally.
Fat cells are destroyed using temperatures of minus 9C to minus 12C. A suction cup is placed onto the area, and an officially approved machine sucks it in, filling the entire cup with fat.
The machine then freezes the fat cells, which eventually causes them to break down and pass naturally out of the body. Results are seen within three months.
ADDITIONAL reporting: ALICE SMELLIE.