One Big Health Nut

If you want to have a great body, you must be willing to work for it. You will not be able to lose weight, tone your body, and maintain your weight loss without a good amount of effort on your part. Any diet or exercise plan that claims to help you lose weight and keep it off without adding or increasing daily exercise or while eating anything you want is a farce. So it should come as no surprise to you that in order to get a great butt, you will have to work for it.

Burning fat requires cardiovascular exercise. So pick a cardio exercise you can do at least four days a week and do it for 30 to 60 minutes. You can perform different cardio exercises or do the same one every day. Examples of great cardio exercises are running, bicycling, elliptical machines, and stair climber machines. The stair climber is excellent for whipping your butt into shape, literally. The cardio is necessary to lose weight and burn the extra inches off of your butt to make it smaller.

Besides a daily cardio exercise, you will need to do resistance exercises to tone the butt muscle, otherwise known as the gluteus maximus. The best resistance exercises to tone your butt are lunges and squats. There are many ways you can do lunges to ensure you work all parts of your gluteus maximus muscle. It is recommended that you use weights, usually 3-8lb hand weights, when performing the lunges and squats to make them even more effective.

Try these exercises to work your way to a great butt:

• Staggered squat – Stand with your left foot in front of the right, shoulder width apart. If you are using weights, clasp them in your hands with your fingers facing forward. Raise the weights up above your shoulder to about chin heights. Lower your body into a squat until your front knee is at a 90 degree angle. Make sure the pressure from lowering your body is in the heel of your foot. Keep your torso straight. Repeat this move 8 to 12 times. Then switch to the other leg.

• Reverse Lunge – Stand with your feet hip width apart. If you are using weights, grasp one in each hand with your fingers facing outwards. Hold the weights straight down at your sides. Take a giant step back with your right foot. Lower your body towards the floor into a lunge. Repeat this 8 to 12 times, then switch to the other leg.

• Forward Lunge – Perform the exercise exactly as above, except you should take a giant step forward. Follow the rest of the exercise instructions above.