All women want it: That shapely, sculpted, and defined butt we see in the magazine ads for cellulite cream. Closets full of skinny jeans and miniskirts have us focused more than ever on lifting, tightening, and shaping our behinds.
"It’s beautiful to be symmetrical," says Pilates guru Siri Dharma Galliano, who helped Carrie-Anne Moss get her sculpted buns to play Trinity in The Matrix movies.
"Round is nice; square isn’t so nice. It’s an aesthetic thing," says Galliano, owner of Live Art Pilates in Los Angeles.
Yet our glutes do more than just help us look good in our clothes. The butt consists of three main muscles: the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. They work together to help us move our legs in all directions. Because they're connected to the hips, the lower back, and the legs, strengthening the glutes can help to stabilize the back, says Galliano.
But what many of us really want to know is this: Is there a butt workout that can actually help us get those round, lifted, and chiseled derrieres we covet?
It depends.
"If you’re a 45-year-old mother of two and you start doing glute exercises, you’re not going to look like a 20-year-old woman who’s never had kids," says Maryland-based fitness trainer, speaker and consultant Jonathan Ross.
Fat cells the body has deposited around the hips and thighs are less responsive than in other parts of the body, Ross explains. "Progress is still possible. It just takes a lot of i dotting and t crossing when it comes to nutrition and exercise," he says.
Realistically, say experts, you can improve the strength and shape of your butt with diet and exercise. But if you’re expecting to look just like that picture in the magazine, you may be disappointed.
For the 6 best exercises, click here!
The Butt Workout: Exercises to Sculpt a Better Backside
Foolproof butt exercises to maximize your assets.
By Barbara Russi Sarnataro
WebMD Feature Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
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