How to build a better butt

(by Paula Goodyer)

If anyone deserves a medal for services to healthy curves it's Jennifer Lopez, whose rear end reminds us that women are meant to carry extra weight around their lower body. It's nature's hedge against famine and, compared to weight that hangs around the waist, a much healthier kind of fat.

But what if nature has been too generous with the famine protection? Can you trim the surplus fat? The first thing to know is that you can't spot reduce, says Sydney personal trainer Heidi Dening. The only way to shift extra weight from anywhere is to eat better and do regular exercise such as running, walking, cycling or strength training.

"The weight won't immediately fall off your butt - usually your face loses it first, followed by your boobs and then your bum - so while you'll be trimmer all round you could still be shaped like a pear," Dening says.

Walking or running help peel weight off but the trick to creating a shapelier rear end is strength training to exercise the butt muscle, the gluteus maximus or "glutes". This means using the weight of your body, a dumbbell or a barbell to work the muscle harder - no bad thing, given that getting on and off a chair is often the only workout glutes ever get.

If you don't have knee problems, the best exercise is a squat, Dening says. You stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and toes facing forward - make sure you can still see your toes over your knees as you bend. Lower your butt as if you were sitting on a chair but don't let your knees don't go over your toes. Squeeze your glutes, using them to push yourself back into an upright position - driving your heels into the ground as you come up makes the glutes work harder.

Dening suggests aiming for three sets of 20 squats with a little break in between. "It's good to keep going to the point where you can't do another squat," she says, adding that once squats get easier you graduate to doing squats with dumbbells. "You'll get the best results if you learn to do the moves correctly, either with a personal trainer or at a gym class first." Other good moves for glutes? Cycling and climbing stairs. "But as you put your foot on the step be conscious of squeezing the glutes, otherwise the leg does all the work."

If you're heading into your late 40s and think your only worry will be middle-aged spread, that's because no one has warned you about vanishing butt syndrome. As estrogen levels shrink around menopause so does some of the padding around your bum, leaving you with a space in your jeans where the curve used to be. "If you've lost shape there at middle age, strength training can help you regain it, though it might take time," Dening says. "And if you haven't reached middle age yet, strength training can help maintain the shape of your butt."

(Source: smh)