Spot Training…and the Great Butt Workout

Did that get your attention? 🙂

We all know that spot training – i.e. working out a specific muscular area of the body in order to lose weight in that area – doesn’t work.

You can’t control where your body loses its fat – it comes off as it wants to (there is research showing that the last place we gained weight is the first place it will come off and that’s always proven true for me).

Some people notice they gain and lose weight in one specific area – like their thighs, or butt. I have always gained weight fairly evenly all over – which as much as that sounds like a good thing, it’s not really, because you can’t camouflage all over, haha.

Anyway, what you CAN do is work out a specific area of the body to tone it up, and have lovely toned muscle there ready to show through when your body does drop the fat. Or perhaps you don’t even need to lose any fat and you just need to develop your muscles a bit more to showcase them! This is when I start to have fun with my circuits, and re-work my workouts to showcase a specific area of the body.

Since I started working full time, I’ve noticed that an area of my body I never used to worry about too much – namely, ahem, my butt – has now become, shall we say, a problem area.

So I devised a workout to do every now and then that is still pretty much a total body workout, but which really focuses on workout out the glutes. It’s fun to throw it in there to mix up my gym routine, and you really feel it the next day!

So if you want to try and sort out that booty, follow along and let me know what you think!

Cardio warm-up

20 minutes on the treadmill at an incline:

• 2 minutes 3.5 mph at 2% incline
• Up the incline to 10% for 2 more minutes
• Increase pace to 4.0mph for 2 more minutes
• Decrease pace to 3.5mph and increase incline to 12% for 2 more minutes
• Increase pace to 4.0mph for 2 more minutes and decrease incline to 10% for 2 minutes
• Repeat the last two steps 2 more times for a total of 8 more minutes
• Lower incline to 2% and pace to 3.5mph for 2 more minutes

Quick circuit (repeat this with 1-2 minutes rest in between for a total of 3 times):

• Plie squat with toe lift (squat, hold and raise heels alternately for 12 reps; lift up)
• Bridge pose – lower and raise by squeezing glutes, 15 times
• Walking lunges – hold 10lb dumbbells (or whatever weight works) and do 20 – 10 each leg
• Donkey kicks – 15 each side

Countdown squats

Lastly, get on the treadmill again at 10% incline at 4.0 mph. You’ll need a stopwatch timer, or do your squats close to the treadmill so you can read its timer.

• Walk for 60 seconds
• Do squats for 60 seconds
• Walk for 50 seconds
• Do squats for 50 seconds (you can also hold the squat for this length of time)
• Walk for 40 seconds
• Do squats for 40 seconds
• Walk for 30 seconds
• Do squats for 30 seconds
• Walk for 20 seconds
• Do squats for 20 seconds
• Walk for 10 seconds
• Do squats for 10 seconds

Stretch

With a good stretch you should be in and out of the gym in just under an hour. Remember to stretch – your butt will scream at you the next day if not!

Let me know how it goes if you do this!

QUESTION:

• What’s the one area of the body you’d like to see a workout regime for?