There are so many names for the gluteus maximus because it is such a wonderful muscle. As the powerhouse of the body, it’s no wonder that athletes worldwide focus a lot of attention on training their glutes.

Here you’ll learn moves to tone, strengthen and activate the body’s largest muscle. As an added benefit, these moves will also help you fill out those jeans in all the right places.

Squats

The squat is a key movement in developing your derriere. And for variation you can do this move with or without weight by either adding a barbell across your back or holding dumbbells in your hands.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Start with your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart and slightly turned out.
• Take a big breath in to brace the core, then send your butt back as you bend at the hips and knees.
• Keep your chest elevated.
• Stop when your thighs are parallel to the floor, or you can squat below parallel if your mobility allows.
• As you drive up through your heels, you should think of screwing your feet out and into the ground. This cue will fire your glutes so you can get the most strength out of your movement.

Front Squats

This move should be performed with dumbbells in your hand or a barbell across the front of your chest.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Start with your feet a little more than hip-width apart.
• With your core tight and your weight focused on your heels, slowly lower yourself with your glutes driving back and down.
• Depending on your mobility, you can go to or below parallel.
• Screwing your feet into the ground and squeezing your glutes, drive your knees slightly out and your elbows up as you stand up.

Lunges

Lunges are a wonderful move for the glutes because there are so many variations.

HOW TO DO IT:

• To start, stand with both feet underneath your shoulders.
• Step forward with one leg and bend both knees so that your back knee touches the floor and your front shin is completely perpendicular to the floor.
• Your front knee should be directly over your ankle and never track over your foot.
• You can alternate doing lunges in place, walk forward while doing lunges, walk backwards while doing lunges or do side lunges.

Banded Side Lunges

Building off the basic lunge, add resistance bands around your upper thighs to amp up the difficulty.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Wrap a band around your knees with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Squat down a quarter of the way and send your butt back so that you feel your glutes engage.
• Then step to the side while staying in a semi-squat position.
• Repeat this movement on the other side and feel the burn!

Banded Front & Back Walks

Another wonderful banded movement that builds strength in your hips and glutes, you can place one band around the knees with your feet shoulder-width apart.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Squat down into an athletic stance.
• Then, with control, step forward while keeping your feet facing forward, imagining that your feet have to stay parallel like train tracks.
• Walk forward for a few steps before repeating this movement and walking backwards.

Banded Clamshells

The clamshell is one of the best moves for the glutes, whether as part of your warm-up or your regular strength-training workouts.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Start by wrapping a resistance band around the outside of your knees.
• Then lay down on one side, stacking your knees on top of one another, with your hand on your hip.
• Keep your bottom leg on the floor with your knee at a 90-degree angle.
• Externally rotate your top knee open while keeping your top foot on top of your bottom foot the entire time.
• With control, continue opening and closing your knees.

Stability Ball Hamstring Curl

This is a challenging move that works not only your glutes, but also your entire posterior chain.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Lie on the ground on your back.
• Place your ankles on top of a stability ball.
• Bridge your butt up to the sky with your arms and hands placed firmly on the floor.
• With control, roll your feet in toward your butt and back out again, all while keeping your hips thrusting to the sky.

How to get rid of underarm fat, quick and easy steps.

Unavoidably and the most dreaded experience for us all is how quickly we can gain weight anywhere on our bodies, and of course the underarm region is no exception. Fat in that area can be unsightly and embarrassing. However, it is possible to lose the “double wave” via a combination of diet and exercise to burn the fat not only in this unwanted area but all over one’s body.

Exercise

Let’s take action, Now!

With machines:

1.  Rowing machine: 12 to 15 minutes. Personally I can sit on this machine for half an hour, although the seat sometimes can become very uncomfortable! The damper setting which is located to the side of the machine is similar to gears on a bike, remember to adjust this to your preferred choice of comfort, however I do advice you push yourself!

2. Low row machine: This exercise involves pulling two independent levers towards your chest, keeping the arms out in front and the elbows low, parallel to the shoulders. Resistance is provided by a weight stack which enables the workload to be adjusted to suit each type of user. Because I am not looking to build muscle but moreover strengthen my arms, I’ll use weights of 15kg to 20 kg and work 5 sets of 50 or 100 when feeling brave.

3. Vario machine: The all round body workout, this machine can help you lose 200 calories within 20 minutes! Working your legs to arms and abdominals to shoulders. Usually I would stay the full 20 minutes with an effort level of 15, but I would recommend an effort level of 6 to 8 for newbies.

4. Arm bike machine: Many gyms will have this machine. You sit down on a seat and only work your arms! Excellent for sorting out that underarm fat. I will usually spend 10 minutes on an effort level of 8 as the machine is a true killer.

Without machine: 4 rounds of 5 intense exercises with 10 second rest.

1. Push up plank row:
2. Dips using a chair:
3. Chest fly:
4. Rows (one arm then change):

Set yourself a goal

Try to get 45-60 minutes of exercise daily. This boosts calorie burn, which results in fat loss all over the body.

• Train four times per week.
  1. Two sessions spent building muscle, burning calories and accelerates fat loss.
  2. Two sessions should include intense cardio training. e.g. Running, swimming and cycle.

It is important to remember that muscles need time to repair. Avoid training every day to allow the muscle fibers time to repair rips and tears.

Your Diet

• Aim to include at least one serving of vegetables and one of fruit at every meal, along with a serving of lean protein, such as chicken, fish, lean red meat or dairy.
• Add a small amount of healthy fat to each meal in the form of nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado or coconut.
• If you’re drinking regular soda, cut it out of your diet. You’ll see really fast results by eliminating 200 calories a day just from not drinking soda anymore.
• Stay hydrated with plain water. Soda, energy drinks, coffee beverages, packaged smoothies and juice drinks contain added sugar and syrup, which pack on calories without providing much nutritional value.
• If you cut 500 calories from your daily diet, you may be able to lose 1 pound per week.

Keep drinking your GREEN TEA! and if you’re anything like me and worry about staining your teeth, remember to carry a colorful plastic straw in your bag.

Green tea helps boosts your metabolism which is key to burning calories.

• Some studies show that consuming green tea helps lower cholesterol, burn fat, prevent diabetes and stroke, and stave off dementia.
• Importantly, drink plenty of water! Drinking water helps you in feeling more full (thus reducing overeating) in addition to clearing your complexion and hydrating your skin.