Tag Archives: backside

How to Kim Kardashian your Butt!!!!

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Kim KardashianIt’s a little known fact that Kim Kardashian owes the large part of her huge fame and fortune to me. If it wasn’t for the training tips that she uses from Ordinary Guy Fitness then her most famous asset, her Derriere, would not be in the shape that it is. As a result she very kindly agreed to pose for the photo above.

Now you may or may not be a lady who wants a backside of quite the proportions that Kim’s is and may also not quite want as much exposure as the Kardashian’s get, but i know of very few women who would not like to tone, firm, lift and shape their bottom just a little bit more than it is at the moment. Am I right?

So how do you go about that? Just what can you do to tone up not just your backside (or Gluteus Maximus to give it the correct name) but also the thighs as well.

There are a number of exercises you can do that will work your thighs and bum hard and give you that round firm look you’d like. I wrote in a previous article here about how to tone up this area and I’ll go back through some of the key routines that Ms Kardashian learned from me.

Click on the title word for each exercise and it will take you into YouTube for an example of how to perform them. So let’s get started on getting you a Kim Kardashian booty!

Glute Training:

Lunges: There are a number of different variations of the lunge, all of which work a slightly different part of your thighs and backside. Therefore I’d recommend doing a different one each day and rotate them. Initially start without any weight until you feel comfortable and can control the movements. Then as you get stronger add in some weight, but don’t go too heavy. It’s more important to go low when you dip down and really squeeze the muscles as you push back up. Start with 3 sets of 12 (6 on each leg) and work up to 3 sets of 20.

Squats: As with lunges there are many different variations, both with and without weights. To really strengthen and tone your legs you will need to use some weight at some point. However, initially you can do a perfectly good job just with body weight. Again try to use some of the different variations and change each day to work different parts of the leg and backside. Keep your back straight, chest up and head & eyes looking ahead and up. Push your butt backwards and lower it towards the floor, do not lean forward and topple over your feet. If using bodyweight do 3 sets of 12 to 15. If you progress to using some weights do 3 x 8/10.

Hip Thrusters/Glute Bridge: Hip thrusters or the Glute bridge as it is sometimes called is an excellent exercise for toning, firming and shaping your bum. Again it needs to be done correctly and the key thing here is to really focus on squeezing and engaging your Glutes or Bum muscles as you push up and at the top of the exercise. Go for 4 sets of 15/16 when using both legs and 3 sets each side of 7/8 when just using one leg. when you hit the top point, squeeze hard and count to 5 then lower back down, that’s one rep.

Glute Kickbacks: Another great exercise for really shaping your bottom and adding great muscle tone to your bum and backs of your thighs. The key to this exercise, in fact all Glute and Thigh exercises is to really concentrate on squeezing the right muscles ie your Glutes and your hamstrings in this one. I’d suggest starting off with 3 sets of 10 on each leg and then progress up to sets of 20. If and when that starts to become easy then as with the girl in the video add some weight, either by using a small dumbbell as she does or by adding some strap on ankle weights that you can easily find or get on Amazon.

Initially i would suggest picking two of these four exercises to do each day eg Squats and Kickbacks one day, Lunges and Hip Thruster the next. Mix it up and change it around as regularly as you can and use different varieties of squats and lunges. The idea is to work every part of your Glutes and Thighs. Believe me 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week and within a month you will really notice the difference and you’ll be on the Kardashian website buying dresses to show off your new favourite asset.

Take Care

John

PS: Some of the information in the article above may not have been quite entirely true…..but I’m sure you already guessed that! The exercises are spot on though!

Learn how to shrink your belly Instantly!!

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anterior-pelvic-tilt2 Pelvic Tilt.

 

 

 

 

Does your belly protrude no matter how many Ab exercises you do? Can’t seem to lose that stubborn last bit of belly fat, or worse than that, you HAVE lost the weight but you still look fat? Suffer from lower back pain, sore hips or pain down your thighs, knees and even down the side of your calves? When sitting in one position for long periods such as on planes or long car journeys do you suffer from cramps or agonising pains in your legs and back? Does any of this sound like you?

Well you are not alone….I do too and I’d estimate that probably 50% of the population in one way or another suffer from some of these symptoms. So what causes it? Anterior Pelvic Tilt. “What the hell is that, never heard of it?”  Well it’s a very common postural problem that often goes hand in hand with a range of other issues such as tight Hip Flexors, weak Glutes (Bum muscles) and weakness in a little heard of muscle called the Psoas which in conjunction with another muscle forms the Iliopsoas (don’t worry i won’t bore you with science for too long). This muscle which no-one has heard of is crucial. It is the only muscle that joins the top half of your body (lower spine) to the lower half (pelvis and thigh bones). It has a dramatic effect on your lower back, hips and pelvic region and can cause issues right down your legs and up your entire back.

So now onto the good stuff. One of the symptoms of weakness in any of these muscles and regions is Anterior Pelvic Tilt. Take a look at the diagrams at the top. In laymans terms what happens is that your pelvis tips forwards and the front moves down. This causes an un-natural curve in the base of the spine and puts pressure on nerves and muscles throughout the pelvic, lower spine and thigh area that are not meant to have pressure on them. That causes chronic lower back pain, sciatica or pain in the legs, and even pain down as far as the calves and feet. It affects your posture, how you walk and in the long term the health of your entire body. This condition most commonly affects people who spend large periods of time sitting down such as office workers, can or lorry drivers etc.

The title of this article was “how to shrink your belly instantly”. That wasn’t a scam and i can prove it to you right now. One of the other main unfortunate side effects of Anterior Pelvic Tilt is that it forces you to stick your belly out. So even if you are slim, if you constantly stand in an APT pose your belly WILL stick out and you WILL look like you are carrying weight, even if you are not. The good news is you can correct that instantly.

Go and stand near a mirror where you can see you whole body (preferably nude)…ooooh errr! Stand side on and completely relax into a soft pose, don’t tense or hold anything in. If you have APT your body will slump slightly, you will have a fairly pronounced curve in the base of your spine and most likely your belly will drop forwards and lower and stick out much more than you’d like. Correct? Is that belly protruding?

Now try this. Gently clench your buttocks, slightly tense your stomach muscles and concentrate on trying to tip the front of your pelvic/crotch area up and the back of the same area downwards and tuck your bottom in slightly. In effect you are tipping your pelvis back onto a more level plane. Now look sideways in the mirror again. See the difference? Your belly should have disappeared or at the very least significantly shrunk. It shows that your posture and how you hold yourself has a tremendous effect on how you look.

Now of course that is only a temporary fix (but nice to know when you are out and about and want to look your best in that dress or suit). However you can start to work on it yourself right away. You can learn how it feels to control the angle of your Pelvis. Start by holding the position for 5 minutes every 20 minutes or so and work up from there. Do it while standing as well as sitting. in addition to dramatically improving your posture, alleviating back and leg pain, AND shrinking the appearance of your belly it has the added bonus of toning both your Glutes and Abs as you tense and hold them firm.

I would also suggest you watch the video link Here .  Look past what the guy is wearing and style of the video as it actually contains some excellent information and examples of exercises you can do very easily and quickly. Do these exercises regularly, combine them with what i told you earlier and keep at it on a daily basis. Consistency is key. Gradually you will build the mind – body connection that enables you to control your pelvis as well as strengthen your Psoas, hip flexors , lower back and Glute muscles. Your back pain will ease, your legs will feel better and best of all, that hard work and dieting will finally pay off as you will be able to control that belly and look as amazing  and slim as you deserve.

More articles will follow that show exercise programmes that strengthen your Glutes, hips, Hamstrings and lower back so please keep following them. I believe this is one of my most important posts so far as it address the problem of lower back and hip pain which so badly impinges on so many peoples lives. If you like the article then please share it as widely as possible and I’d also welcome your comments.

Take Care,

John

 

Ladies….How to banish flabby arms and saggy butts!

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Bingo WingsThe dreaded Bingo wings, dinner lady arms (no offence to dinner ladies), bat wings….whatever you want to call them, most ladies hate them. With summer coming and the time to ditch the jumpers and break out the T-Shirts, summer dresses and even the Bikini’s upon us, many women look in the mirror and sigh discontentedly at the site of those “soft”, flabby and sometimes even saggy bits. It’s not just the backs of your arms, it’s your bum, your thighs, your belly and your waist…….aaaargghhh!!!

Well don’t panic you CAN do something about all of these problems and right now. Mid March gives you time to do something about all of these areas before we properly hit Summer in June.

Firstly, without wanting to sound like a broken record, you all know that what you eat and drink, your diet and nutrition generally is going to play a big part. This isn’t a diet article so i won’t bang on about it but if you can eat cleaner, cut out the processed crap, cut back on sugar, drink less alcohol and ideally also do some cardio based work then you are going to start to lose fat from all of those wobbly areas listed above that you hate.

However in this blog I’m going to focus on what exercises you can do to tone, firm up and add some tightness or even a bit of muscle to those soft bits. First an honesty alert. This is going to take some work. Not necessarily a huge amount of time, 20 to 30 minutes a day will do the job but during that 20 minutes you HAVE to work hard and it will be sore. No pain no gain is a cliché but it’s also true……Right, ready? Here we go.

Baggy Arms: Most women don’t spend much time in everyday life using their Tricep muscles which is the muscle that runs down the back of your upper arm. It is the muscle that extends your arm from a bent to straight position and are also the muscles you use when pushing things away from your body. It is this muscle that you need to work hard and tone up to avoid having baggy, saggy arms. So logically any exercises that involves pushing or better still straightening of your arm against resistance will work this muscle. Here are three you can do at home with no equipment.

Lady push ups: The push up or press up is a great Tricep exercise IF you do it right. The trick is to keep your hands no more than shoulder width apart and as you go down towards the floor keep your elbows tucked in close to your side. Aim for 3 sets of 8.

Chair Tricep Dips: Another great exercise for really isolating the backs of those arms. Initially start with the easy version which means your feet will be quite close to you. Make it harder by gradually moving your feet further away as you get stronger. Also be careful not to come down past a 90 degree bend in your arm or you may damage your shoulder. Aim for 3 sets of 12.

Overhead Tricep extension: This is a brilliant exercise that really stretches and tones your Tricep muscle. If you have access to some weights (At home or gym) just use a light dumbbell initially (maybe 1.5 or 2kg) If you don’t have access to a dumbbell then a bottle of water (500ml, 750ml or even 1 litre) will do the job to start with. Aim for 3 sets of 12 reps.  Each day pick 2 of the exercises and do the number of sets listed. Keep rest time between sets fairly low (max 1 minute). It should only take 6/8 minutes total.

Now for your thighs and bum!! Waheey, everyone wants great thighs and a shapely backside don’t they? Again though it’s not easy, your diet is very important but you also have to work hard. Your Quads (front of leg), Hamstrings (back of leg) and Glutes (backside) are some of the biggest muscles in the body and as a result need to be worked hard to change them.

Lunges: There are a number of different variations of the lunge, all of which work a slightly different part of your thighs and backside. Therefore I’d recommend doing a different one each day and rotate them. Initially start without any weight until you feel comfortable and can control the movements. Then as you get stronger add in some weight, but don’t go too heavy. It’s more important to go low when you dip down and really squeeze the muscles as you push back up. Start with 3 sets of 12 (6 on each leg) and work up to 3 sets of 20.

Squats: As with lunges there are many different variations, both with and without weights. To really strengthen and tone your legs you will need to use some weight at some point. However, initially you can do a perfectly good job just with body weight. Again try to use some of the different variations and change each day to work different parts of the leg and backside. Keep your back straight, chest up and head & eyes looking ahead and up. Push your butt backwards and lower it towards the floor, do not lean forward and topple over your feet. If using bodyweight do 3 sets of 12 to 15. If you progress to using some weights do 3 x 8/10.

Hip Thrusters/Glute Bridge: Hip thrusters or the Glute bridge as it is sometimes called is an excellent exercise for toning, firming and shaping your bum. Again it needs to be done correctly and the key thing here is to really focus on squeezing and engaging your Glute or Bum muscles as you push up and at the top of the exercise. Go for 4 sets of 15/16 when using both legs and 3 sets each side of 7/8 when just using one leg. Again i would choose 2 of these exercises to do each day and again it should take less than 10 minutes.

Finally lets get to your stomach and core. The truth of the matter (yes i know the truth hurts) is that if you are carrying a fair amount of excess weight and have a very flabby stomach and waist area it is pretty hard to really tone and shape it without losing some of that weight first. However you can do core and stomach exercises that will pull in and tighten your abdominal and core muscles underneath the soft tissue and simply by pulling you tighter it will give the illusion of having lost a couple of inches.

The Plank: The king of core exercises. Again there are loads of variation and the video shows a few that are all great for women and will work your entire core, ab and waist area. Initially just focus on the plain front plank until you gain some strength and then after a week or so try some of the variations. Everyone’s core strength varies but initially aim for 4 sets of 20 seconds at a time (with only 30/40 seconds rest in between). If that is too hard just do 15 seconds but the aim should be to get up to 45 seconds+ to really make it work. Concentrate on really squeezing everything tightly, your stomach, thighs and butt in particular.

The Hip Lift: This works deep core muscles and lower stomach muscles. Concentrate on keeping your legs straight above and thrusting upwards with your pelvis and lower stomach. If it helps you can slightly place your hands under the edge of your bum/thighs to support yourself. Aim for 3 sets of 10 with 40 seconds rest in between.

Russian Twists: I’ve no idea why they are called that, invented by a Russian i guess. Initially start off doing this without a weight, but again as you get stronger add some weight in. Either use a small dumbbell, a kettle bell or even just a 2 litre bottle of water. Aim for 3 sets of 8 on each side. Concentrate on keeping your feet raised just off the floor and lean very slightly back with your torso which places tension on your abs and core. As with the above choose two exercises each day and rotate them. Again this should only take 7 or 8 minutes tops. With Ab exercises try to keep rest between sets minimal for maximum effect.

That’s it ladies. 20 to 30 minutes each day and believe me in two months you will really notice the difference. Your wobbly arms will be firmer and leaner. Your upper legs and bum will definitely be tighter and shapelier and your waist and midriff will have been pulled in ad you will look slimmer. The key here is hard work. You need to push yourself. As you get better either increase the number of sets and reps or add in some more weight. Just doing the same thing day after day and not improving will halt your progress.

Take Care,

John