So, a funny thing happened to me by accident over the past few months….I developed some pretty strong butt and leg muscles, and yes, a bigger butt! Now, I didn’t go into this with the goal of getting a bigger, stronger butt, but that is the result and I have to admit I like it!
So, anyone out there interested in how to make that flat butt round? Anyone interested in how to make those skinny, shapeless legs firm, toned, and shapely???
Well, if you answered “yes” to the above questions please read on and watch the video clips so you can!!
The first thing I did was to mix my regular stuff up for 3 days of the week. I run 4 times a week and while this keeps me strong and toned, it doesn’t build new muscles, and your body plateaus when you do the same thing all the time.
How did I mix things up you ask??
I now do 3 cross-training days instead of 2 and only 1 of those is spent on my stationary exercise equipment (Stationary bike, and elliptical). The other 2 are spent doing high intensity cross training.
On one day I do what I refer to as my “Ladder Workout“. Here I do a series of 15 or 10 down ladders of various exercises. For those of you who don’t know what a ladder workout is, it is where you work your way down the ladder doing 10, then 9, then 8, then 7 on down to 1 of 1 exercise. So, I do a 10 down ladder of “Burpees” first with maybe 30 sec to a minute between sets. (By the end I have done 55 burpees)
Following this I do a 10-down push-up ladder with the same 30 sec to 1 min break in between sets. In the break I actually do back exercises where I squeeze my shoulder blades together for 3 sec (10 reps) to work my upper back muscles. (Helps improve posture)
The next ladder I do I call “Fartees“!! Sorry for the somewhat offensive title, but these are basically reverse burpees, so I like to call them Fartees! I’ll attach a video here as this is hard to explain. These ones burn your butt and legs and I think have had a lot to do with my stronger, bigger butt!
The next thing I do is some arm exercises with my bands to rest up a bit from the “Fartees” as those are quite exhausting! I do 2 sets of each exercise: 12-15 bicep curls then 12-15 triceps extensions.
The last ladder I do is a 15 down “Jump-Squat” ladder. I personally LOVE doing jump squats as they are tiring and make my legs burn and feel SO strong! I take a 20-45 sec rest between sets and work my way down the ladder to 1!
Then, the last thing I do is hop on my stationary bike for 10 minutes to do a quick interval session, then I’m done!
That’s the workout I do 1 day every week and it is tiring and oh-so-worth it!
My 3rd cross-training work out I do at a local place that has 2 stair cases, and 2 hills leading up to a large grassy area. I run over (about 1.3km) then immediately run up 1 set of stairs then walk to cool down (30 sec) then run down and back up another hill, then walk (30 sec) then run down a hill, then straight up another hill then walk and repeat. I do this for 6 sets total.
Next I go to the big grassy area in the middle and do 10 sets where I split between 3 jump squats, then, run backwards to the middle then forwards to the next spot where I do 3 squat-thrusts, then backwards to the middle, then forwards to the next spot for 3 jump squats. Repeat this until you have done 10 even sets (5 of each).
This is a “Squat thrust“:
Lastly I go back to the set of stairs and do 3 intervals with one set of straight up double steps in between each. This set of stairs has a platform every 6 stairs so on each platform I do “something”. This varies but the things I like to do are: 3 push-ups or 5 squat jumps, 3 squat thrusts, large stair climbs (3 on each leg), or 3 lunges on each leg. What I do is I pick one of these and do that on each level (5 levels). Then I run/walk back down, do a straight up double stair set then down and choose another interval from above. And then repeat this until I have done 6 sets total.
There you have it! So, as it turns out, all those jump squats, large stair climbs, squat thrusts, burpees, and fartees create a strong butt!
If anyone is local and ever interested in joining me, message me and we can set something up!
So, there you have it, your Simply Susan fitness tip of the day!
fit2borganized 