Posted on July 30, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

I often joke during my sessions about working towards that Beyonce bum!

A lot of people think that in order to get a toned bottom they need to perform hundreds of squats. Although squats help to tone your butt, it is important to work the whole area. The Glutei muscles (the bum) is not just one muscle like lots of people believe. In fact the Glutei muscle is a collection of three muscles – the gluteus maximus muscle, gluteus medius muscle and gluteus minimus muscle.

In order to tone your butt there are two important things

1) You have a body fat low enough so there is no fat covering the gluteus muscles

2) You perform exercises to work each of the glutei muscles.

The Gluteus Maximus
Is the largest of the gluteal muscles and one of the strongest muscles in your body. Its role is to extend and laterally rotate the hip and also to extend your trunk. It also offers the main bulk of your buttocks.

The Gluteus Medius
Is situated at the outer surface of the pelvis, its role is to work along side the gluteus minimus to pull the thigh away from the midline of the body allowing for stability and prevent injury to the hip, knee and foot.

The Gluteus Minimus
Is the smallest of the three gluteus muscles and is situated directly below the Gluteus Medius. This fan shaped muscle offers stability to the hip and works with the gluteus medius to support the body on one limb.

As you can see all 3 muscles work together to help stabilize and the body so it is extremely important ensure that all areas of the buttock is worked in order to tone your butt but to ensure it is also strong!

When weight training to firm and tone your butt it is important that:

• You use full range of motion, maintaining good form and working the muscle through the full range of motion is much more important that weight for the best result
• You should be working with 50-60% of your one rep max
• It’s not about failing it’s about working the full range and feeling that burning sensation!
• Progression is key, ensure that you progress the weight you use by 5-10% each week if you manage to hit the previous rep range for each set

A Glutei Toning Programme

Complete 3 times a week

1 Barbell Back Squats 15-20 reps/ 4 sets 45 seconds between sets

2A Deadlifts 10-15 reps/3 sets
2B leg lunges (alternative legs) 20-26 lunges /3 sets Rest 60 seconds

3A Heel squats 15-20 reps/3 sets
3B Glutei Bridges 20-24 reps /3 sets Rest 60 sec

So remember in order to tone your butt make sure you work the whole glutei muscles and don’t just stick to squats!