Gluteus Maximus: Bum Training
Gluteus Maximus: Bum Training |
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Speaking from a purely physical point of view, if you conducted an opinion poll amongst any group of men, especially black men, anywhere in the world and posed the question as to which body part of the opposite sex they found to be one of the most attractive, I am quite certain you would get the same answer recurring over and over again, a sexy backside (bottom)!
Talk of sexy eyes, smile, hips, legs etc. etc. seem merely secondary. I cannot claim to speak entirely for women in general, or more still, black women in particular, but what I can say is that a tight, well defined backside is also rated highly as a turn on for most women. No doubt the thought, or better still the sight, of a well-defined rear end whether clothed, partially clothed in a g-string say on a beach or fully exposed in more private intimate surroundings, leaves a lot to the imagination.
Bums come in various shapes and sizes and in most cases it is your physical make-up, grounded in genetics that determines the type of bum you are likely to possess.
Generally speaking, scientists have categorised three main varieties of the human physique:
1. The Ectomorph: individuals of light build and bone structure. Those falling within this category are skinny and possess super-fast metabolisms, finding it very difficult to gain weight. In the jargon of weight-training, they are classed as “hard-gainers”.
2. The Mesomorph: usually of athletic build, carry low body fat, muscular and well defined. They respond quickly to any form of resistance training. Their metabolisms fall roughly within the medium to fast range.
3. The Endomorph: strong disposition towards storing body fat, of stocky build and are heavy boned with slow metabolisms.
Which of these categories do you fall into? Knowledge of this would have a direct impact in determining what kind of training and dieting strategy you will need to adopt to achieve your objective. More still, it can explain why some people are pre-disposed towards having a bigger rear end than others! The emphasis will be on toning and shaping for the simple reason that the majority of people, rightly or wrongly, feel their bums are too big. How many times have you heard women in particular say “Does my bum look big in this?” as opposed to “I wish my bum could be a lot bigger”.
The Key Exercise
There are quite a number of exercises that can be performed to tone the backside. However, most of these are simple variations of the same theme. I would wish to propose this exercise which is unique in the sense that it avoids unnecessary duplication of effort. I have called it the “bums out 45 degree squat”. So called because you cannot avoid sticking your bum out during the 45 degree angled drop to a strategically placed bench.
The Method
1. Adopting either a free bar or caged squat rack, get into squat position with feet slightly wider than shoulder width and toes pointed outwards.
2. A bench should now be positioned not directly under the bar as would normally be the case in a normal squat (i.e. vertically up and down), but slightly away from the bar which should now force your squat trajectory to a 45 degree angle from “start” position to “sitting” position on the bench. This provides the crucial stretch for the muscles of the bum.
3. Now in a slow controlled manner, perform the angled descent to the bench only touching the latter slightly with your bottom (no bouncing!), then return to your original standing position. Perform 4 sets of high repetitions minimum of 20 reps resting no more than 90 seconds between each set. You do not have to increase the poundage but use the high reps and restricted rest time to force your muscles to work harder.
By Dayo Audi,
WBBF Mr Universe, IFBB Pro