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Ever watched a music video of Jennifer Lopez? One thing to surely notice on her videos are her firm gluteus muscles? Gluteus muscles are the muscles to be found in the buttocks area. Although she gyrates a lot, the buttocks of Jennifer seems to have a steady pace to them as they move as firmly as it can get. If it were other girls doing what JLo does in her music videos, probably, they would be not as effective as JLo as most women have cellulites and fat deposits and would give a gelatin shaking effect rather than two coconut fruits moving together in unison. It could be said that Jennifer’s ticket to stardom was here firm buttocks or glutes, and the songs she sang were more of to showcase the beauty of her toned gluteus muscle groups.
JLo’s glutes are however not as natural in the sense that it was that way ever since. Although she is endowed with bigger buttocks than most girls, the shape of her buttocks was actually a product of doing certain exercises that’s specific only to shaping the gluteus muscles. There are two types of exercises for the gluteal muscle groups, one is for achieving shape and the other is for maintaining form. JLo is now only busy maintaining her most prized asset.
For those who find their buttocks unattractive for now as it may be flat or shapeless, the following exercises are recommended. One note though these exercises are not expected to give results overnight and so don’t be disheartened if the desired results don’t take effect right away. For starters, dumbbells, exercise mats and exercise balls would be great aids in achieving a firmer and shapelier looking glutes.
• Squats with Bicep Curl – This exercise is great for targeting the glutes. Holding a 5-8 lbs dumbbell in each hand, stand while observing feet and hip distance apart. Then squat down putting pressure on the heels. Do not extend the knees way to much down to the toes. Then return to standing position. While standing, straighten the arms with palms outward. Do 8 repetition bicep curls before starting going to the squat position again.
• Deadlift - With dumbbells in each hand and palms facing the thighs, bend to the knee as the dumbbells hang inches away from the floor. At this point, maintain straight body position and slowly stand back up using the glutes and hamstring as the point of movement.
• Figure 8 Back Lunges – With dumbbells in hand, this time an 8 to 10 lb dumbbell, step right leg into a lunge position. At the lunge position, the dumbbell on the left side should be in arced in half-circle motions. Go back to start position and repeat this time lunging on the left foot and doing the arcs with the right hand.
• Chest Press – Sitting on the exercise ball, hold the dumbbells by the chest. Slowly move the feet forward until the upper body is reclining on the ball. The buttocks should be in a straight line with the shoulders; this is called the tabletop position. When the center of gravity has been established, raise the dumbbells slowly upwards.
Repeat. If exercise balls are not available, make sure to find a stool or bench that will still allow the tabletop position.
• Tricep Extension – From the tabletop position, extend both arms upwards with palms facing one another. Lower the forearm slowly towards the head and then repeat.
These are just among the exercises that target the glutes as most probably more specific exercises would be devised in the future, so it would be good also to keep abreast of trends on fitness.
For those who already have seen their gluteus muscles expand as a result of continuous exercise, more exercise is needed to maintain the glutes that has evolved. If these maintenance exercises are not done, sad to say, the muscles will experience atrophy and the cellulites will begin creeping in again. To maintain, at least do 4-5 sets of deadlifts with each set having 12 to 15 repetitions, 3-4 sets of leg curls of 15 repetitions each, 5 sets of 20 repetitions of forward lunges and 3-4 sets of 15-20 repetitions of squats.
Having nice glutes are more of a women mantra as men doesn’t really need to have pronounced gluteus musculature. Mostly, it’s a fashion rather than a fitness thing as jeans, leggings and even shorts are now accentuating the shape of the buttocks. With more celebrities joining the fray of maintaining firm glutes like Fergie, Beyonce Knowles and Kim Kardashian, it will only be a matter of time that it will become a norm to have pronounced muscles in the buttocks for women.
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