Since twerking has become the new craze, many people have been asking for some butt exercises to strengthen their gluteus maximus muscles. Seriously though, those booty muscles are very important with almost all of our movements, so it is important to keep them strong.
First is a simple squat. Many people end up hurting their knees with this exercise because they are not squatting properly. You want to keep your feet about shoulder width apart, and try to keep your feet flat on the ground throughout the whole movement. Make sure you keep your knees behind your toes so you are engaging your gluteus maximus muscles. Stick your bottom out like you are sitting in a chair, and bring your chest forward. Try to keep equal weight shift through out your feet. You can use your arms for balance. You can start off with a mini squat, and work your way further down as long as you are able to keep proper technique.
If that becomes easy, then you can try a single leg squat. You still want to keep proper technique, so if you have to hold onto something for balance do so. If you are squatting and your knee goes way in front of your toes, then you are not ready for the single leg squat. It almost looks like a runner’s pose if you are doing it right. Try to keep it smooth, and use your arms for balance.
Next is a lunge. It is the same technique with the squat in which you want to keep your knees behind your toes. Make sure your toes on the front and back foot are pointed forward. Try to keep your upper body straight up and down. You don’t want to lean forward for this exercise. Bring your back knee straight down, and try not to lunge forward. If that is too hard, you can place a book or block under your back knee, and only go down until your back knee touches it.
Now you are going to get onto all fours or in the quadruped position. Try to keep your hands directly underneath your shoulders, and try to keep your back in a straight line, no arching up or down. You can do the exercises two different ways. First you can put your leg straight out behind you, and lift it up and down. You can also bend your knee with your foot facing the ceiling, and push your foot upwards.
The last set of exercises are going to be done on your back. Get into a bridge position where your knees are bent up, we call this hooklying. Then stick one leg out and hold it up. With the other leg, push against the ground to lift your hips up off the ground. This is a single leg bridge. If you can, hold it for 2-3 seconds, and then slowly come back down. No plopping!
Happy twerking!
