You've been working with machines, exercising your heart out and eating a balanced, nutritious diet. The evidence, however, is staring at you in the mirror: Your gluteus is particularly maximus. What could you possibly be doing wrong? The unfortunate answer is probably the type of exercise you're doing.

A large number of women get their exercise advice from fashion magazines or around the water cooler. The best source for accurate information on toning your anatomy, though, comes from scientists. The American Council on Exercise and the scientists at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, have done a study focusing specifically on your glutes. OK, maybe not YOUR personal glutes, but the results can show you what you've been doing wrong.

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Some of the language may sound technical, but it's worth your while to bear with it. Inside the jargon lies the secret to your wonderbutt. The UW scientists used a technique called electromyographic analysis (EMG) to compare eight gluteal exercises and measure the amount of muscle activation in each. What they discovered is that all moves are not created equal, at least as far as your posterior is concerned.