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.
Two common exercises ranked as the worst ones you can do -- you may be surprised to find that one of them is squats. Squats are certainly not to be ruled out as an exercise, and many people swear by them, but the study determined that the amount of muscle activation in squats was significantly lower than some other exercises, such as lunges and step-ups. That means that for better glute work, you should add those to your regimen instead.
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The other glute exercise that scored low -- in fact, scoring the lowest -- was horizontal and vertical leg presses, which had the least amount of EMG activity. This comes as no surprise to some trainers, who have been pointing out for years that leg presses target the legs, essentially doing very little for the glutes. A better alternative? Quadruped hip extensions, which generate significantly more muscle activity in the gluteal muscles, according to the study.
"There was no clear winner, but this study did confirm the value of five exercises: single-leg squats, quadruped hip extensions, step-ups, lunges and four-way hip extensions as effective alternatives to traditional squats," said a spokesperson for UW-La Crosse. It seems like a no-brainer that these are the moves you should be adding to your glute routine.While traditional moves like squats and leg presses aren't bad for your butt, the bottom line is that they're not the best, either. If you're looking to tone your tush to its tightest, you need to spend more time on the moves that will gain the ultimate results. Now, thanks to science, we know what those are.