Shape Your Booty with This Move

Doing a step-up is one of the best exercises to get a shapely, strong bottom. It can be done at home, in the gym, at the park and just about anywhere there is a 12-24 inch step.

The primary movers of this exercise (the muscles that you are strengthening) are hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteal muscles.

[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN4u3Wp-rzU width=300 rel=0 fs=1]

How to do it:

1. Stand facing bench or step
2. Lift right foot to bench
3. Shift your weight forward onto the right foot
4. Pull yourself up onto the bench with your right leg
5. Stand on the bench
6. Lower your left leg to the floor, followed by the right leg
7. Repeat 10 times on right, then 10 times on left

Fine Tune the Movement:

1. The “up” leg is doing all of the work. Make sure you push through the heel of your “up” leg so you engage and feel your “up” leg hamstring and buttock.
2. At the top of the motion, stand tall and squeeze the buttock. If you don’t stand fully erect, you are missing the full range of motion and not fully engaging/working your  glutes.
3. Make sure your shoulders and hips stay parallel to the ground.
4. A beginner will use a shorter bench, a more advanced exerciser will use a higher bench, not to exceed 90 degrees hip flexion.
5. To challenge your balance, the follow up leg (in the above example the left leg is the follow leg) should never touch the bench. Pull it up, raise the leg so the hip is at 90 degrees.
6. To increase the challenge add dumbbells in each hand as you get stronger.

***You must be able to maintain proper form and posture before making the exercise harder***

Try this killer leg circuit :

Complete all exercises 15 X each leg, then 10 X, then 8 X. Rest 30 seconds after each set

A1 Step-Up

A2 Kettlebell Swing

A3 Reverse Lunge

A4 Jump Squat