Work Your Ass Off (Literally)

When I started planning this workout I intended it to just be full of butt-targeting exercises interspersed with some cardio, nothing crazy; but what I ended up with was some pretty intense cardio on top of great butt-firming moves. This workout's awesome, come see what I mean...

This cardio butt lift workout has 4 different butt exercises, and burpees after each. Make sure to do competition burpees instead of burpees with pushup; this allows you to get through the reps as quickly as possible, greatly increasing the intensity. I also used my kettlebell for 2 of the exercises in this workout, but if you don't have one or don't have any weights, I've included modifications :D so don't skip this one!

​This is 3 rounds of:
20 deadlifts (with kettlebell or dumbbells, or bodyweight if you don't have any weights)
5 competition burpees
10 (on each leg) side lunge
5 competition burpees
20 (on each leg) kick back pulses
5 competition burpees
20 kettlebell swings (do 20 squats or jump squats if you don't have any weights)

Get through the 3 rounds as quickly as possible and leave me a comment and let me know how you did and how you liked it. 

It took me just under 20 minutes to finish this workout. I initially was only going to do 2 rounds, but I feared that would barely take 10 minutes to get through. I was totally wrong! This was a really fun, and surprisingly tough workout. Five burpees is really the sweet spot for me, though; not too many that I feel like I can't continue, but hard enough that I do have to push myself to keep going and just get them done. The hardest part always though is starting, once you start you don't want to stop. At least I don't anyway!

At any rate, I hope you feel like you worked your glutes in this workout, and that you're on your way to a firmer, tighter butt. I will definitely be sharing more intense butt workouts than this in the future to really further work on strengthening our glutes. And this is not just something for the ladies to worry about. Guys should be worrying about this too! We all sit too much and need to work on our hips, hamstrings, and glutes regularly to ensure we're maintaining and increasing their strength.

Your legs are your powerhouse of strength; it all comes from the legs, not your arms and upper body. Let me say it loud and clear so everyone hears me: don't skip leg day! Do not be one of those literally triangular-shaped men with insanely overdeveloped upper bodies and teeny, tiny chicken legs that can barely support your weight. That is such a wasted effort and makes me sad every time I see it. You want to develop and work on all your muscles and muscle groups evenly and be relatively proportional. It's about being functional and able to move your body with strength in your daily life. That's the whole point of exercising, to make you healthier and stronger and better able to get through your days. It's really not about how you look, but how you feel and how you can better perform because of it. 

I've got some basic recipes in the works, I'll try to have at least one up soon, so look out for that. And there will be a new yoga up in time for the weekend, so stay tuned. Have a great rest of the week :)