How to Fix Your Flat Arse – 5 Exercises for a Toned Bum

by Colleen

I am discussing the topic because many of our clients are asking about it. Sure, with the latest fitness trends many women’s main goal is to get a nice shaped and toned, sometimes even big bum. Whilst I don’t think going into extremes is necessarily healthy but focusing on building a strong buttock should be part of a balanced health and fitness lifestyle.

In brief, your bum plays a very important part in your daily life. It’s responsible for the movement of the hip and the thigh, helping us humans staying in an erect position, aiding the movements of standing up, sitting down, climbing stairs, walking, running, cycling and any exercise, movement or sport that involves lifting the legs.

If you think about it, the glutes are the most important and potentially the strongest muscles in your body which is why we include many leg and glute exercises on the different Callanan Fitclub plans.

Here are 5 ways to improve the strength and the shape of your glute muscles so they can become more of a weapon of attraction but also help you become stronger and better at your sport or life in general. 

1. ​Glute Activation

Before you start performing any glute exercises you’d like to make sure, that they are ‘awake’ and receive the signal from the brain to activate properly on a squat or deadlift. One of the best ways of doing this is consciously squeezing them (imagine you are trying to break a walnut with your butt cheeks) while exercising, the other is to include glute activation exercises in your warm-up before starting your main workout: glute bridge (single or double), clamshell or hip extension on all fours are good examples. 

2. ​Squat and its variations

The squat is one of the most referenced exercise when it comes to building a nice, round and strong arse. It is also very versatile so whatever your fitness or strength level is, there is a squat you can do.

Bodyweight Squat: Stand with feet about shoulder width apart, hands in front of chest, elbows bent. Brace your abs and imagine you are trying to sit down, so push your hips back while bending your knees and lower your body into a squat. Pause at the bottom for a second, then push through your heels as you are standing up and feel the squeeze in your bum. Aim to have your thighs parallel to the ground at the bottom position.

Variations

• Box Squat: Touching your glutes to a bench, box or step or even sitting down at the bottom position.
• Goblet Squat: Holding a weight – medicine ball, kettlebell, etc – in front of your chest as counterbalance.
• Back Squat: Can be performed with powerbag or barbell on the back of the shoulders.
• Front Squat: Can be performed with a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells, powerbag or barbell. The weight is positioned at shoulder level in front, elbows facing forward.

3. ​Hip Thrust

The hip thrust exercise is a very efficient one to isolate your glutes. To build up strength and ensure safe environment, start with bodyweight, then load once you are confident in technique.

Starting position: Use a bench or a step that is about the height of your knees. Position your shoulders on top of the bench having your knees at 90 degrees, core bracing, bum squeezing and body between knees and shoulders straight and parallel to the ground.
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Exercise: Keep the tightness in your core throughout and ensure your butt is tucked in so your lower back muscles are protected. Lower your hips till about 90 degrees, then squeeze your bum and push them pack up to parallel. 

4. Deadlift and more glute activation

Deadlift has it in the name. You lift a weight from a dead position (not moving), then put it back down. When performed correctly, your posterior chain (back, glutes, hamstrings) and your core will work together to complete the task. The butt has an important role here too: as you are pushing through your heels for the lift it needs to fire before every other muscle. The more you can get your glutes to activate, the stronger your lift will be.

Alternated glute bridge for activation: place a squidgy ball or a soft brick between your knees and focus on squeezing while you’re lifting your hip into the bridge.

5. Single leg exercises and resistance band work

​While I kept talking about the glutes as a single pair of muscle, the reality is that your hips have many muscles around them to ensure stability and flexibility. The glute itself is formed of three muscles plus you have the adductors and abductors that are responsible for the lateral movements of the legs, not to mention the deep tissue muscles underneath the glutes.

Single leg exercises like the variation of lunges, pistol squats, split squats and single leg deadlifts can be used to isolate and engage the smaller muscles, improve stability and balance and ultimately build the arse of your dreams.

Resistance bands are a great way of targeting the muscles in a different way. Working with resistance bands has your muscles under constant tension that increases towards the end of the movement. They are also easy to carry, fit in a small place so ideal to take them when travelling.
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Exercises you can perform: squats, deadlifts, kickbacks, lunges and basically a variation of any of the exercises I mentioned in this blog.

Summary

​To get rid of your flat arse is a complex task and it doesn’t stop at performing squats day in day out. True, a well-structured workout plan targeting the area can make wonders to the muscles, but to shed the excess fat layer and build lean muscles you also need a structured and mostly whole food based diet. Feel free to contact Colm or myself if you have any further questions.

Guest Author: Colleen

Colleen's first post was very well received so we decided she will be writing for us every now and then. Thank you for all your feedback!