This is a sponsored column by Jessica Storm, ACSM Health/Fitness Specialist and NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist and owner of Storm Fitness – A Personal Training and Nutrition Company based in Reston.
Yes, losing weight without dieting is possible. In fact, it’s how I help my clients achieve their weight loss goals. Â Just the mention of the word “diet” can send the brain and body into a frenzy mode.
First, you begin think of all the things you will need to deny yourself of in order to achieve your weight loss and you immediately swear off ever having any of those bad foods ever again. Then the cravings set in and the brain goes to work constantly thinking about all the food that you must deny yourself. This can really get depressing fast — who wants to live their life feeling this way?
Did you realize that the word diet has the word “die” in it? When we diet, we deprive ourselves. When we drastically overhaul how we have been living it is not sustainable.
I want my clients to live a full and happy life. I teach them how to be successful while not denying themselves of fun times and yummy foods. It is possible. It doesn’t need to be a struggle and it shouldn’t be. I have listed below a few tips that you can start to implement into your lifestyle right now. Read More
This is a sponsored column by Jessica Storm, ACSM Health/Fitness Specialist and NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist.Â
All bodies have different bottom shapes. I’ll bet you didn’t know that your butt could most likely be classified into one of these four basic shapes: V, Round, Square or Heart. And if we want to get even more specific within those categories, we could also have these types: Flat, Saggy, Small and Ample bottoms.
For the sake of this article I will be focusing on the latter categories.
Of course, most of the exercises I describe below will be great for your booty regardless of its shape/size. However, like any good workout program, if you really want to start seeing some fine-tuned results, then your exercises really need to be customized according to your butt shape and type.
Generalized exercise programs can be great for someone getting started without any contraindications, but if you want to really see results you need to get customized.
I customize my clients’ programs based on a thorough assessment of their particular body type and goals they want to reach. This is how I am then able to sculpt their assets into the best shape possible. I show them the appropriate exercises for their bodies in order to get stellar results. Run-of-the-mill exercise tapes and programs are just too general to deliver the results that my clients wish to achieve.
So, what is your booty shape?
- Flat: You have trouble building the muscles up in your buttock area and overall find you have a “flat” shape.
- Saggy: Your bottom droops or sags; does not feel “lifted” in your pants.
- Small: You tend to lose weight or muscle in this area first and have trouble “filling out” your pants.
- Ample: Your bottom is round and large and you tend to put on weight or muscle in this area very easily.
Now that you have determined your booty shape, here are some exercises to target those buns.
Flat Butt Prescription: These exercises will help to perk up the muscles in your bottom area and fill/lift.
- Bridges and/or single leg bridges
- Curtsy Lunges
- Donkey Kicks on hands and knees
- Step ups (using chair, bench or plyo box)
- Side step squat with resistance band
Saggy Butt Prescription: These exercises will lift your bottom and create more definition between the hamstring/gluteus area to lessen the droopy effect.
- Walking Lunges and/or Step back lunges
- Stability ball hamstring curls
- Explosive jump squats
- Romanian Dead Lifts or single leg pickups
- Fire hydrants
Small Butt Prescription: These exercises will help to fill out your bottom area by focusing on working all the muscles of the gluteus to create definition.
- Goblet Squats
- Side Lunges
- Bird/Dog
- Box Jumps and/or explosive lunges
Ample Butt Prescription: These exercises will help to keep your bottom toned while not adding additional bulk in the gluteus area.
- Plié Squat
- Ball straight leg hamstring lift
- Leg Circles
- Side lying left lifts
Always remember that it’s best to get clear on where you fall on the spectrum. If you want to see outstanding results, then you will need to  do multiple exercises that target your specific shape.
If you’re confused about what butt shape you have, then go ahead and do them all for a major booty blast workout! Any exercise is better than no exercise — and all of these exercises put together can still be fantastic booty shapers regardless of your shape and size!
Jessica Storm is the owner of Storm Fitness — A Personal Training and Nutrition Company based in Reston. Her company has been serving the Northern Virginia area for over a decade and has received numerous recognition for the life-changing results it has delivered to clients. Read more at www.StormFitness.com.
This is a sponsored column by Jessica Storm, ACSM Health/Fitness Specialist and NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist.  Jessica is the owner of Storm Fitness — a personal training and nutrition company based in Reston. Storm Fitness has been servicing the Northern Virginia area for over a decade and has received numerous recognitions for the life-changing results they have delivered to their clients.  Read more about their offerings at www.StormFitness.com
There are ways to whittle your midsection without exercise. Here are six tips to make it happen:
1. Work on Perfecting Your Posture: When my clients come in to see me, the first thing we do is a posture assessment. It’s amazing how our bodies can slump over the minute we get tired. This in turn causes us to disengage our core and overwork certain muscle groups.
When muscles aren’t engaged and working, our bodies certainly aren’t burning calories as efficiently. Not only that, but your belly is going to look a lot bigger than it actually is if you’re hunched over. Try standing up tall, shoulders back and naval to the spine.Think about it often during the day and keep practicing. I often have my clients perform pelvic tilts and other drills to work on their posture. Soon it becomes second nature and they don’t even have to think about it anymore.
2. Make Clean Eating the Majority:Â Believe it or not, when it comes to the belly area what you are eating is way more important than the exercises you are performing. Sure, there are boatloads of abdominal exercises (I have mad tricks up my sleeve) to tighten and tone the tummy, but ultimately if you are building muscle with a layer of fat on top you will never “see” your abs. What you might inadvertently be doing is making your pant size even tighter by building up the muscle on top of fat.
Practice clean eating along with the toning exercises and you will start feeling your midsection melt down in no time.
Here are the clean eating basics:
- Eliminate processed, refined foods and sugars.
- Try sticking to whole foods with only one ingredient in them and cook your own foods.
- Work with a professional to get a customized food plan that is right for your body type and to know if you have any food allergies. There are some very healthy foods that might be beneficial for one person and inflammatory for another.Â