Spot Toning and Muscle-Building Tips

10 Muscles That Are Hard to Sculpt

From stubborn muscles that just won’t pop to secret spots you didn’t know you should (or could) hit, we reveal how to train your body's trouble zones
By Greg Presto fitbie
 

(Finally) Get a Better Butt

Buns of Steel, butt-lift jeans, toning shoes … your backside is the money spot that everyone wants to tone. So why you don’t have great glutes yet? Blame your hamstrings.

Many exercises that should target your butt don't work it as hard because the backs of your thighs wind up doing most of the work, says Mike Wunsch, performance director at Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, CA. But there's a solution: When your quadriceps are engaged, your hamstrings are turned off—in the same way that your biceps and triceps work in opposite ways. So turning on your quads during a glute move will make sure your posterior gets pumped, Wunsch says.

To accomplish this, try this tweak of a traditional hip raise: While lying on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, dig your feet into the ground and act as if you are trying to push your feet forward (in the direction of your toes) before you start and throughout the hip raise movement. Wunsch says this will create an isometric hold for your quadriceps, turning off your hamstrings.

Continue the isometric hold—trying to push your toes forward—as you complete the glute bridge, raising your hips to the ceiling until your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders.

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