Gold Coast Personal Trainer Reveals the Best Butt and Thigh Exercise Ever

Jan. 12, 2009 - PRLog -- As a fitness trainer, I get a lot of questions regarding “What exercises are best for my butt and thighs?” Today I’m going to share my personal favorite lower body exercise and all of its awesome variations. It’s called the Rear-Foot Elevated Lunge Variation (a.k.a. Bulgarian Split Squat). This exercise is so effective that you’ll never have a wobbly butt or thunder thighs ever again.

My favorite leg exercises are any sort of lunge variation because I prefer single leg exercise in lieu of their double leg counterparts for a lot of reasons.  For people with back issues, single leg exercises allow them to safely perform lower body exercises without putting their lower lumbar spine in jeopardy of hyper flexion or excessive rounding that can cause back spasms in the short run and herniated discs in the long run.  It is also important because there is generally an imbalance between one leg and the other for most people. This type of exercise allows you to strengthen each leg.  

My favorite lunge variation is called the rear foot elevated lunge.  So basically we’re going to elevate the back foot on a chair, bench, box, or any other sturdy foot support, usually about 30-45 cms high.  You’ll put your front leg well in front of you in order to make sure that your front knee and ankle are in alignment.  In general, I tell people to exaggerate how far you put your front leg forward so that the front knee is almost slightly behind the ankle as this really helps reduce sheer force on the knees. Initiate the exercise by loading the front heel and dropping your hips as low as you can in a pain-free range of motion while staying really tall up top with a proud chest and shoulders down and back. Finish the movement by driving through your front heel to return to the top of the movement. You can start with body weight only in search of front thigh parallel to the floor or lower depth and then progress by adding speed of movement or by adding dumbbells. You can even add a bicep curl or raising your dumbbells overhead to add a challenge to your upper body and core.  

I have yet to find an exercise that works your butt and thighs as much as this one does.  In particular, it really helps strengthen your inner quad muscle that’s heavily responsible for tracking your patella and keeping your knee caps in line.  So if you have a history of overtraining or patella-femoral issues this exercise is fantastic for keeping your knees as bulletproof as possible.

Also, what’s great about it too is that it provides a very good stretch for the hip flexor of your back leg, an area that is often very tight, especially for guys. Any exercise that allows you to simultaneously stretch and strengthen your body is a real keeper.  Don’t waste another moment with the useless adductor machine and use the world’s best butt and thigh exercise ever.

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Mireille Ryan CPT is a local Gold Coast fitness boot camp instructor and real world fat loss expert. To book her to speak at your local Gold Coast company, club, or organization please contact her by email at myhealthguru@optusnet.com.au or by phone at 07 5593 8823. For a free one-week trial to one of her Gold Coast boot camps to experience the best personal training on the Gold Coast, please visit www.healthgurubootcamp.com.au.