A Prequel to Fitness Fun Fridays #18

Ok, finally... it's almost time for the 'Baby Got Back' workout. Yup, the one that most of you have been waiting for, and just in time for full swing summer and shorts wearing weather. Should I have done this a little while ago? Probably :) But hey, I was a tad busy with... ya know moving and stuff

I was thinking of doing this, and maybe the future exercise heavy posts with the help of a digital camera... I think it would save me a ton of typing, and you might get more out of it. I might give it a try and see if it's as easy as I think it might be... oh, I'm def crossing my fingers on that one .

You might not be happy with this, but lets just throw the question out there in the open...

"Why is my/your butt weak/soft/small?"

Well, I answer that question just like I would for any other muscle. Muscles do one of two things, they either get bigger, or smaller. There's a good chance you butt has been asleep for quite some time, and you may not even know how to use it. It's kind of like putting your arm in a cast when you broke it on the playground. If you don't use your arm, it would atrophy, and it would take some time to learn how to use it again.

I just think the glutes are hard to train, because you can't see them... unless you really turn your head around :)

We sit all day. Like 40 plus hours a week, and maybe more. So... that puts our glutes in a non-active position, and keeps them elongated. On the flip side, our hip flexors... the antagonist (the opposite muscle group... think hero vs. villain for a second) become short and stiff.

Look at your legs right now. Don't your hips feel tight? Exactly.

So what do we have to do before we even start to work out the butt muscles?

We have to stretch out our hips, and then learn to flex and use our glutes. In our world, the villain Skeletor muscles are overruning your body, and your He or She-Man muscles are just learning how to enter the game. We have to even the score up before we attempt to rock and roll.

So for the rest of this post... I'm going to talk about stretches and how to get your body ready to do a good butt workout. I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. It would make a wicked long post if I did it all together, and you might get lost... and I might too :)
2. I really want to try this video thing out and see how it works :)

Does that sound good? Cool.

Alright, pour yourself a nice glass of reading... and grab some floor space in a bit. If you don't feel like getting up... well, I can't help you with that :)

We have to stretch our hip flexors. Stand on up as you would normally, with a chair or sturdy piece of furniture near an arms reach from you. With ample space behind you, take a big step backward, and slowly land on that knee. You should be in a kind of 'hurdle' position. Like an exaggerated kneel. Balance yourself carefully, keep your chest and head up, and make sure you front leg is close to 90* to the floor.

Using your back leg, push your body forward, so most of your weight is on your knee and back leg, and your torso and upper body glide forward. You should feel your back leg extend backwards, and feel a pull in the front of that back leg.

Do you think you got it? You probably didn't even know that muscle was there :)

Congratulations... you are stretching your hip flexors, and are well on your way to having the butt that you, your friends, and probably half the cashiers at Target always wanted :)

But you haven't even done an exercise yet? I know. I understand. But you have to realize that we just took the first step towards getting the glutes to wake up. We shifted the power a little bit more towards them, and gave them a Texas hand with an ace or two. They are almost ready to start working.

Well what's next? The exercises and movements to help your train your butt. But... haha get it?

I think I'm going to wait until next post. I know you're anxious. But it's quite a bit to write and work on. Don't worry... it'll happen. And you'll dig it, I promise.

Thanks for all the welcome backs. I missed you guys too, and it feels good to start writing again. I'll mosey on around all of your blogs soon :) I'm out like trout on this one.