Over and over, I always repeat: size doesn’t matter as much as hardness.
Women often complain about the size of their thighs, calves and bums—but they forget that it’s better to have a J-Lo behind than a Jell-O bum.
The size of your muscles is largely genetically determined, and we can’t do much about it. But the firmness of those muscles is definitely something we can work on.
Here are three ways to attain a hard lower body:
1. Deadlift. A scary name for something that is nothing more than picking stuff up off the floor—lifting dead weight. If you’ve ever moved, you’ve picked things up; if you’ve played with small children, you have deadlifted. You have deadlifted many times and you didn’t even know it! Some exercise professionals call it the King of Exercises, as it makes most muscles in your body work while giving you a stronger back, improved posture and rock-hard glutes and hamstrings.
2. Squat. Another fancy name for something simple: sitting. Squats are great overall lower-body exercises. These days, it seems that it’s much cooler to talk about how many squats you can do than to talk about how many pounds you can hold while sitting down and standing up again. But combining squares with deadlifts is the best way to recruit your abdominals. In other words—as a side-effect to lifting your bum, these types of squats will tighten your abs!
3. Lunge. Because we don’t spend our lives doing everything on two feet, muscle imbalances develop between our legs. Lunges help to add variety to your workout—and they give you prettier legs and a healthier body. As you throw all the weight on one leg only, you not only challenge that leg, you also test your balance, mobilize your hips in opposite directions, and activate your deep abdominal wall. It’s quite simple: walking using long, deep steps will help your legs look their best.
Now, go to the gym! Have fun, cover the basics and look great in a bikini.