Get a Better Butt

Looking to improve your rear view? Yoga can not only make your whole body stronger and more flexible but it can also tighten and firm specific body parts, especially your posterior.

In 24 Hour Fitness’s Yoga Pump class, instructors supply three options for each posture: Level 1, 2, or 3. Depending on your experience level, or how you’re feeling that day, you just pick the one you want to do. The first, or “Restorative,” level uses traditional Hatha yoga poses and is perfect for novices or athletes taking an active rest day. Level 2 is “Integrative,” which means you add some movement and flow (known as Vinyasa) to otherwise stationary postures. Level 3 is “Fullest Expression” and uses light weights (2 to 5 pounds) to further boost calorie burn, build strength, and tone muscles.

“Most yoga classes don’t offer this kind of variety or personalization,” says Doris Dodge-Thews, a master instructor at the Irvine Spectrum 24 Hour Fitness in Orange County, California. “It’s truly yoga for the masses.”

Three Moves for Glorious Glutes
Your glutes are some of the biggest, strongest muscles in your body. They’re the power plants and stabilizers for many activities. To sample Yoga Pump, try these three postures:

1. Five-Point Star
   Stand with your feet wide apart, arms outstretched to the sides, wrists over your ankles, so that your body forms a star, with your head as the top point. Turn your toes out. Tilt your pelvis up, tuck your tailbone under, and squeeze those glutes. Plié (squat) down, keeping your knees over (but not extending past) your toes. As you plié, exhale and sweep your arms in toward your chest, palms facing each other. Inhale as you return to the start position. Repeat this sequence eight to 10 times.
   Make it harder: Hold a light weight (no more than 5 pounds) in one hand and switch it to the other as your hands meet, or hold a light weight in each hand throughout the move.
2. God/Goddess
   Start in the Five-Point Star. Bend your elbows so that your forearms look like a football goal post. Plié and hold as you press your pelvis forward and tighten your glutes.
   Make it harder: Hold light weights in your hands and lift one or both heels together, rising up on the balls of your feet.
3. Bridge
   Lie on your back with your knees bent and positioned directly over your heels. Rest your hands on the floor, palms down. Inhale and lift your pelvis, pressing your heels into the ground and tightening your glutes. Hold for four or five deep, calming breaths.
   Make it harder: Use your hands to hold light weights on top of your hips as you press them upward.