Hands up who doesn’t want a nice bum... exactly! Everyone wants to look good and feel great, but you don’t need an expensive gym contract to keep you looking your best. And your butt is one of the easiest places to tone! Here are my top seven thigh toning home exercises to give you the best butt ever.
Grab some dumbbells, and stand so that your legs are shoulder width apart. Make sure your feet are pointing outwards. Slowly squat, exhaling as you slowly move back into the starting position. Do 15 to 20 repetitions a few times a week...it won’t take you long!
Lie on your stomach, and use your hand to hold your opposite ankle. Then raise your leg as much as you can, and hold for twenty seconds. Repeat for both sides of your body... this sounds painful but is actually a really easy way to tone your thighs and butt!
Sit on the floor with your legs as far apart as possible. Then stretch yourself to touch one foot, then the other. Hold each stretch for twenty seconds, and repeat twenty times for each side. Another really easy way to tone your butt!
Stand up, and then take a step backwards with one leg, and bend to your knee. You should feel resistance in the front leg. Hold for twenty seconds, and repeat. Try to do twenty! This can cause pain the day after, as it’s such a good exercise. If you are struggling, try doing half a step backwards to start, but remember to increase it when that gets easy!
Sit down, with your legs out in front of you. Stretch them out as much as possible, and then lift your left leg, and bending it at the knee, try to hook it over your right leg. Squeeze your arms around your knee, and try to pull it towards your shoulder. Try holding it for twenty seconds, and doing ten on each side. This sounds hard, but it really isn’t!
The Seated Hip Twist is a fab addition to your at-home glute-toning routine, engaging not just the booty but those pesky love handles too! By incorporating this twist, you activate the deeper muscles of the hip as well as the glutes, which can lead to that sought-after sculpted appearance. Remember to breathe deeply as you hold this position—a little zen moment in the midst of your booty work. And don't worry if you can't quite hook your leg on the first try; flexibility will improve with practice. Switch it up and give your opposite side some love too, to maintain balance and symmetry in your strengthening efforts!
Sit down, and try to keep your back straight. Put the soles of your feet against each other, and hold this for twenty seconds. You should feel a slight pulling, but this is more of a stretch then an exercise, so it shouldn’t hurt too much!
When doing the Seated Butterfly, it's crucial to maintain gentle pressure to encourage flexibility in your hips and thighs, which supports better glute activation when you perform other exercises. If you're comfortable, try leaning slightly forward from the hips to deepen the stretch—but remember, no pain should be felt. Your knees should gradually lower towards the floor over time as your muscles relax. This stretch is fantastic for warming up your lower body before tackling more intense exercises, or as a cool-down to prevent stiffness after a good workout.
Do a normal squat, but with your back against the wall, keeping it straight. Make sure you inhale on the way down, and exhale on the way up, and have a straight back at all times! Repeat for 20 seconds, 20 times. I always finish with this one!
Try to incorporate some of these exercises into your everyday life. The stretches and shorter exercises can be slotted in whenever you’ve got a few extra minutes, and the rest might only take you ten minutes, which makes it easy to fit in before bed. Up the frequency before you hit the beach, and you’ll have the best butt there is! Have you got a butt exercise you swear by? Please let me know!
Top Photo Credit: photog37