A booty-busting work out that’ll make you believe less is more

If you have ever been instructed that less is more, it was most likely with regards to face makeup. But let’s apply this same theory to fitness.

It is all too common in the fitness industry to find personal trainers, clients, and gym members getting too caught up in all this cutting edge, fancy-schmancy equipment and overly-complex exercises that look more like the next dance craze than a fitness movement. Sometimes, in an effort both to impress ourselves and others with our unbelievably crazy fitness skills, we are going overboard rather than going back to basics and just working out.

All you readers out there who are currently high-fiving your friends and slapping yourselves on the back for not working out that much – not so fast! I am not referring to less frequent exercise; I am referring to less complex exercise. If all you’re looking for is a toned butt and killer legs, sometimes all you need are a couple great exercises that you do with precision, frequency, consistency and a tiny bit of variety. Keep reading, I’ll explain.

Basically, as long as you are doing a couple of solid exercises with all the right components of a progressive exercise program, you should see results. That and that tiny piece of the puzzle called a healthy diet. So forget the insanely hard burpee variation your boot camp instructor forced you to do that one time despite your inability to perform it with any semblance of the instructor’s demo. Let’s get back to basics!

Okay, here we go. Remember: we don’t want your booty getting too used to these exercises, getting lazy, and starting to lose its fabulousness. Even though less is more, you need to be sure you are constantly challenging your buns and thighs so that after each workout you still get that feeling that walking down the stairs the next day might be a little more difficult than usual (you know you weirdly love this feeling).

Try these moves during your next work out for maximal tush-tonage. Let’s aim for at least three circuits of three exercises and perform as many reps as you can until you hit your “fatigue point.” Vocabulary lesson! “Fatigue point” is until you hit that point where if you do another rep your muscle will give out or your form won’t be perfect. This allows you to challenge and push yourself to a new limit every time.

The Squat

The Stationary Lunge

The Step-Up

The Single Leg Squat

The Hamstring Curl

Variations: (Most of these can be applied to any, or all, of the above exercises.)

Go low: Try a deep squat. See how far you can go without falling down.

Go slow: Try taking 3-5 seconds to lower yourself down or complete the movement.

Speed it up: Try emulating a pulsing motion with your exercise, not quite coming all the way up, but not quite going all the way down.

Take it high: Throw in a jumping or hopping component. It adds cardio and intensifies toning.

Add some lbs: Hold some dumbbells in your hands to increase the challenge. No, this won’t make you bulk up. (I do it all the time and I’m not a meat head…yet.)

A quick recap: Keep it simple. Less – complexity, not frequency – is more. Switch up your speed, range of motion, and weight to keep your work outs fresh. So forget that weird 20-step exercise you saw in last month’s magazine. Go bust that booty and remind yourself: less is more.

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