I Hate My Butt!!!!!

I'm a 5'7", 23 year old female currently at 130 lb. My BMI is at a 20.4, so i'm at a "healthy weight". The problem seems to be my butt. I can't seem to get rid of it! I do a little weight training for the back of my legs (but it's not intresting... at all and i get bored so i stop doing it) and 25+ minutes of vigirous cardio on the elliptical, but it's still there!

What's the quickest way to tone my trunk for these upcoming bikini months?

Should I be drinking protein shakes to help build muscle? or will they make me gain weight all over?

Also, I have a "love handle" problem too. My waist is super tiny, but i've been developing that mushroom top hanging over my jeans. Any ideas how to tone that area as well?

Thanks in advance!

 The glutes are the largest muscles in the body, and any exercises involving them will burn a large amount of calories. Unlike the abdominals who are very small and have an effective range of motion of maybe two inches.

 So if you want to lose bodyfat, burning calories is where it's at - and using the largest muscles will burn more. At the same time, building muscle in a calorie deficit mostly just doesn't happen unless you're very special indeed, so if you're in a calorie deficit you're not going to be building up anything, best you can do is to retain what you've got.

  The upshot of that is that activities which engage your legs burn more calories, and can potentially increase myogenic tonus of your muscles, leading to a firmer appearance even if size stays the same or shrinks.

 In addition to lifting to retain muscle, sprinting and jumping will definitely help - explosive muscle action relies on fast-twitch fibre. Betcha Eddie gets a lot of explosive glute training from kicking his opponents around in the ring as well :)

 Oh, yes - and if you can do Eddie's glute workout, you're a better man than me ;)

Original Post by youhearttme:

the other thing is...everyone tells me the EXACT same things to give me a BIGGER butt -- lunges, squats, deadlifts. so, to everyone who responded to the original poster, who's lying to who? am i wasting my time trying for a nicer rear, or is she not going to get a smaller butt doing these things?

babydudes -- the only way you can quickly and effectively burn fat is by doing significant amounts of cardio. 20-45 minutes a day. all these butt exercises are awesome, trust me. but what they are going to do is build and firm your glutes(muscles under your butt cheeks). if you have excess fat storage in that area, which it sounds like you are a "pear" shape, meaqning that is where your body stores it, you can build and firm all you want, but if you dont burn fat it won't look smaller at all.

everyone telling you to do all those exercises is like telling someone who asks "how do i get rid of my gut?" to do crunches. if you dont burn the fat, nothing with look flatter, smaller, more defined, or tighter.

Two things, youheartme:

First, people telling you to do squats, lunges, deadlifts etc are right on if you want to build some muscle on your ass.  Eddie's recommendation of sprinting workouts will also do you a lot of good.  So, people aren't lying to you.

They also aren't lying to the OP, and this is where your point about cardio is off the mark.  Let me say that I believe there's a place for cardio in every workout, and for many there's a place for steady-state cardio.  To achieve the average person's fitness goals of simply doing everyday stuff easier and looking healthier and staying fit, steady-state cardio can really help.  But it's not the only way to quickly and effectively burn fat.  In fact, squats, deadlifts, lunges, pullups, dips, cleans, and presses are the most effective ways to burn fat.

So, a person with a big flabby backside can most effectively get a smaller, perkier (as a man I hate that term) butt by both burning fat and - if they're new to lifting - building muscle even in a calorie deficit.  The "smaller" part normally means less fat, while the "perkier" part takes muscle.

There is no single exercise better for total body stress and recovery than the squat, followed closely by the deadlift.  They key is, you need to move real weight when you do these.  Lots of body weight squats are awesome for endurance and are a high metabolic cost to your body, which is good.  But you also need to be doing squats with enough weight that when you finish 8-12 reps you feel like you're totally spent.  Like you may not be able to walk (not because of injury, but because of fatigue).  Then you need to wait 30-60 seconds and do them again.  And this time you'll really be fatigued and feel like you can't stand up.  Then after 30-60 seconds do it again.  After this set, you can be done.

These are the kinds of things that will burn fat. 

Cardio is GREAT.  We all need to be doing it.  But it's not great at burning fat.  It's great at burning calories.  And if you need a lot of cardio to create the deficit you need to lose weight, fantastic.  But if you're close to your ideal weight, and what you really want to change is your body composition - ie, less fat and more muscle - then cut back the cardio, eat at maintenance, and move some freaking heavy stuff!  

jdw3018, thnks for clearing that up!! =)

jdw3018, that was an awesome post! very helpful. Thank you for that