I don't think there is one woman on this planet that doesn't want her rear to be well rounded and sitting high of her thigh. The good news is that every woman can have it and, so can every man. So why doesn't every body have buns of steel?

Because not everybody wants to put the work and discipline into achieving this goal. Also, not everybody can accept the fact that it can take some time, a few months or even a year or two. However, what a lot of people don't realize is the fact that it is much harder to achieve the goal than to maintain it. Remember that 6 months or one year go by whether you do something or not, so let's get going!

When we talk about "buns", we talk about a muscle group, the gluteal muscles. The group is made up of three muscles, gluteus minimus, gluteus medius and gluteus maximus. The gluteus maximus is one of the strongest muscles on the body and the strongest in the gluteal group. It is also the main erector of the thigh. The gluteal group acts strongly when powerful hip work is needed as in climbing stairs or walking uphill. The gluteus works mainly with your hips, thighs and your lower back. That's why a lot of people think if they work their legs they work their buns, which is partially true but not always.

There are leg exercises that are often sold as gluteus exercises but they are not. Leg curls for example will train your hamstrings (the back of your leg) and only your hamstrings. Many times did I hear people say that the lying down leg curl machine really works your glutes if you squeeze them while you participate in this exercise. The fact is that you can squeeze a muscle anywhere, lying in bed or sitting on the couch. You don't have to lie on a leg curl machine to do it. Leg curl machines are designed to train the hamstring muscle isolated and that's it. The only way you could work any other muscle on this machine is to do it wrong. So, what's the point? Another big one is the leg press, this machine was especially designed to work the whole leg isolated, but not your lower back nor your buttocks, and no matter in which position you do it.

The leg press will make your legs stronger which makes it possible to work with higher intensity in exercises that really do work your glutes. No matter how many new exercises and exercise machines are out there claiming to be the best in shaping your rear, the true best ones are still the ones that have been around for a long time. The most important exercise for your buttocks is deep squats, but don't go lower than knee level to protect your knee joints. There are different kind of squats, I personally prefer free weight squats. Wide step lunges are another effective gluteus shaper. I know many of you have tried those exercises and perhaps didn't get the results you wanted. The trick is to do them with high intensity/heavy weights matched to your capability, and to do them consistently. If you want to lose size along with shaping your buns you should participate in the above exercises three times a week with one-day rest in-between. You should do between 5-7 sets of squats with 15-20 reps in your first set, 10-12 reps in your second set and anywhere from 6-10 reps in your remaining sets. Follow with the lunges and do 4 sets of 8-10 reps on each leg. After those two major exercises you should add two isolated glute exercises like backwards leg lifts or a special designed exercise machine called a"Buttblaster" or both. Do 3 sets of 10 reps of each exercise. A good closing exercise would be step-ups on a step that is almost knee high and you should do 10 reps for 3 sets on each leg.

For all exercises you should use added weight that feels heavy and doesn't allow you to do more repetitions than mentioned above. Next to this program you should participate in walking uphill on a treadmill or outdoors on the trail, or participate in different forms of stair climbing for 30-40 minutes 3-5 times a week and always do it after your weight routine.

Your menu has to be part of the program and needs to be low fat, low to moderate carbohydrates and high protein. Just remember the food part is temporary and after you achieved your goal you can eat whatever you want if you keep exercising. If size is not the issue, but just shape, you should follow the above weight routine 2 times a week with 2-3 days rest in-between workouts. Participate in walking uphill or stairclimbing exercises 2-3 times a week for 20-30 minutes and also always do your weight routine first.

Give it some time and be consistent and you will get the results you want. After I had engaged in the above program for about three months a male member of the gym came up to me and said: "Your rear end looks great, it is much more "up" than it was when you started exercising." Up to this day I can not decide if! should take his comment as an insult or a compliment but I guess it doesn't matter as long as I like the way my rear looks "now".