Yesterday at the gym I tried a new workout that I found at Bodybuilding.com. It is called Nicole Wilkins’ Best-Ever Butt Workout and, let me tell you, it was a doozy. I tried part of it a couple weeks ago, but it was a Friday morning and I didn’t have enough time to do the entire thing. I decided I needed to try it out on a Saturday when I had plenty of time to spend at the gym.
If you are not familiar with Nicole Wilkins, she is a four-time IFBB Figure Olympia champion, which is one of the biggest bodybuilding competition for professional bodybuilders! She is amazing – I follow her on Instagram and Facebook and she posts a lot of good information about lifting, food, motivation, etc.
The workout took me a while to complete and it had my lower body a bit fatigued, to say the least! It was a tough one. One guy I see at the gym quite a bit on Saturday’s actually came up to me and said “you know if you keep that up, you are going to regret it tomorrow”. My response was “yeah, or two days from now I won’t be able to sit down”. So far, I can still sit down but we will see in the morning!
Sometimes it takes my body a couple days to get sore, depending on what/how I was exercising. The fitness world likes to refer to that as DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. I happen to like DOMS, in a weird way………
Let’s switch gears to a different way to target the rear. The Booty-Burning Treadmill Workout that I came up with is not quite as intense as the one Nicole did, and this one is cardio-based, not strength training-based. It is a nice change of pace if you are stuck in a rut with your cardio or if you are looking to focus on the rear a little more than usual.
When I choose the treadmill for my cardio, I try to warm-up at a 0% incline and then when I get to actually running I like to increase the incline to a minimum of 1%. The treadmill can actually help propel you a little bit because of the belt movement. If you increase the incline slightly it will make it a bit more difficult and you’ll have to use your leg muscles to propel you all the way. It isn’t a huge difference, but it is enough that you will notice.
Everything is pretty self explanatory….walking and side shuffles are basically the only two movements. Then the only other thing you have to do on the treadmill is change the incline. Make sure you don’t try to walk so fast that you have to hold on the treadmill. It will be more beneficial for you to slow down the speed and not have to hold on. If you feel like your legs cannot keep up with the speed then swing and pump your arms to help take some of the burden off your legs. If you still cannot keep up, slow down the speed. Again, don’t hold on the treadmill if you don’t absolutely have to.
When I first started side shuffling on the treadmill I always felt like I had to hold on, but the more I have done it, the easier it has become. Now I don’t have to hold on at all when I side shuffle, but I do have to look down at my feet the whole time! Side shuffles will target the abductor muscles of the legs. Just make sure your feet are pointing the same way you are facing, and not towards the front of the treadmill. Propel yourself using the outer muscles of your thighs (abductors) and not your knee.
I happen to have a love-hate relationship with wall sits. I think I have bad memories of having to do them during high school basketball practice. They really are great for your hamstrings and glutes though, so I try to work them into a routine every now and then. I won’t lie, they get to burning a little bit after walking at a 15% incline.
You can customize this to your personal fitness level and also to how much time you have. You can increase the speed of the treadmill to make it more difficult, or decrease the speed to make it a little easier. If you are short on time, you can do 2-3 rounds or if you have a little more time then go for 5-6 rounds.
Let me know what you think! If you try this out and want to really feel your lower body burning, then try Nicole’s workout!
