How to boost your booty (BBL) … WITHOUT going under the knife
Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBLs) have become one of the most popular forms of plastic surgery in the US in recent years – with doctors reporting a rapid rise in the number of procedures carried out.
But the operation also comes with serious risks, prompting medical experts to brand it one of the ‘deadliest types’ of cosmetic enhancement.
Thankfully, there are plenty of other non-evasive options on offer for those who are hoping to hone the perfect posterior – from expert workout moves to easy, pain-free cosmetic procedures that don’t involve going under the knife.
More than 61,000 BBL augmentations were performed in the US in 2021, a 37 percent increase from the previous year. These figures do not include the many women who travel abroad to receive BBLs for a lower price.
If you still want to achieve that curvaceous figure without injections or implants read on for some top tips from fitness and cosmetic experts, with one treatment said to offer the results of performing 20,000 squats in 30 minutes…
A four-step butt-enhancing workout with ‘excellent’ results
Kenny Guzman, who is a personal trainer in Tribeca, New York, with a number of celebrities on his roster says he has seen ‘incredible’ results with his four-step butt-enhancing routine.
His purse-friendly butt-focused workout programs typically last eight to 12 weeks and the same exercises are repeated each session. Two of the exercises use weights and the fitness coach says that the weight sizes can be increased as your strength improves.
He told Femail: ‘To get the best results and a butt on the way to being like J-Lo’s, I’d recommend doing that routine four times per week. Building natural good looking glutes takes time. The exercises listed do an excellent job of not only working your glutes directly but they also build/define the muscles around the glutes.
‘The combination of both direct and indirect work helps ‘polish’ the lower body and aid in giving off that ‘lift’ of the glutes.’
Here Guzman details the four key movements to unlocking the perfectly sculpted derriere:
1. Banded side lying hip raise
‘An important part of growing your glutes, isn’t just lifting heavy, but hitting them from different angles as well,’ Guzman says.
‘You’re not going to need any weight for this one but you will need a resistance band above the knees.
‘Position yourself with your elbow down on the ground and your knees bent. You’ll sort of be set up in a side plank but with your knees near your hips.
‘Raise your hips off the ground and open your top leg as wide as you can on the way up. Bring your hips and knees back down to the ground and repeat this for three sets of ten reps on each side. Make sure to keep your elbow right under your shoulder while you complete this exercise. It’ll give you the leverage you need and prevent you getting injured.’
2. Goblet squats
‘Grab a dumbbell upside down and carry it at chest height and with your elbows down,’ the trainer explains.
‘How wide your feet are, isn’t so important as long as you can keep your heels planted and your knees facing forward on the way down. Shoulder width apart is usually a good rule of thumb.
‘You’ll initiate the move by simultaneously bending your knees and pushing your hips back as if there were a chair behind you. Go down until your knees are at about 90 degrees and make sure to keep your chest up through all ten reps.
‘It’s also quite important that you bring your hip forward and finish with them directly under your shoulders. Perform three to four sets of ten slow reps. PSA: You know you’re using the right weight if you start to struggle on the eighth rep. I call this the eight rep rule.’
3. Step-ups
‘Grab a pair of dumbbells and look for a knee height bench or box,’ Guzman advises. ‘Pick the side you want to start with and raise that foot onto the box.
‘This’ll be your working leg. With the dumbbells in hand, step up onto the box without using much, if any of momentum from the opposite leg.
‘Step back down slowly while keeping the working leg on the box. Complete three sets of ten reps on each side.’
4. Staggered stance bodyweight hip thrust
‘You can consider this a prerequisite to the “barbell hip thrust” which is widely considered the go-to exercise for building glutes,’ he notes. ‘What shouldn’t go unsaid is how hard it is to set up the barbell hip thrust.
‘The staggered stance bodyweight hip thrust is also an incredibly effective and simple way to working on your glutes. Place a bench against a wall and lay perpendicular to the bench with your shoulder blades resting on it.
‘Extend one leg and bend the other. This should position you with the heel of the extended leg on the ground and the other foot flat on the floor.
‘You’ll use that side to push into the ground and raise your hips up to bench height. Use the heel on the extended leg to give you a bit of help. Concentrate on squeezing the glute of the working side at the top of each rep. Complete three sets of ten reps on each side.’