Ultimate Booty Workouts by Tamara Grand – My Review

Ultimate Booty Workouts, Exercises to Build, Lift and Sculpt an Amazing Butt by Tamara Grand

Countless studies have been done on the effects of exercise on physical and mental health – but I don’t need to read any of them to know the benefits of exercise or the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. My always-bad back coupled with a broken foot have kept me from working out at the intensity I normally go at it for months on end now. And I am feeling the effects of being sedentary on every muscle in my body. I’ve gained weight and have lost strength and flexibility. I become irritated at the most minor things and am not sleeping as well as I had been when I exercised regularly. Ugh. I need to get back to my workout routine for my physical and mental well-being.

I’m getting back to it slowly but surely and was thrilled to receive a review copy of the book Ultimate Booty Workouts, Exercises to Build, Lift and Sculpt an Amazing Butt by certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor Dr. Tamara Grand. (Grand holds a Ph.D in biology and, while she trains clients of all ages and fitness levels, she’s particularly passionate about helping ageless women achieve their health and fitness goals.)

Now that I can put a little weight on my foot for a short period of time, I’ve incorporated some of the exercises in Ultimate Booty Workouts into my regular, albeit greatly modified routine – and it feels great to move my body again. (I’m not yet ready to do lunges and put that kind of pressure on my healing foot, but squats, where my weight is equally distributed between both feet, are in!) The book teaches you how to train your glutes over a period of 10 to 12 weeks for, of course, a better butt but also for improved posture, a reduction in back pain and an increase in muscle mass which will help you burn a few more calories. (The glutes are the largest muscles in the body. Training them and your quadriceps and hamstrings will build muscle mass. Weight bearing exercises – and that can mean exercises that bear your own body weight as well as those in which you use actual weights – are also good for building bone density, which is so important as we age.) The book features a 12-week progressive resistance training program that can be done at the gym or at home, with the addition of a few pieces of equipment including hand weights, a yoga mat, stability ball and TRX suspension trainer, which is readily available online. There is a chapter on nutrition that succinctly sums up choices to make to eat healthy – and I particularly like what Grand has to say about cellulite. She makes no promises or grandiose claims that you will rid yourself of it forever by doing the exercises in Ultimate Booty Workouts – but you can reduce its appearance.

Not surprisingly, Ultimate Booty Workouts, is based largely on squats, lunges and glute bridges (when you lie on your back and raise your butt, knees and hips off the floor. Not to worry if my description leaves you befuddled. Grand includes photos of each exercise so there’s no confusion about performing them properly.) These exercises are the foundation of a good glutes workout. But Grand takes them further with variations on the themes to stave off muscle memory and boredom and target all the muscles in the glutes and thighs. Ultimate Booty Workouts also includes several full-body exercises, such as planks, for overall fitness.

Besides muscle strength, Grand emphasizes the importance of flexibility, something I now also know from firsthand experience. I always took my body’s flexibility for granted – until I lost a lot of it due to months of pain while moving and subsequent inactivity. I know I can get it back – and I’m working on it by doing some of the yoga poses Grand includes in Ultimate Booty Workouts.

A nice feature of the book is the inclusion of workout templates so you can keep track of your progress.

I don’t know that my renewed, yet still cautious, exercise efforts will be enough to build, lift and sculpt an amazing butt in twelve weeks, but I’m sure going to try. (If you’re not hampered by health issues – and of course, speak with your doctor before beginning any exercise program to ensure that you’re healthy enough to exercise – you may have better results.) Bathing suit season is just around the corner.

Want more info from Tamara Grand? Visit her website at FitKnitChick.com for more workouts and great fitness tips.

If you want to check out Tamara Grand’s Ultimate Booty Workouts, get it here …