November 21, 2018, 2:11 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Slim, toned thighs and a round, firm butt aren’t achieved with a crash diet–but through intense muscle building! Together with Olympian and celebrity trainer Micha Østergaard, FITBOOK presents a workout that tweaks the right levers. And to ensure your inner slacker has no chance, we’ve made sure there’s plenty of fun in the training.
The More Intense, the More Effective!
“If you want a firm butt and toned thighs, you need to understand that you must focus on BUILDING measures,” says Østergaard. The 31-year-old Dane swam at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Today, she lives and works as a personal trainer in Berlin, keeping power woman Barbara Schöneberger fit, among others.
So, short, intense sessions before long endurance training. Thankfully, you don’t even need a gym for this, because: The leg and butt muscles can be trained intensively and effectively with your own body weight! You can see how this looks in the video above.
In the Video: Effective 10-Minute Workout for Legs & Butt
Our intense leg-butt workout is deliberately kept short with an effective duration of ten minutes: The trick for beautiful legs and a firm butt lies in an intense, six-minute sequence that should be completed. “I love working without a break,” explains Østergaard. “It’s not about speed, but about completing the sequence at my pace with the best possible technique.”
The high-intensity segment, consisting of variations of lunges and squats, is embedded in a warm-up and a subsequent, shorter interval part. If done correctly, you’ll experience muscle soreness in the days following.
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Make the Workout Part of Your Routine!
If you really want to see results in your butt and legs, you need to do the effective workout regularly. By the way, it’s worth paying attention to a stable, upright torso during the exercises–this also trains the abdominal muscles. And back to the topic of weights: These can, of course, be added optionally! For squats and lunges, for example, a kettlebell can be held in front of the body the entire time.
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The Other Lever: Nutrition!
The best training is useless if you eat poorly. Those who prefer (supposedly) diet-friendly foods with minimal nutritional value deny their bodies the nutrients needed for muscle building and growth. Consuming too few calories may lead to weight loss, but muscle mass is lost first. The unattractive result: “Skinny Fat,” meaning that the “thin fat” on the butt and legs jiggles. Although affected individuals may appear slim, “they still have too many fat cells in their bodies,” explains the personal trainer.
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About the person: Micha Østergaard is an Olympian and trainer, including for Nike. From countless training and nutrition programs she tested during her career as an athlete, she developed a concept that is adaptable to everyone’s individual needs. She doesn’t believe in pointless crash diets and complicated movements, but in enjoying training. You can see this on Instagram.