Are your buttocks starting to get a bit too flat or saggy? Are you wondering which exercise machine is best for people over 50 to tone glutes while burning body fat? The video below reveals my favorite exercise machine (you might be surprised by which one it is). At the end of the video, I provide bonus exercises that are highly effective for toning the buttocks for both men and women.
How to Have Firm, Attractively Shaped Buttocks at Any Age
Every gym has at least one exercise machine that will:
- strengthen the glutes;
- improve booty shape and firmness;
- help keep the buttocks gravity-defying (so that they don’t sag);
- and help improve skin texture (as the buttock muscles become fuller underneath the skin, it causes the skin and adipose tissue above to pull more tautly – and therefore become less crepey).
The best way to avoid getting a weak, saggy bottom is to do resistance training movements that symmetrically develop the gluteal muscles while raising your heart rate into your body’s fat-burning zone.
Try This Exercise Machine for Stellar Buttocks and a Healthier Heart
Perhaps the best exercise machine to tone buttocks while also burning fat is the cardio vertical climbing machine – such as a VersaClimber or Cascade Climber.
I prefer this machine because it helps tone buttocks muscles while, at the same time, burning fat cells for caloric energy.
The other excellent aspect of this particular piece of vertical climbing equipment is that it’s often under-used at the gym, so you probably won’t have to wait for it.
Which Exercise Machine to Tone the Buttocks? Many Choices!
The lower body is a collection of large muscle groups that many people neglect, but it’s essential to work your thighs and glutes because of health and aesthetic benefits.
There are several ways (see photos below) you can train your buttocks and lower-body muscles – with or without weights, at home, or in the gym:
- One method to tone your lower body – and your buttocks in particular – is through free-weight exercises such as squats, reverse lunges, hip thrusts, single-leg bridges, or the landmine sumo deadlift.
- Another popular method at the gym is the glute isolation “donkey kick” machine.
- I’ve also found it particularly useful to do a cardio-climbing vertical machine for 10 to 20 minutes.
Using the Cardio Climbing Exercise Machine for a Better Booty
A common mistake people make when attempting to tone the buttocks is exclusively using too much resistance.
The glutes are a muscle group that responds positively to various stimuli and training methods, including lower resistance combined with a higher number of repetitions. A cardio climbing machine makes an excellent solution.
What follows are tips for doing a cardio climbing machine correctly – as well as bonus exercises that are particularly effective for lifting, strengthening, firming, and shaping the buttocks.
Be sure to see the video lower within this article to understand how the moves are performed safely and for maximum results.
Here are my tips for getting the best results from a cardio climbing machine – and by “best results,” I mean utilizing fat cells for energy while also toning the buttocks:
- Lean into the machine so that your nose almost touches.
- Keep your spine long and try to keep your shoulders pressed down away from your ears.
- Keep your navel pulled in, your pelvis centered, and your glutes slightly active.
- If your knees are tender, you can try leaning away from the machine to determine if that feels better on your leg joints.
Vary your grip to whatever is most comfortable on your shoulder joints:
- Your palms can face away from you or toward you (I do both).
- Your hands can rest on the innermost part of the handle or the outermost.
- The handles themselves are adjustable! You can push the button to release the handle and move it to whatever notch feels best.
Most importantly, vary your range of motion:
- short and choppy;
- medium-range;
- or full, exaggerated range of motion (great for toning the buttocks)!
Be mindful of your knees. There should be no pain. You can experiment to see what feels best on your knee joints:
- you can keep your feet on the innermost part of the pedal or the outermost;
- and you can keep the weight of your body centered in the soles of your feet (instead of rolling your bodyweight to the very outside or inside of your soles.
How It Appears to Do Cardio Climbing Machine Properly (and 13 Bonus Exercises!)
Hopefully, there should be velcro foot straps on the pedals of your cardio climber. I like to keep mine reasonably snug.
Be sure to watch the video to the end so can see bonus exercises to tone your buttocks:
- Cardio Climber (I’m using a Cascade Climber lately, but a VersaClimber or other brand works well, too.)
- Dumbbell Frog Pump
- Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat
- Walking Lunge
- Single-Leg Bridge with Opposing Band
- Single-Leg Banded Hip Thrust
- Jump-Up
- Barbell Hip Thrust on Stability Ball
- Banded “Monkees” Walk
- Kettlebell Step-Up
- Stationary Forward Lunge on Platform (allows for greater depth!)
- Kettlebell Front Squat
- Side Leg Lift (resistance band is optional)
- Bunny Hop
Athletes are in the habit of using the terms “bridge” and “hip thrust” interchangeably; however, bridge usually means your back is on the floor, but during a hip thrust, your back is usually on some type of elevated platform.
The purpose of that frog pump, by the way, is to help keep the quads out of it. For frog pumps, don’t go too heavy on the weight. Focus on form and quality of contraction instead.
Strong Glutes Help Prevent the Negative Pelvic Tilt
Another critical benefit of tone buttocks is that it prevents your pelvis from being misaligned.
Strong buttocks help keep a pelvis centered, which is imperative to help prevent lower-back “throw-outs.”
Not only that, but a centered pelvis also helps prevent groin pulls or knee issues.
Men Need Toned Buttocks, Too
I don’t quite understand why, but most men don’t train their glutes enough.
If you drive a car, watch tv in bed or a recliner, or sit at a desk, you’re at risk for a saggy bottom.
I’m guessing that many men neglect buttock exercises because they tend to just concentrate on those muscle groups that one can see easily when facing a mirror. Trust me, there is an entire posterior chain of muscle groups back there that is not only important, it’s most important.
The health of your spine and posture depends on the posterior muscle chain, including buttocks.
Tip for Toning Buttocks Effectively
I have a final tip if you want to see your buttocks change for the better.
The glute muscles engage best when there is committed mindfulness during the exercise. The quadriceps are notorious hogs and will do all the work if you let them!
You will see and feel the best results by staying intensely focused during the movement and concentrating on initiating that movement from the glute muscles first.
Dieting Your Way to Better Buttocks
If you have excess fat in your buttock and stomach area, the best way to shrink those fat cells is by adopting an advanced-level anti-inflammatory diet.
Develop lean muscle, reduce belly fat, and improve posture and joint mobility. In Silver and Strong: Getting Fit After Age 50, I explain exactly how to craft a Fitness Comeback Plan that includes an anti-inflammatory diet to meet your unique body’s needs and lifestyle.
This new course is designed in a specific sequence to help you achieve a next-level of robust health – with high-value nutritional strategies that will have an amazingly positive impact on your physique.
You could look and feel better than you ever have before.
Course participants are authentic people facing genuine obstacles, just like YOU. They made their transformations, despite all of life’s challenges.