I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a workout fad. I've done BBG (twice now, actually), I'm a sucker for SoulCycle, and I've been trying for a year now to let my parents take me with them to their HIIT trainer (hint, hint, Mom, if you're reading this).
I did a ton of yoga before I got to college, but I've totally dropped the ball since. Honestly, I felt like my butt suffered. A lot. So I decided to try the 2017 #CosmoButtChallenge to get my yoga butt back. Here's my journey:
Week 1
The Routine:
Every move should be done 15 times per side. For moves that weren't single-legged, I did 30.
1. Squats
2. Pulsing Lunges
3. Stiff Leg Deadlift
4. Glue Kickback
5. Bridge
I'm not going to lie, I felt really good this week. I did all of the moves with ease, and I even added in some weights for the squats and deadlifts. Week 1 had me feeling like a champ.
Week 2
The Routine:
1. Weighted Squat to Curtsy Lunge
2. Weighted Forward Lunge with Kickback
3. Dumbbell Deadlift
4. Weighted Kickback
5. Weighted Hip Thrust
Week 2 is where the weights came in. I felt like the weights didn't make it that much more difficult, but the position that you have to hold the weights in for the squats takes some getting used to. Also, with so many lunges this week, it starts to get kind of repetitive. I'm started to feel the burn, but I was ready to move on to Week 3.
Week 3
The Routine:
1. Weighted Squat with Triple Pulse
2. Weighted Side Lunge to Knee Raise
3. Weighted Single-Leg Deadlift to Lunge
4. Kickback to Hydrant
5. Single-Leg Hip Thruster
This was the week where I really started to feel it. My glutes were so sore after the first day I did this I was waddling around like a penguin. My boyfriend came up the weekend of Week 3 and said my butt looked great (woot woot), so I took that to mean that it was working.
Week 4
The Routine:
1. Weighted Squat with Side Kick
2. Weighted Switch Jump
3. Sumo Squat to Deadlift
4. Weighted Kickback into Hydrant
5. Single Leg Hip Thrust with Raised Heel
The final week arrived, and the #CosmoButtChallenge certainly went out with a bang. I felt like every muscle in my butt was worked this week, and my Week 3 penguin walk became the norm. This week kicked my butt (no pun intended), and I was happy for the challenge to be over.
The Result
This challenge was tough. I found myself working muscles that I hadn't really focused on before, and strengthening ones that I thought I had worked on a a fair amount.
Overall, I feel a lot stronger now that the challenge is over. I feel more confident that I have my yoga butt back, but more importantly, that I feel strength in all of my muscles (not just my butt!). I'm definitely going to be incorporating some of these moves into my regular workout routine.