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By Simon Gould

A good butt has become the latest fashion accessory. For years it's been admired, but recently it's got more attention as stars of the screen flash their's. But how do you improve yours? You can get surgery like a Brazilian butt lift. Or there are less severe solutions to getting the perfect butt, and using a treadmill incline is one of them.

The butt muscles

The butt muscles comprise of the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus. The gluteus maximus is the biggest muscle in the body and forms the main part of the butt. This is the main part you want to train for getting the Kim Kardashian or Nicki Minaj like shape. It's the minimus muscles that create the uplift and a treadmill incline can make these muscles bigger.

A lot of the size can be due to genetics and natural body shape. Some women are born with a larger posterior for their general size, they have that pear shape. However, there's still a lot you can do to enhance what you already have, and the right exercises will help enormously. We're going for the ideal shape that gets noticed.

Exercising also burns fat. This will help reduce any cellulite on the buttocks, I think you'll agree that's a nice side effect. While exercise will burn calories, you don't need to worry about losing your butt. It's genetics that determine how much body fat is allocated to the area. If you're overweight, you butt will sag less if you exercise.

How a treadmill incline helps

By using the incline, you're adding more resistance to your walk. Therefore the muscles get stronger and this strengthening is what produces the appealing shape and uplift. It's the glutes that do most of the work pushing you uphill. You might find it a challenging workout but that's what gets the results. You'll get used to it after a while.

The thing is, it takes more than a few workouts to see results. You need to do the following workouts around 3 or more times per week. If you can do that I can almost guarantee you will see a remarkable improvement in your butt. You should start noticing in around 2 to 3 weeks that your shape is changing for the better.

2 Treadmill incline butt workouts

Now for the workouts, Set the speed to a brisk walk which should be around 3 mph. Swing your arms if you need to and walk in a natural way like you would if you were climbing a steep hill. Don't hold onto the handrails. If it gets too hard then reduce the incline slightly to suit you. Try to follow them as much as you can.

1. Pyramid butt workout

It's called pyramid because it's like walking over one. The incline starts low, gets high in the middle, and ends gently. The actual incline part of the workout is 14 minutes long and you can extend this if you want to. The warm up and cool downs let the body prepare for what's coming and recover when you're done.

• 4 minutes 0% incline warm up
• 2 minutes 2% incline
• 2 mins 4%
• 2 mins 6%
• 2 mins 8%
• 2 mins 6%
• 2 mins 4%
• 2 mins 2%
• 4 minutes 0% incline cool down

2. Interval butt workout

This is taken from the latest high intensity interval training techniques used by many sports people. They do it because it works and we're using it here to get the best butt workout possible. You get high inclines followed by lower ones to recover. It's designed to be tough, especially the 2 minutes at 12%. However, your butt will thank you for it.

• 4 minutes 0% incline warm up
• 2 minutes 4% incline
• 2 mins 2%
• 2 mins 8%
• 2 mins 2%
• 2 mins 12%
• 2 mins 2%
• 2 mins 8%
• 4 minutes 0% incline cool down

Other ways of improving your butt

Short of the risks of cosmetic surgery, there are other ways you can improve your butt. You can try resistance exercises. These can be weight baring, or for better results, use weights. These have a similar effect to a treadmill incline but will make the bum muscles stronger, and therefore bigger. You might need a gym membership for this.

Exercises that do this are squats, dead lifts and lunges. Squats are the best because they target the butt muscles so well. Try adding enough weight so you can just manage 15 repetitions, do this 3 times per workout, 2 workouts per week. You'll be able to increase the weight slightly each week. This will help the shape of your thighs and hips too.

Final thoughts

Treadmill inclines are fantastic at improving the butt. Do everything above and you'll get severe butt envy from everyone, everywhere you go. These workouts are the secrets of the instagram influencers you see with their perfect bodies. A diet alone doesn't help, you need to workout the butt muscles. Only then will you see what a difference it makes.

An exercise plan might be something new to you and take some time to get used to. But there are so many health benefits and you'll feel great. There really is something called a runner's high, the euphoric feeling you get from exercise, and you'll get it from using treadmill inclines too. That, and a great butt shape is a win win.

Thinking of buying a treadmill? Here's my favorite, I always recommend it when asked*