** the post below was requested by online personal training site Wello.co

Build a Beach-Volley Butt

Building a beach volleyball butt takes time and effort, much like any other fitness/shape goal. But an easy way to get that toned, yet plush tush, is to do hip/leg movements performed by real deal beach volleyball players.

These athletes are typically in a semi-squatted position (aka “athletic-ready” stance), prepared to run, lunge, shuffle, walk back, dive into the sand, or even jump up; all in attempt to return the ball back to the opponent’s side of the net within 3 hits among the team’s players.

One exercise that is a SURE-FIRE builder of a beach-volleyball butt is the body-weight lateral lunge (aka frontal plane lunges). This works key hip, glute, and leg muscles required to both decelerate one’s body weight into the lunge and re-accelerate said weight back into a standing position. Expect to feel your hamstrings and deep glutes the most, with this exercise.

At home, readers can start a modified and easier version of the lateral lunge by performing a wide-stance lateral sit. Here’s how to do it:

• Stand in front of a mirror with feet wider than your shoulders, or at least 3 feet apart.
• Place your hands on your hips, making sure your index finger is at the top of your hip crease, so you’re sure that as you sit to one side, that you’re hinging from the hip vs the spine.
• Gradually sit to your right hip/butt by pushing your right hip diagonally back, while bending your right knee, keeping your left leg straight, and keeping your chest above your waist.
• Sit as low as you comfortably can to the right, going no deeper than a 90-degree bend in your knee. Make sure that you feel most of your body weight directed toward your right butt cheek and leg, that you’re able to keep your core engaged (i.e. not drawn in, but activated, as though you were bracing your gut to protect it from a punch), and that you feel no strain in your right knee or your low back.
• From that lowest position, drive your right heel and foot into the ground to push your leg back straight into the starting position. That makes one repetition on the right leg.

From here, you can do another 9 to 14 reps on that right leg, then move on to the left.Or, you can alternate right leg and left leg, until one or both fatigue. Don’t feel bad if you can only do less than 10, muscle fatigue is muscle fatigue, and you will benefit nonetheless.

That said, if you’re easily able to do 15 reps on each leg, and think that your technique is spot-on, it’s probably time to do the actual lateral lunge, where from a feet-together, standing position, you step one leg out 3 feet and sit into that leg/hip as described above.

You’ll need more energy/effort to decelerate, then stop in the lunged position, and then re-accelerate and push your leg back into feet-together standing. If you’ve never done a movement like this before, chances are, your glutes and legs will feel it up to 2 days after even just 1 set of this exercise.

This move doesn’t just help beach volleyball players get “VolleyButt”, it actually makes them very effective and efficient in returning a ball that’s spiked down a few feet away from them laterally. And that’s why it’s a great exercise: it’s a functional, athletic movement that helps build the look of a beach volleyball butt.

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