Women store fat in their hips and thighs, it’s Nature’s way. If you are relatively inactive, you may also have an underdeveloped area just below your but where your hamstring meets your glutes. This soft and fat “glute-hamstring tie-in” is what many people refer to as “saddlebags.”
The best solution for saddlebags and the accompanying cellulite is overall body fat reduction and to strengthen and tone the muscles of this glute-hamstring region.
1. Lose the fat
The first step is to first reduce or lose the layer of body fat that covers your body just below the skin. Increase your aerobic activity and reduce the calories you consume in order to create a calorie deficit and lose weight and fat daily.
How to lose fat quickly:
2. Walk Briskly
Brisk walking is an excellent place to start exercising as it burns 300 plus calories per hour and trims and tones your thighs as you burn calories. Increasing the pace and walking quickly will increase your oxygen demand which in turn burns more calories and body fat. Eventually you will want to transition into jogging which will burn more calories in a shorter time.
3. Climb the stairs
If you need a destination for your run or walk, head to the nearest stadium or parking garage with a stairway as stair climbing is an excellent exercise the targets your glutes and hamstrings. Climb the stairs one at a time, jog down the stairs and repeat. Now try taking the stairs two steps at a time, or even three at a time. Repeat until you run out of time or energy. As you become more fit, start running up the stairs and jog back down and repeat.
4. Step Ups
If there are no stairs available, find a moderately high and sturdy bench or similar platform and step up with your left foot, then your right. Once there, step down with one foot, then the other. The sequence should be up, up, down, down and repeat. To make this more difficult and effective, increase your speed or the height of the platform. Rather than counting repetitions, note the time you were able to continue your step ups and work toward increasing this time each session.
5. Sumo Squats
Sumo squats and plie squats shift the focus of squatting to the inner thigh adductors, the muscles that pull your legs in toward your body, and your glutes. To start, place your feet much wider than shoulder or hip width and turn your feet so that your toes are pointed outward. If you took ballet lessons as a child, this is known as “first position”. Place your hands on your hips or cross them across your chest and squat down as though you are sitting in a low chair behind you. Squat slowly as low as you can comfortably go and then push upward and return to the upright position. Pausing at the top and bottom of the movement and squeezing your buttocks (clenching) will make this a more effective glute (butt) exercise.
