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Is a spreading and dropping backside an inevitability of middle age?

94 replies

BigButtons · 11/03/2021 18:59

I am slim, 53, I exercise- a mixture of running, hiit, yoga, weights, I watch what I eat, yet I’ve noticed my backside is drooping by no matter what I try. Is this it now?
There must be something that helps surely?

OP posts:
dudsville · 11/03/2021 22:51

You don't spend your life looking 20 then bang, at 80 find your ass has dropped! But yes, squats! There's also a nice 5 minute butt and thigh video by someone called "sweat" something, American lady, blond, it's a good little routine, easy to fit in, I add squats and butt kicks and what I call "step ups" - using the bottom step as an exercise base.

Alternista · 11/03/2021 23:18

I don’t even really understand what a flat bum IS.

RampantIvy · 11/03/2021 23:38

What are hip thrusts?

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PickAChew · 11/03/2021 23:42

I'd like mine to spread a bit. It just vanished when I had my eldest, 17 years ago.

ElizaLaLa · 11/03/2021 23:51

@Alternista

I don’t even really understand what a flat bum IS.
Really? You have no idea? You couldn't guess? At all?

🙄

WaverleyPirate · 11/03/2021 23:55

Cycling. Works wonders.

alexdgr8 · 11/03/2021 23:57

of course it is inevitable, also caused by child-birth.
why does it matter.
that's life. just live your life in the present moment.
we are all mortal, to pretend otherwise is folly, self-delusion.
make the most of your life.
concentrate on what matters, and if you think that is the shape of your bottom, or of anyone else's, you need to get a life, as the yoof say.

Cinderstella · 12/03/2021 00:15

Hi OP, no it’s not inevitable. I’m older than you and it’s not happened yet. I used to have a job that required me to run up and down 3 or 4 flights of stairs every hour to collect pupils and that really kept my rear firm. Since I have retired I use my house stairs in the same way and all is still good so far, fingers crossed.

LunaHeather · 12/03/2021 00:17

2020 "Cardio is a bit of a killer for muscle growth especially steady state cardio,"

Sorry, what do you mean by this please?

PrintempsAhoy · 12/03/2021 06:58

It seems to just be a fact of life

I have a friend who is really skinny and runs every day and she has it too

So not sure what the solution is

cherrytree63 · 12/03/2021 07:06

I'm joining in the chorus of "what are hip thrusts?" please?

lurkingfromhome · 12/03/2021 07:53

I don't have the wide and drooping middle-aged bum but I definitely have a bit of a flat middle-aged bum. It has definitely lost its pert roundness. I wonder if it depends on where you tend to carry weight. Mine is all on my waist and stomach but I have relatively slim hips so I think bum just tends to flatten. I do a lot of running but that doesn't change very much, really.

I think squats do help but you probably have to do 50 million of them every day before it has a really obvious benefit. God, how I hate squats.

BigButtons · 12/03/2021 08:03

Thanks to everyone for ideas and thoughts.
There was that sally up/ down thing wasn’t there which was a punishing squat routine.
I will look up flute routines and try and fit them in.
God the older you get the more time consuming it all is and the harder it is to see results.
I am in an active job ( school) so at least that helps.

OP posts:
LittlestBoho · 12/03/2021 08:06

HIP THRUSTS
They are the exercise in the second slide With a heavy bar across the hips. This trainer on Instagram has millions of exercises you can do at home to fight arse gravity.

Bilingualspingual · 12/03/2021 08:31

Strength in your glutes and your thighs is incredibly important as you age to keep you moving, active and strong. It’s not all vanity, naysayers!

RampantIvy · 12/03/2021 08:37

I agree @Bilingualspingual. It was pretty obvious when my late MIL's thigh strength was going. She found steps difficult, stairs impossible and getting out of chairs hard. I do a lot of core and glute exercises in pilates.

Blobby10 · 12/03/2021 08:39

I had a lovely pert bum last summer when I was cycling 150 miles a week - now its flat and droopy, mainly because I'm sitting on it far too much Sad. Hoping to get back to cycling once the clocks change and weather improves (slightly!).

Popsy321 · 12/03/2021 08:41

Yep, mine isn't looking too hot at 49. Also and dear lord how I hate to admit this even to myself, let alone a bunch of strangers on the internet but I've also developed a tiny bit of slack skin, right where the bum cheek meets the thigh. 70 year old bums have saggy skin as well as no bumph in them and I can see the start of it in mine 🙈 Reformer Pilates is fantastic for it but you have to go hard n heavy to get results.

picklemewalnuts · 12/03/2021 08:41

@LittlestBoho thanks for the link- I think that would kill me though. My lower back wouldn't cope with any of those.

I'll stick to deepening my stance in Tai Chi, to up the strength work. Can't injure myself that way!

Toilenstripes · 12/03/2021 08:42

I wear skirts and dresses. My bum has always been flat and wide, like my dad’s. 😬

LaurieFairyCake · 12/03/2021 08:50

Oh god I'm going to have to put up with a really flat arse then - I can't do any of the exercises discussed Sad because of my awful knee/hip arthritis

Fucks sake

Letsplough · 12/03/2021 09:21

Thanks LittlestBoho
But WTF, I couldn't do that in my 20s let alone now Confused

SheldonesqueIsUnwell · 12/03/2021 09:30

Hip thrusts look un-doable for me.

Flat and fat arse remains. Blush

Milomonster · 12/03/2021 09:55

I did a lot of yoga pre-lockdown and it just firmed my flat arse rather than give it a nice round shape. I’m thin anyway. But the sag and squareness since lockdown is real. I’m 44. Doesn’t help that I have to have surgery on the day gyms open, which means a personal lockdown for a few more weeks.

ShirleyPhallus · 12/03/2021 10:08

[quote picklemewalnuts]@LittlestBoho thanks for the link- I think that would kill me though. My lower back wouldn't cope with any of those.

I'll stick to deepening my stance in Tai Chi, to up the strength work. Can't injure myself that way![/quote]
Not to be a total bore, but if you have weak glutes it’s likely to be part of the reason for having lower back pain

The sedentary lifestyle most people have of sitting at desks all the time means many people have weak glutes and short hip flexors which leads to lower back pain. Many of these people also have weak cores too.

Having a flat bum isn’t just to do with vanity, but if your glutes aren’t firing properly you’ll have muscular imbalances and be relying on other muscles to do the job of the glutes.

Poster upthread who said cardio being bad is correct. especially things like cycling where you’re still sitting which encourages short hip flexors, and running too. They’re calorie burning but not muscle building.

For muscle building you need to be lifting weights, or doing body weight exercises to start. Doing shallow squats that so many people do will do nothing as so many people do squats using their quads and not their glutes. You need to be doing exercises to fire up the glutes first - clams, donkey kicks, crab walks etc and then lifting heavier weights. You also need to strengthen your core too.

And lastly check your posture, as lots of flat bum comes from tilting your pelvis under which makes the glutes lazy and your core stick out (looking like you have a gut)