Does Exercising Backwards Give Your Butt a Better Workout?

Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and author of 12 fitness bestsellers. She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider. You can also follow her on Twitter @lizzyfit.

Does exercising backwards give you a better butt workout? – Arlene Burger - NY

Photo: surfergirl143, Flickr

When I go to the gym I always see a few people turned around on the stair climbers and elliptical trainers, furiously stepping away. I catch a couple more people attempting to walk and jog backward on the treadmill. And when I go to the park, I occasionally notice people turned around walking and jogging backwards.

Backwards exercising – or "retro" exercising as trendy fitness buffs call it -- has always attracted a small but fun-loving crowd. There's an annual backwards mile in Central Park here in New York every April Fool's Day, and there are several runners from Italy who continually trade the title of World's Fastest Backward Runner um ... back and forth. But in the past decade, exercising in reverse has shifted into high gear thanks to the popularity of machines like elliptical trainers, stair climbers and spinning bikes that allow you to move both backwards and forwards.

I have wondered myself if all this reverse physiology is safe and effective or just another gimmicky fitness fad. Computer analysis indicates that the quadriceps muscles in the front of the thigh are doing most of the work during backwards stair climbing, walking and running, while the buttocks and the hamstrings (located in back of the thigh muscles) are virtually taken out of the equation.

Walking, running and stair climbing backwards are also not great for the lower back because your posture and body alignment are thrown out of whack. Just picture someone running backwards, and you'll see what I mean: Her body is slightly twisted so she can see where she is going, and she's usually way up on her toes which takes even more work away from the buttocks and the hips. A better, safer way to tone the buttocks would be to walk forward -- over to the weight room and do some strengthening exercises like squats, lunges and leg presses which specifically target that area.

Retro-cycling (pedaling backwards on an exercise bicycle) may even be dangerous. The manufacturers of Spinning bikes, a brand of indoor studio cycles, don't recommend it because of the injury potential. A rep told me that the toe clips are designed to keep your feet firmly anchored in the pedals but they only work when pedaling forward. Backpedaling increases the risk of the feet disengaging and the pedalcrank cranking you in the shins. This same bike maker was so alarmed by the number of bloodied and bruised ankles caused in this manner that they released written statements warning instructors to cease the practice. They told them in the letter that backwards pedaling was unsafe and has no place in indoor cycling classes.

As for elliptical motion trainers: There's also no proof that pedaling in the reverse direction is any more beneficial than going forward. A representative from Precor, one of the companies that sells a brand of elliptical trainers, explained to me that the option to stride backwards is a byproduct of the belt drive mechanism design rather than something engineered intentionally.

In terms of calorie burn, retro exercising can put you ahead of the game in certain circumstances. There hasn't been much study in this area, but I was able to dig up a 1995 Texas Tech University study that found walking backwards at a 16-minute-per-mile pace elicited higher heart rates and burned more calories than regular jogging at a faster pace. But will you really burn more calories working out in backwards mode? Here's my opinion: Since you don't have eyes in back of your head, it's an awkward way to move. You can't keep it up for long periods of time without feeling tired and frustrated so you're more likely to do shorter, less effective workouts.

So my advice to all you backwards-moving exercisers out there? Turn your exercise program around. Keep moving forward.

Any retro exercisers out there who wish to weigh in? Email or tweet me. I'm interested to know if it works for you.