That's Fit

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hey Fitz. Yesterday I did two classes in a row - Cardio sculpt and Extreme training, which are both really tough. Two days before that I ran three miles to the gym, did a class and ran three miles home. For the first time in a long time I did not enjoy the exercise one bit. I have been exercising regularly for a long time now - usually I love it. I have been practicing good nutrition habits with the occasional sweet tooth fix, drinking lots of water and STILL the number on the scale is staying the same. I feel like I am on the verge of burning out. I can't seem to lose the flab around my tummy - particularly under my belly button and backs of my thighs, no matter what I do. Plus, short of starving myself and getting very cranky, I don't know how to actually lose the weight. Funny how a number on a machine, the scale, can be so vital to my state of mind. It's ridiculous, really. PLEASE - do you have any advice? Cindy

A. Whoa there Cindy! You need a break! Sounds odd for me to say this, but put your sneakers away and sit the heck down! Fitness is not supposed to make us insane, fitness is supposed to help us maintain our sanity. You are burnt out to the max, and need to just let it go for a while. I'm not suggesting forever, but take at least a week off. I know what you're going through. You already have an elite fitness level, but particular parts of your body are just not responding the way you want them to. You have incredibly high standards for your body. That often leads to frustration. Especially when you're 'starving' and running a million miles a week!

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hey Fitz. I'm heading out for a week's vacation on a cruise ship next month, and worried that once again I'll gain almost ten pounds while gone. That's what I've done the last few times I've gone on a cruise. How can I get around it? There is awesome food everywhere! Susan.

A. Susan, Susan, Susan. I'm shaking my head. The deal with vacations, cruises especially, is that they're a time for you to relax, get away from the daily grind and have some fun. Pigging out and gorging are simply not what you should be focusing on...wherever you are! Yes, there is a lot of tasty food on cruise ships. There is also a lot of yummy things available at your local grocery store every single day! That doesn't' mean you should run through the aisles like a lunatic shoving everything you can get your hands on into your mouth. Just because food is THERE, just because food is FREE, doesn't mean you have to eat it.

What to know just how perfect your butt is? I don't. But for those who are curious, there's an actual formula for grading the female derriere.

Developed by Dr. David Holmes, a psychology lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, and his team of British academics, this mathematical -- but also pretty subjective -- formula will tell you exactly how flawless your bum really is. It goes like this: (S+C) x (B+F) / (T-V). It's not as hard as it looks.

Translation: First, a woman must assess her assets on a scale of 1 to 20 (1 is worst; 20 is best) in the following categories.

S = overall shape (a ripe peach being just about right)
C = circularity (rounder is better)
B = bounciness (less wobble is preferred)
F = firmness (too much push to that cushion loses points)
T = skin texture (no cellulite, please)

Then she must calculate V, which is the ratio of her hips to waist. Then she simply does the math and determines how close she is to 80 -- a perfect score.

I'm not sure this little math problem does much for the scientific community. But it could be useful for comparison purposes if you're in the market for fine-tuning your physique. So if you need a little motivation -- perhaps you're a 60 and want to upgrade to a 70 -- this might do it for you.

This week, I'm going to talk about something controversial: Butts. Everyone has one, and they vary from person to person -- some are small, some are large, some are extra, extra large. Some are flat, some are round and ... well, you get the picture. And when it comes to butts, some think that bigger is better (Sir Mixalot is one obvious example) -- some even get butt implants to fill out their derriere. Me, I don't know if I'm in the 'bigger is better' school of thought, but I do think that a toned bum is the way to go.

So, in honour of making your backside look as good as it possibly can in that Christmas dress, here are a few ways to shape up your tush.

Since I began writing for That's Fit I've learned about some seriously wild and wacky health and beauty products but the absolute best one that I've come across is the "butt facial". The procedure, which is exactly what it sounds like -- a facial for your butt -- is all the rage at a number of spas across the US.

Going for anywhere from around a hundred dollars to as much as nearly a thousand, clients get their bums scrubbed, polished, bronzed and more, in order to get the best posterior possible. It's mostly women who are are shelling out the big bucks for the procedure, which is meant to make your bum look tighter and smoother.

I think my favorite part is that it's still referred to as a facial, albeit a "butt facial". I think "buttcial" or "bumcial" would be more appropriate. Either way, I know I love getting facials (on my face), so I admit that if I had the cash I'd give a buttcial a try. Would you?

While a lot of stars have bodies that the rest of us can only dream about, they're not all cut from the same cloth. Female celebrities have different body shapes just like the rest of us -- I guess they just know how to work with what they've got.

This set of pictures divides some of today's most famous stars -- with the most-envied bodies -- into three shape categories: The pear, the hour glass and the ruler. According to the text, pear-shaped women are smaller on top (breasts and shoulders) and larger through the bum and thighs. Examples given include Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom are known for their "bootylicious" butts.

Considered by many to be an "ideal" female body shape, women with an hour glass figure tend to have larger breasts and hips with a small waist. Often recognized for their sexy curves, Scarlett Johansson and Salma Hayek fit into this category. Often envied by those of us who wish we could eat ice cream and chocolate without putting on weight, women boasting a ruler shape are long and lean. Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley both sport this body type.

So where do you fit in? Which celeb's body most closely resembles yours?

We'll get plastic surgery to shape our face, our breasts, our stomach, our ... um .... ladyparts, so why not our butts too? The Brazilian Butt Lift is a plastic surgery procedure designed to give you a designer derriere. How does it work? By grafting fat from your thighs, stomach and lower back and strategically inject it into parts of your tush to give you the desired shape. And while I supposed this is the desired effect for some people, the last thing I need on my butt is more fat.

Interested in having a designer tush? It'll set you back about $15,000. And maybe it's just me, but with results like this, I can't really see it being worth it. Would you ever get it done?

I think the butt is the single most famously fat body part. There are songs about it, and cliches and jokes about it, and so many workouts and exercise moves to optimize it it's ridiculous. So are you currently happy with your butt? Do you think you have the best butt you can have? I'm sure most of us are answering NO to that question, but eDiets thinks they can help -- they claim to have the "world's best" butt workout.

It seems to be a pretty comprehensive and well-rounded plan, focusing not only on tailored exercise moves but also a healthy diet and regular cardio. As for it being the world's best? I think the world has more important things to vote on.

Your gluteous maximus, a.k.a. your butt, is one of the biggest muscles in your body and also one of the most visible, so it's no wonder we all try so hard to firm it up and avoid that 'gelatinous jiggle' we all fear like the plague. But what many of the bum-firming workouts you've tried in the past might have failed to address is all the surrounding support muscles -- your backside may be big but it doesn't work alone!

Women's Health has compiled a 2 phase exercise plan that will surely whip your 'b-side' into shape by not only attacking the jiggles directly, but by strengthening some of the 'support staff' as well.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz. I am a 23-year-old female and I struggle with my legs. My issue is the upper area: thighs, hamstrings and glutes. I have a desk job and sit most of the day, but I go to the gym every evening right after work. I read tons about fitness and have tried everything. It just seems as though my glutes and thighs never tone. I do cardio (run & elliptical) three days a week and I weight train two days a week alternating muscles groups: upper body with lower body. I eat well, five small healthy meals a day. Please help. Jasmine

A. Hey Jasmine. Sorry you're struggling. Sounds like you're on the right track, but we can change things up a bit to get you closer to where you'd like to be physically. First of all, I'd like to change the type of cardio you're doing. I absolutely love running and the elliptical trainer, but those activities don't really make the best use of the power in your glutes and thighs. Start engaging in activities that take your legs through a large range of motion and utilize their power. Kickboxing, climbing stadium bleachers, and mountain biking are great choices. These activities require you to lift your legs, extend/flex at the hips and knees and create both endurance and strength in the areas your eager to enhance. Make sense? This way you'll be burning major calories and creating strong hard thigh muscles simultaneously.

Continue a well rounded strength training routine, but add some extra moves to target those glutes and thighs. Walking lunges and squat jumps (squat real low, jump real high) are my favorites. Make these changes, Jasmine, and you'll start seeing the results you've been dreaming about. Keep me posted!

A friend of a friend recently confessed that she thought I had a nice butt. I was overjoyed but also shocked. I've received my share of compliments in my time, but that's one I have never heard. Maybe those hours on the elliptical trainer really are paying off! But I'm still not convinced that my backside is comparable to J.Lo's.

I suspect I'm not alone in my dissatisfaction with my derriere. Many people want a more shapely backside and the good news is, it's totally achievable with these simple exercises. Squats, lunges, bridge pose -- these are all exercises that you can do in your spare time, either at the gym or at home, that will sculpt your rear and make you want to get out there and strut your stuff in your best pair of jeans.