This pose helps to tighten the most problematic areas. My buttocks were so flat and flabby that I didn’t know if I would ever be able to give them a good shape. But this exercise really helped.
Starting pose: Get down on the floor, leaning on your hands and knees. Now get down on your elbows. Stretch your leg straight behind you without bending your knee, your toes pointing down and resting on the floor. The weight should be on your elbows and your arms, which are directly in front of you, palms down. Your head is up and you are looking straight ahead. Perform the entire five-stage breathing exercise: exhale, inhale, exhale powerfully, hold your breath, lower your head, pull your stomach in. Pulling in the stomach, hold it and take the main pose.

Basic pose: lift the straight leg laid back as high as you can, the toe is still towards you. Imagine that all your wealth is between your buttocks, and squeeze them so as to create tension in the gluteus maximus muscle. Hold the position and breath and contract, contract, contract for 8 counts. Release your breath and lower your leg. Do the exercise three times with one leg and three times with the other.

Do’s and Don’ts

• Do not pull your socks up during this exercise. This will change the path of the blood (which carries fat-burning oxygen) and send it to the calf area. And now we need to work not on the calves, but on the gluteus maximus muscles. Your socks should always be turned towards you.

• Keep your leg perfectly straight. Don’t let your knee bend. This helps to create tension in the gluteal muscles.

• Never do this exercise unless your elbows are on the floor. If you do it on your hands and knees, you may injure your back.

• As with all of the following exercises, don’t waste valuable time getting into the right posture after pulling in your belly. The countdown starts only when you take the main pose. Take the main pose after pulling in the abdomen quickly.