A Workout Question: rollerblading -- why is my butt getting bigger?

To properly answer your question, it would help if you had some comparison pictures. It’s a part of the scientific process of uh…..um…determining the lipid distribution to the epidermal tissue…..yeah.

But….similar to ice skating, all of that work on the legs and glutes will make your butt bigger. There’s a difference between losing weight and gaining muscle.

A two-day shrinking butt? Call Guinness.

I have never heard of water retention in the glutes…

Have you verified this with a tape measure?

How is your posture. If you walk with a sway-back, it will make your rear end stick out.

Lordosis

“I’d work out and 2 days later I would see my butt get drastically smaller. ”

I’d bet it is more a result of posture or something related to how you stand. It appears bigger. It is hard to believe any part of the body would be noticeably resized simply due to a workout. Sure, if you twisted an ankle it will swell up but that is a completely different situation.

Probably a visual illusion or unscientific comparison.

I agree with the other posters, there’s no real way you would have seen a visible difference after each work-out. From your comments (“my butt swelled up for a few days and then melted away magically”), I think you spend way too much time staring at your butt and should just focus on a fitness regime.

I suggest you actually measure rather than go by how it looks.

Your butt is not going to get much bigger or smaller in a couple days, but it will get larger probably within a few weeks of exercise that targets that area. Look at ice skaters and gymnasts, their glutes and legs tend to be thicker than other athletes.

Also, I agree with others, if you are sway back your butt might look exaggerated.

You seem not to understand a lot about your body. Your exercise (good for you!) will not “burst the fat”; your apparent changes in physiology (the shape of your body, in other words) do not happen “magically” or overnight.

If you work out muscles, they will become larger and firmer. The gluteus maximus is one of the largest muscles in your body, and is worked out very much in roller blading. What may appear as a change in “size” of that muscle could actually be just a “toning”. In other words, what may have been a relatively sagging muscle may now be tightening and raising back into the position it was always meant to be in.

Your weight is more or less irrelevant without also knowing your height. In addition to the foregoing, when you lose fat and replace it with muscle your weight may actually increase at times. It’s not at all a bad thing to weigh more if the added weight is muscle tissue.

Keep on working out; it’s good for you. But start reading more about what exercise is doing for you, too. That will help you to enjoy it even more.

I’m going to stop exercising for a while because I DON’T like how this looks. My glutes are very prominent now instead of being flat and it doesn’t look proportionate to my body. I liked when they were flatter as they did not stick out.

I’m going to speak to my Dr. about how to just lose weight and get skinny, maybe I need to diet rather than work out.

I’m just having trouble accepting it.. I used to be a size 6 in pants and now I’m a size 8 and I even fit into a size 10. I used to be tiny and ‘petite.’

@thesparrow “I’m 150 lbs, female” IMO is not tiny and petite. Try swimming or Bikram yoga to lose weight and stay fit and trim

@JLeslie I know, but mine does not look like those ice-skater butts. They have very defined butts that aren’t exactly non-existent but that aren’t too too big either.

http://www.richardlawstock.com/photos-midsize/000317.jpg

See this girl? That’s what you’re referring to, right? I’m not that small yet but the shape is similar.

@Cruiser. Lol I’m referring to when I was in high school.. I used to be about 115 lbs at 5’3. I’m not saying I was less flabby; I may have been even more flabby. But I had a petite girl look. No boobs, no ass.. I guess the media kind of glorifies this look. I kind of miss it but at the same time I would still consider myself attractive now with a little more ‘filling out.’

@thesparrow Some ethnicities/races/cultures are more prone to sway back, larger butts, and other body type distinctions. A lot of the famous ice skaters are eastern European and more likely to naturally have flatter asses, what can I say, but that is only a generalization of course, body types vary. Ballerinas tend to have very straight backs and we are taught to tuck in our asses, while gymnasts and cheerleader are taught to end a routine with back arched and hands up, the exact opposite of ballet. Skating is sort of somewhere in between. I don’t know your body type, but you might easily build up muscle in your lower body. If you are overweight, you might easily hold fat there. I can’t see you, so I habe no idea of course. If you think you are overweight, over fat, then burning calories will help. If you belong to a gym they usually have a service where they measure your fat percentage, which can give you a better idea if you are unsure, what is causing your but to be larger than you prefer. A doctor can give you an opinion about your spine if you are unsure.

@JLeslie I’m actually Eastern European, lol. But since I was little I’ve always had a ‘booty’! Even when I was a little girl I remember never being long and lanky. I’ve been talking to someone who is an expert in fitness and I think this is really just some muscle tearing and swelling. It makes sense for the time after my workouts that it’s happening. I’m going to keep posted here because I have a good feeling about this ‘swelling’ going away.

@thesparrow There you go, the exception that makes the rule. Hahaha. My ass isn’t super flat either and I am easten European, but a lot of the women in my family have that typical flat ass, especially as they age. Go to Boca Raton, FL and look at all the old ladies in the very Jewish communities. Many of them Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Polish.

In FL the flipping manquinns now have swayer (is that a word?) backs and bigger butts now, which I blame on more Latin Americans being in the area, and a cultural shift in general in America towards finding larger butts attractive. I think possibly you might be in fashion, on trend. :) One of the most popular plastic surgeries in Brazil is a butt lift or augmentation. Sherri Sheppard on The View talks about wanting her butt to be bigger all the time.

@thesparrow: I’ve been rollerblading for a while now (about a month) about 3 times a week.

Do you enjoy doing this? If so, why would you want to stop?

I’m going to speak to my Dr. about how to just lose weight and get skinny, maybe I need to diet rather than work out.

Do you really believe that? We have our unique body types; they can be fit and healthy or the opposite.

Do you feel healthy and energetic? How old are you? Stand up straight, hold your stomach in and smile a lot. You will be better looking immediately.

@thesparrow I honestly have never heard of tearing and swelling in the glutes causing someones ass to be larger. If the muscles were torn you would be in a lot of pain.

If you started exercising to lose weight in that area of your body, you can’t spot lose fat. You can spot gain muscle.

@thesparrow I remember when I was taking martial arts and doing Tae Kwon Do that I too got what was affectionately called Taekwondo Butt! All that kicking and in your case rollerblading will muscle up the buttocks giving you that Apolo Anton Ohno posterior to show off.

If you’re working out your glutes, they will get bigger…. as with any muscle.

You can tone your butt, and shrink it to a certain degree, with working out… but eventually you are just going to build muscle and increase it’s size.

And, look at your relatives. Muscle mass and fat accumulation tends to be genetic.

All 4 of my sisters are green with jealousy because I got the butt that runs on my dad’s side of the family. Two of us got the cute nose, but only I got the butt. *starts to sing…. My whipped ice dairy drink brings the attention of many males to my place of residence…...

Your butt muscles will get a little bigger and because the muscle is behind the fat layer that gives the impression of more mass but after the fat has decreased because of the exercise it should appear smaller.

@thesparrow It would be a terrible loss to mankind (at least straight guys) if you stopped working out in order to keep your derriere small and falt. What a terrific waste of potential feminine pulchritude. Not to mention the minor benefits of exercise. It protects you from heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and a whole host of other disorders. If you routinely get a good workout, you’ll live longer on average and feel better. And with your roller-blade routine, you will darn sure LOOK better.

Lol, thanks for all of your responses. My butt does not look bad at all. Whatever I do, even if I work out, I will never have a small butt because that’s what God gave me. I’ll never be fat, either. If I was tall and lanky I’d just look tall and lanky.

@ETpro I do feel better in general working out; I’m very healthy. I drink maybe 2 – 3 times a week but WHATEVER. I work out more than that! I love rollerblading, it makes me feel great and it’s fun as hell. I do 14 – 16 km on every run!

@woodcutter I think so too, it’s happened before. I used to do target exercises for my butt and I would notice it would swell up and then die down after a few days (‘melt’).

@Cruiser Hah.. Dancing With the Stars. Loved him.

I’m with @syz you are spending too much time looking at your own butt. Get out there on your blades, have fun and look at all the other nice butts around you!

@thesparrow Here I am falling in love at my advanced age! :-)

I am dealing with the mental image of a swelling and melting butt, interesting!!! :-)

I have started a running / walking routine on my local trail and I think the soreness I feel in my legs and butt (sorry I keep getting graphic) that I never had with rollerblading means maybe this workout is better for me! I might do the rollerblading once in a while but what I am doing currently is more intense.

@thesparrow – I have been running for almost 40 years now and it is a love/hate relationship. But the fact is I take no meds except the occasional advil, my weight and bmi are both excellent. A lot of days now I do a run walk routine and somedays I run, others I do fartleks. Whatever I feel like. I am not in training for anything, just like to keep healthy and lean. So I think if you find it more fun or more productive than blading, that is fine. (There are plenty of cute guys with nice butts out there running too!)

@rooeytoo There are wonderful guys running, LOL. I know this. It’s really slow. The process is really at a stand-still right now. I find on the days when I don’t do any cardio I get really down and I feel fat / bloated. I only feel good when I’m doing cardio. And I haven’t dropped any weight.

Don’t worry too much about the scale, watch the way your clothes fit, when you get going, they will fit differently because you are losing fat but gaining muscle so the scale does not record it. And I am a firm believer in not setting unrealistic goals, they tend to defeat you before you get out the door, so you don’t go at all. Instead go out giving yourself permission to listen to your body, when it says, walk and rest for a couple of minutes, do it! Then you will look forward to your outings, stick with them and get healthy and fit! Check out www.runnersworld.com they have all sorts of good motivational ideas, workouts, diets, recipes, etc. And remember just the fact that you are getting out the door puts you a long way in front of most!

@rooeytoo Thanks, great words of encouragement! :) Yes, my clothes do fit a little differently. Not in a good or bad way—just neutral. A lot of people have told me the same, not to look at the scale. I am going to stick with it. I haven’t made any major lifestyle changes.. that could be a problem. I don’t eat salad and fruit all day :p

I think I lost some weight! Sorry for the update.. it seems rather self-obsessed. My original post was made about 2 weeks ago though. It would make sense that I’d lose since then.

Keep going!!

Ya, I’m going! I don’t want to gain it all back!

If I think I’m correct (because my scale isn’t) I’ve lost 1 or 2 lbs judging from how I feel in my clothes.

@thesparrow; To quote a wise young woman, ”. it seems rather self-obsessed.”

Try to keep a balanced outlook…

And to quote someone almost as wise, “Do you feel healthy and energetic? How old are you? Stand up straight, hold your stomach in and smile a lot. You will be better looking immediately.”

It’s a beautiful day. Grab an apple and a water bottle and go outside and do what feels wonderful. Roller blade, jog, walk, play hopscotch, jump rope, sit on a bench and admire the surroundings, go to a museum, botanical garden, café, phone a friend, write to your mom, and donate the scale to the neighborhood middle school.

@gailcalled It does seem rather self-obsessed to be constantly on about your weight. Luckily, my other half does not listen to this; I’m not dumb enough to complain about my weight around him. ;D Quite the opposite.. I often ask if I haven’t lost too many of my ‘ass-ets.’

@thesparrow: Take your “other half” (who sounds lovely, btw, outside and seize this day.

I think it is better to be a bit obsessed with your weight than to wait until you are way overweight and then suddenly realize you are not healthy. Better to develop a lifestyle that supports a healthy weight maintenance program and stick to it!

You should roller derby. That would kick butt. Now there’s a workout with a cult following!

Those roller derby women can be frightening!!! But it is fun to watch.

People take their roller derby seriously. Like WWF of skating only not boring.

Lol Roller Derby is awesome. I’m not into the full contact aspect of it, but my friend and I were thinking about just putting on the outfits and rolling around in our neighborhood :p

As of now I feel really good. I’m maintaining 1 – 1:30 hrs of cardio 3 – 4 times a week (sometimes I’ll do 2 hrs); my weight still somewhat fluctuates (I feel bigger on the days I’m not working out) but even at its worst I think it doesn’t compare to what I weighed before. All of my pants feel loose, and I don’t feel I have a huge ‘rump’ anymore. :) Thanks for all of your support, guys.