Got Facebook and I see a butt being displayed in a picture...
 

... then I realize, it's MY butt. :o I totally wouldn't recognize me from behind - at all. It only caught my attention that it MUST be me in the photo because of the caption of the photo... celebrating Raven's win in a bodypump class. Holy crud. That was my class and that is my butt smack dab in the middle of the shot!:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:

First thought, "My butt!!!" Second thought, "I look that good?" :o In my head I still look freaking huge and if I don't look huge with my butt sticking back in a full squat, then I must not be huge! :p (well, OK, it's big, but it doesn't look like a tub of lard big). Seriously... if this is my 25 pounds over my goal weight, I think I will look GREAT at 160. :^::^::^:

My husband is in the shot too - look for the bald head in the yellow shirt. :)

A couple who squat together, stay together? :D

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g8...psb5e3ce06.jpg

Love it! You look great!!!!

You look amazing!

Umm, i don't even think you need to lose 25 more lbs!! BUT.. if i've learned anything on this forum it's to shut my mouth, lol!

Be proud! Be very proud--and enjoy where you are now!

Haha! Nice and round ;)

Way to pump the iron!

Looking great! Keep at it!

You look great!

Thank you! It is kind of odd to see myself that way, but it at least makes me look strong!

Ah thanks...

You know... I've been toying with my end goal weight and with a few things happening recently, I think I am going to change my goal weight. I am going to make it 175, but anything lower than that will be icing (I got to 165 this summer for about a second and a half with a lot of HARD work).

My friend said it make me look like a bad a$$... better than a fat one! And I see I have a nice deep squat going on too. And yes.. you can see MUSCLE... not flab.

Thanks - I do! twice a week I lift weights - having to take a week or so off with the knee injury (hamstring tendonitis), but going on 2 years of lifting!

Thanks!

Loved this post and loved the title...I didn't know where it was going!

You and your husband are amazing, I couldn't picture lifting like that! Your body looks solid, I agree with the above comment that I can't see you having much more to lose. You look great, thanks for sharing with us!

Your butt looks great, Legs too. Not to big, no lard great job, imagine how good it will look at goal. I had my hubby take some pictures of me the other day for when I write my goal post. He snapped some of my butt and said can't help it, it looks good. I don't have much butt, but it's looking better.

I used to be solid flab. Well, not quite true. I've always been strong - or had the ability to be strong. And I had a FLAT butt (no muscle). Well, nearly 2 years of lifting weights and I have a nice bottom! (or at least much nicer than it ever has been). Hubby too - his was always flat and now he has a really nice tushie. I love that we lift together in class - what a great way to spend together while doing something good for our health.

So glad that your husband can appreciate the hard work you've put into your body!

And at goal, I'll just be a smaller version of the above.

Great pic!
I envy your butt :-)

That's great! Congratulations!

I'll tread carefully here since I've had posts deleted for crossing a line* in the past ... so I'll just say ... lookin good :D

However, I also am wondering about your form. It's very tough to tell from a still shot and single angle but it looks to me like your squat form could be improved a bit. With this light weight it doesn't really matter but form is form ...

Your back is flat an not rounded - which is good - but you also are bent over pretty far which turns a squat into more of a "good morning" exercise. Could just be this rep but this puts a lot more strain on your lower back than a squat should and works your legs less than a squat should. Your husband has a more correct angle for a squat.

Second, you may not be at max depth in this shot but if this is max depth you should go lower. It will work your glutes more and put less pressure on your knees.

*I'm breaking the rules to even mention this but I've noticed there is a big difference between what a woman can say to a woman and what a man can say to a woman in regards to how they look. What If I'm not straight? What if the woman giving the compliment is not straight? Double standard but that's just the way it goes I suppose.

No, John I appreciate it.

I've worked A LOT on my form, but I simple cannot straighten more on a squat. I've tried... My husband and I were just talking about it (and it does mention how it can be quite variable for women in NR for Women). I am not bending at the waist, but I do lean further ahead than is ideal, but despite working with a personal trainer and working and working, I cannot force myself more upright. I wish I knew why that is? I'm also REALLLLLY tight in the hamstrings. I just and I mean JUST got to being able to touch my toes this past week. After months of working on stretching. When I started I was bout 6" from my toes.

And in the class they are very specific about not going below knee level when squatting - again, I don't know why (and these are wide stance squats). Something about protecting the knees, yet I know that isn't true. However, if I were to go against the rules in the class, I would be called out - every time. And this class is a high rep class. We do squats (singles, down two- up two, down 4, hold 4, etc) for 4 minutes which is why my weights aren't high, though, besides the instructor, I have the most weight on the bar (for a woman - only other person with more is my husband). Not ideal, but it's worked for me (until this new hamstring tendonitis I got the last couple weeks and REALLLLLY aggravated it in that class last Wed. - but during another exercise).

That anyone would say that to me - EVER is unbelievable. I had the large flat butt - always. No shape. No roundness. No NOTHING.

What changed it? Exercise - Step aerobics and other aerobics and tons and tons and tons of squats and lunges and whatever other weight training that works the butt and quads and hamstrings over the last two years. Faster results probably could have been done, but my backend has definitely never looked better in my lifetime. Those butt muscles are where the power is!

Ahhh I was wondering if it might be a flexibility issue ... I can relate.

I had a terrible time with flexibility until I learned how to stretch.

You look great and very fit on this photo plus working out with your husband is a big win. I really enjoyed my body pump lessons as I remember leaving the room with a great feeling from working my whole body and I definitely prefer working out in group lessons. I have to stop doing those lessons as I hurted my knee, I broke my ACL. If you are having problems with your hamstring just be really careful because with those many repetitions if you lose your attention just one second you can injure yourself.

Regarding form I'm no expert and it is very difficult with just this picture but the thing that catches my eye is the position of the bar in your shoulders. You are doing what they call a high bar squat. This article summarize the differences between low bar and high bar: http://70sbig.com/blog/2012/01/low-b...bar-squatting/ You can try to experiment with these two positions so you can see if you are more confortable with one or another.

The other thing is the depth of the squat. If they tell you that this is fine for that lesson then go ahead but I would look what some other bodybuilders say or ask your PT if this is fine just to make sure you are doing it right. There are exercises to try to improve the depth of the squat or your position being more forward or high. There are two good ones that I recall now, a wall squat so you get to see how to stay straight in the squat and there is one I love which is called a monkey squat or third world squat where you just have to do a full squat with your knees to the outside and just hold the position working on improving your time. At the beginning you will probably have to hold to something to get to that position confortably. I like to do monkey squats whenever I'm on the phone, watching TV or folding clothes.

One last thing is I would recommend you to look into mobility exercises www.mobilitywod.com and foam rolling. I have a rumble roller and it does wonders for my tight hamstrings and calves one of the reasons I hurted my knee. Besides be careful with static stretching if you are hypermobile, I just read this article and that can apply to people with tendency to injure joints: http://www.ericcressey.com/15-static...ching-mistakes

LOL yep, lookin' good!

Thanks you two. I need to concentrate more on my stretch. I have always been so unbelievably tight. I work on it a bit, but not as much as I should and I do worry about injuring myself because of it.

My husband and I have read the New Rules books and own them. And we want to progress from the BodyPump classes to the free weights, but we haven't done it. The class is just so convenient because it's a set time and day and the routine is done - all thinking is done for you. But we should move on to what we know is better exercise and we could still do it together - which is a bonus.

You are truly an inspiration to me!! I was JUST eyeballing my rear in the mirror yesterday and am totally disgusted!

You look amazing!! I envy how far you've come, and how great you look! Be proud!!

Great job and congrats on working out with your hubby! That is a wonderful treat in itself!