Joanna McLeod has been using the butt lift workout for about a month. SHYLO THOMPSON PHOTO

The latest fitness craze to promise users derrières that rival those of supermodels sounds like plastic surgery, but costs and hurts less than its name implies.

Provided by the exercise infomercial powerhouse Beach Body—which was responsible for previous fitness fads such as Zumba and P90X—the Brazilian Butt Lift’s website promises to sculpt and tone to, “Help you look divine from behind.”  The science behind the program incorporates various lunges and squats to work your bum’s three major muscles: the gluteus minimus, maximus and medius.

Available on DVDs, the Butt Lift program seems to cater to the needs of those who require results without the necessary commute time to and from the gym. Joanna McLeod has been using the system for the past month and appreciates the fact that she can tone her behind at any time of the day. As a busy student at the University of Calgary, McLeod admitted that she doesn’t, “Have two hours in my day to get myself to the gym. I love working out at home.”

During the past month, McLeod has seen some improvement in the size of her hindquarters, but has admitted that her progress has not been painless.

“During the workout, I want to kill him [Leandro Carvalho, the DVDs’ on-screen trainer] because it’s painful and I want it to be over,” McLeod said. “But afterwards, it’s OK. No pain, no gain, right?”

The program’s strenuous regimen provides training schedules that are tailored to the user’s specific body type, which can be found in the provided ‘Booty Blueprint’ booklet.

From a professional viewpoint, Peak Power Development personal trainer Shawn Preston speculated that the Brazilian Butt Lift regimen would work because, “People don’t use their glutes well and their muscles are non-existent. The glutes are the single largest muscles in the body and if we get our glutes strong, we’re going to increase our power.”

Preston said that by isolating the gluteal muscles, the workout regimen might “wake up” those seldom-used muscles, which is never a bad thing.

Susana Sylvester, a fitness instructor at MidSun Community Centre with 15 years of experience in teaching ballet, disagreed with this approach to toning the body. Sylvester said that she doesn’t think that, “Isolating one muscle, or set of muscles, really gets you results. With dance, it’s a full-body workout, and that’s where you see results.”

Though Preston thinks that the program may be effective, he is sure that it is an exercise fad targeted specifically at the female population.

Whether it is a passing trend or not is beside the point, though, as he said that the program is not an ineffective means of exercise and would probably be better suited to a class-setting or as a starting point for someone trying to get into fitness.

McLeod lamented over the initial soreness she felt during the beginning stages of her foray into the Brazilian Butt Lift, but said that she has been building up a level of resistance and endurance to continue using the program. Her words of advice were to stick with the program to create a lasting habit, regardless of the soreness you may initially experience.

“It’s really given me a kick in the ass, literally. But you’ve got to be willing to put in the time—two months, at least—and be consistent.”