'Traffic babe' exercise squeezes your gluteus to the very maximus
BY Neal Rubin
The first thing you need to know about the quarter buttsqueeze is that there is no full buttsqueeze to go with it, or even a half buttsqueeze. Also, there is no quarter.
The squeeze in question and let's call it the QBS, so I don't have to keep writing "butt" is a helpful tip from Cyndi Targosz designed for sailors in the Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race, which started Saturday.
It's probably not much help at this point for someone already in the middle of Lake Huron, but Targosz also recommends the QBS for other people who engage in activities such as standing upright.
Targosz, who hails from Lincoln Park and cheerfully describes herself as "Jim Harper's very first traffic babe on WNIC," went on to become a fitness and lifestyle expert in Los Angeles. Harper went on to WMGCFM (105.1), where he frequently does his show on his feet, potentially performing the QBS right there in front of the whole morning team.
Targosz, who sometimes crews on a yacht called the JHawker out of Bayview, planned to be in Port Huron with her sailing friends when the race began. Having become reasonably famous years ago for a video called "Best Bust," she is now on bookshelves with "TenMinute ToneUps for Dummies," soon to become one of those minibooklets you see at supermarket checkout lines.
"People always give the excuse they don't have time to exercise," she says. "So I like to come up with exercises you can do anywhere."
Amid a grueling yacht race, for instance, "you can hold on to the edge of the boat, do a squat, and squeeze your buns." Or, you can employ the QBS.
Simply place an imaginary quarter in the place you would expect the QBS to require it, tense those muscles and voila! Intersperse some sets of 10 amid your other daily activities, and in no time at all, your imaginary quarter will be flat as a dime.
Revelers live it up on Boat Night in Port Huron
Sail boat racer Chris Pratt of Lansing stares admiringly up at the promotional banner he just put up on the deck of the JHawker. Beside him is the woman depicted in the 1950'spin- up-style banner. Her name is Cyndi Targosz. She is a "celebrity image consultant" from California, but also has ties to Michigan.
Neal Rubin appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at (313) 222-1874, nrubin@detnews.com, or 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226.