Exercises That Increase the Size of Your Butt Quickly
Build a bigger butt by building your glute muscles. Lunges, squats, step ups, hip extensions and hip thrusts are the best butt-building exercises.
You can get lots of things quickly -- a pizza, a haircut, anything from Amazon Prime. But changing your body shape takes time. Not to mention hard work.
To build a better butt, you've got to do muscle-building exercises to build your glutes -- the three muscles that make up your rear. How quickly you'll see results depends on your body type, your training frequency and training intensity.
1. Squat
The squat is the king of all butt exercises. It works all of the muscles of the butt and it's easily modified and made more challenging to suit your fitness level. Technique is super important to prevent injury. If you've never squatted, learn the basic technique first before adding weight.
HOW TO DO IT: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Inhale as you bend at the hips and knees, lowering your bum down towards the ground. Transfer the weight into your heels and keep your torso upright and chest open. Come down until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Exhale as you press through your heels to rise back up to standing.
When you're ready to add weight, hold dumbbells in either hand at shoulder height, or use a barbell to do back squats. Wide-stance kettlebell sumo squats are also a great variation to try.
2. Lunge
Lunges are one of the best exercises to build a bodacious booty. Doing a combination of stationary lunges, side lunges and walking lunges hits all of your glute muscles and keeps your routine from getting boring.
HOW TO DO IT: Take a big step forward with your right foot. Bend both your knees to about 90 degrees, with your back knee hovering just above the ground. Press through your front foot to rise back to your starting position. Do a set on one side, then switch to the other.
For walking lunges, just continue in a forward motion, doing a lunge with your right foot forward, then stepping forward and lunging with your left foot forward.
For side lunges, take a big step out to the side with your right foot. Bend the right knee ot squat down but keep the left leg straight. Step back to center and repeat on the other side.
Add weight with a barbell across the backs of your shoulders, or by holding dumbbells at your sides.
Read more: 22 New Lunges to Supercharge Leg Day
3. Quadruped Hip Extension
Quadruped hip extensions took first place in an American Council on Exercise study that looked at how well certain exercises targeted the glutes in relation to the traditional squat.
HOW TO DO IT: On all fours extend your right leg back with the knee bent to 90 degrees and the sole of the foot pointing toward the ceiling. Raise your leg until your thigh is parallel with the floor. Pause, then lower your leg. Do a set on one side, then switch.
4. Step-up
Step your way to great glutes with step-ups, which came in second on ACE's best butt exercise list.
HOW TO DO IT: Stand in front of a chair or bench. Step up with your right foot, transferring your body weight into your right leg and leaving the left leg passive. Extend your hips all the way at the top, then lower back down with control. Repeat, then switch sides.
Add weight by holding dumbbells.
5. Hip Thrusters
If you embarrass easily, you might want to skip these in a crowded gym. But if your desire for a big butt is greater than your pride, you need to add hip thrusters to your routine.
Before you add weight, get the technique down. Then you can either place a heavy bag or barbell across your pelvis to increase the challenge.
HOW TO DO IT: Sit on the long edge of a weight bench. Walk your feet out until your upper back only is resting on the edge of the bench. Lower your hips down and keep your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. From this starting position, raise your hips up until they're in line with your knees. Pause for a second then return to the starting position.
The Keys to Muscle Building
If you're serious about getting a bigger butt, you have to train hard, continually adding weight and volume to your workout. Do sets in the eight to 12-rep range to encourage hypertrophy, or muscle growth. Do three to five sets per exercise, and lift a weight heavy enough that the last reps of your last sets are very challenging.
Most importantly, concentrate on contracting the glute muscles during the exercise. Brace the muscles throughout the exercise and squeeze them at the top of each exercises -- for example, when you rise up from a squat or lunge.
This will get your the most bang for your butt, er buck.
Read more: 17 Exercises to Shape and Tone Your Booty