Build a Better Butt

WARNING: SOMEWHAT NSFW PHOTOS. SKIMPY BIKINIS AND BOOTIES AHEAD. 

There’s been a recent “revolution” you might say, of big booties. Before, having a big butt was a negative thing, as shown by the infamous question “do these jeans make my butt look big?”. But as of late, the booties women aspire to achieve look more like Iggy Azalea’s and Nicki Minaj’s (although lately the internet has been saying Nicki has implants, who knows?). When most women want to improve their rear, they turn straight to the bodyweight donkey kicks and hundreds of bodyweight squats. While this definitely helps make your booty look better, there are far more efficient ways you can improve your behind.

The best way to improve the way your butt, or glutes look, is to lift heavy weights using movements that target the glutes as the primary movers. Like I’ve said before, lifting heavy weights will build muscle, and help you lose fat. It will NOT make you look like Arnold! Something to remember is that even if your muscles do get larger than you like, it will happen gradually and all you have to do is ease up on training those muscles. After a few weeks, you should notice a decrease in the size of these muscles. The best example I can give you of fitness professionals who train their glutes with heavy loads, is bikini competitors. Bikini is the lowest (read: least muscular) level of bodybuilding for women. The focus is a lean, yet curvy physique, with an emphasis on rounded shoulders, and round, full glutes. Take a look at these professional competitors below:

From left to right: bikini competitors Jessica Arevalo, Marissa Rivero, and Jessica James.

I feel like I should address the fact that many women see improvements with bodyweight-only exercise, and it is entirely possible to do so. It is especially common for sedentary women to see these quick initial improvements. But these are known as “newbie gains,” a period in the beginning of training where the progress you see is very quick. These gains will taper off after a few weeks/months though, and then it will be MUCH harder to change your body, especially with bodyweight-only exercises that don’t put enough stress on your body to see the change you want fast enough. It is important to challenge your muscles as much as possible to see faster results.

So now that we’ve established that lifting heavy is good for you, let me clear something up: if 5 lb dumbbells are challenging for you, there is nothing wrong with you using them. When I say lift heavy, I don’t mean you squat 150 pounds the first time you try a barbell squat. What I mean is you find a weight that is challenging for your body, that you couldn’t do more than 15 reps maximum with. If that means you can do a 120 lb squat, awesome. If that means you can do no more than a 25 lb squat, equally awesome. The important thing is you are challenging your body with a load that is hard. Don’t be ashamed if your body isn’t as strong as others’. Trying to match others is pointless, and you will likely get hurt. There is pride in knowing what your body is capable of, but humility in knowing its limits.

Most people who lift regularly tend to work each body part once, maybe twice a week. However, I would suggest training your glutes two to three times a week. If it’s a big goal you’re working towards, there is nothing wrong with working at it a few times a week, so long as you have a rest day or two in between each workout. Rest days don’t have to just mean no exercise though, you can go for a walk, a light jog, do a yoga class, something that still uses your muscles but isn’t too taxing.* You have no obligation to, but it’s an option even on your rest days. Make sure you are warming up and cooling down properly to prevent injury as well.

*Side note: I’ve done the “active rest day” a little too hard two days after a hard leg workout. We hiked up a mountain. And it was the worst leg pain of my life. Don’t make my mistake.

Repetitions

As far as how many sets and repetitions you should be doing, there are two approaches you can take. The first is to go straight for the hypertrophy (or muscle size increase) range, which is 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps. However, what I think is a more effective method is to spend a month or two focusing on building your strength with 4-6 sets of 1-5 repetitions, and then switching to hypertrophy. When you train for strength, you will still see a size increase, especially if you have not trained heavy before (again, “newbie gains”). The benefit of increasing your strength first is that when you do start hypertrophy, you will be training with heavier weights, and seeing more progress more quickly as a result.

Now to the exercises! These first ones involve heavy weights, but I have a list below for those without access to a gym, of bodyweight exercises that are still very challenging. These movements target the glutes as the primary movers, making them extremely efficient for building up that booty!

Weighted Exercises

Glute Bridges

Notice the straight line formed from the shoulders, to the hips, to the knees in figure B.

Lie on your back on the floor, with a barbell above your hips. Wrap the barbell in a foam pad or towel to minimize strain on hips. Perform a glute bridge by lifting your hips (and the barbell) up using your glutes until they form a straight line with your shoulders and your knees, driving through your heels to maximize glute activation. The barbell should rest just below your hip bones, or wherever is most comfortable for you. Lower barbell to floor. Do not arch your back at any point  – there should be a line from your shoulders, to your hips, to your knees, and an arch will recruit your lower back from supporting and stabilizing the movement, to pushing the movement. Make sure to engage the glutes and contract them at the top of each rep, and while lowering the barbell.

Hip Thrusts

Brett Contreras, The Glute Guy.

Hip thrusts are perfomed similarly to glute bridges. Start by sitting in front of a bench, with the backs of your shoulders pressed against the side of the bench. As you use your glutes to lift your hips, your shoulders will slide back so that they are resting on the bench parallel to the ground. Again, do not over-extend your back. A straight line will be formed again, this time parallel to the ground instead of at an angle. Lower your hips while keeping your glutes contracted, and repeat.

Squats

Squats are a fantastic compound movement that recruits many muscles to move and stabilize you. It is important to squat with proper form to prevent injury. Since they are such a complex movement, I’m going to refer you to the Stronglifts website’s description of how to squat. It can be a bit scary having heavy weight resting on your shoulders, especially when you can fail your rep and need to bail out of it, so having a detailed explanation of proper squat form, such as this one, is important. Some key notes:

• squatting is not bad for your knees
• you can, and should, squat below parallel
• don’t round or over-extend your back! back injuries yo.
• drive through your hips as you come up from the movement to increase glute activation, as opposed to quad activation

Here are some squat variations for when you want to mix it up!

• Sumo squat – take a wide stance, about the width of double shoulder width, and squat! You will feel this in your outer hips more than a regular squat.
• Goblet squat – hold a dumbbell, kettlebell, or heavy household object up to your chest, and squat. This activates your abdominals more, as they need to work harder to keep you upright with a heavy weight in front of you.
• Front squat – a barbell squat done with the barbell resting on your collarbone. This is done with a lighter weight than a back squat, as it is also more challenging for your abdominals than a traditional back squat.

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are also a fantastic compound movement, but like squats, they are also complex, and with improper form, you can seriously hurt yourself, particularly your lower back. I will refer you again to Stronglifts, and their page on deadlifting properly. Key points for deadlifting:

• DO NOT ROUND OR ARCH YOUR LOWER BACK. Doing so runs a very high risk of hurting your lower back.
• Do not lift or pull with your arms. The barbell is moved entirely by your legs and core, your arms simply allow you to hold it.
• Contract your glutes to ensure they are being activated properly. This movement relies a lot of the hamstrings as well, and it can be easy to let them do more than their share of the work.

Deadlift variations:

• Sumo deadlift – take a stance similar to that of a sumo squat – much wider than shoulder width apart. Your hands will be placed between your legs, as opposed to outside like a regular deadlift.
• Romanian deadlift – these are done with a constant slight bend at the knees, which activates the hamstrings and glutes more. They can look very similar to traditional deadlifts, so here are descriptions and gifs of the two that you can compare. The traditional barbell deadlift starts with a deeper bend in the knees, and goes to straight legs (but not locked knees!) at the top of the movement, compared to the constant slight bend in the Romanian deadlift.
• One-legged deadlifts – Start with one leg slightly behind you, and as you go to deadlift, allow this leg to raise behind you. These are quite challenging, as you are balancing on one leg and need to stabilize that leg properly while lifting. Start with a very low weight to get used to the movement, and then you can move up to a more challenging weight.

Deadlifts are a very challenging exercise, and can be intimidating to inexperienced lifters. If you feel nervous about it, don’t hesitate to ask a friend who is into heavy lifting to help you out, or a trainer at the gym. In either case, I would suggest asking this person to show you how they deadlift before you have them help you – not everyone practices good form.

Lunges

Walking barbell or dumbbell lunges can be extremely challenging and great glute activators, so long as you are contracting and driving through your glutes.

Step-ups

These can be performed with any sturdy, raised surface (but probably not your kitchen or coffee table). Many gyms have step up platforms for box jumps and weighted step-ups. With either a barbell on your shoulders, or a dumbbell in each hand, place one foot on the platform, and drive through your heel to step up onto the platform, and rest your other foot down. Step back down in a slow, controlled manner. Switch legs and repeat.

Cable Hip Abduction

These target the outer glutes and the hips. At a cable machine, set the cable to the setting lowest to the ground. Secure your ankle into a strap, or roll the handle onto your ankle. Lift your leg out to the side in a slow controlled manner, as far as it will go. Lower to starting position, at the same controlled pace.

Bodyweight Exercises

If you do not have access to a gym, don’t fret. There are plenty of bodyweight exercises that are challenging, and you may have household items that can be used as weights. Gallon milk jugs can be filled with water, or maybe you have a large bag of rice or beans that you can hold while you do these if you want even more of a challenge.

• Unweighted hip thrusts and glute bridges
• Walking body weight lunges
• Squats, and squat variations
• squat jumps
• Hill sprints – find a steep hill. Sprint at about 90% effort 50 meters or so up the hill. Walk down to recover, and take extra time if necessary, then repeat. Just doing a few is a great workout, but I wouldn’t recommend doing more than 10 – you might overwork yourself. Your glutes will be what pushes you up the hill, and it is a great cardiovascular high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise.
• Bulgarian split squats – place your foot on a surface about knee-level behind you. Position yourself so that you can comfortably squat down, and drive through your heel as you come up. This movement is much more challenging than it looks, because you are recruiting more muscles to stabilize yourself on the front leg. Some people to position themselves closer to the surface behind you, while others prefer to be a bit farther away, as shown in the second picture.

Diet

While building muscle, make sure you are getting plenty of protein each day, about one gram or more per pound of bodyweight. I realize this can seem like a LOT of protein to people who haven’t eaten and tracked lots of protein before, but you can get protein from non-meat sources such as beans, lentils, seeds and Greek yogurt. A surplus of 100-300 calories per day above your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (or TDEE, the number of calories you burn in a day). Use an app like MyFitnessPal or FatSecret to set and track your protein and calorie intake. I would recommend setting custom goals, as the preset ones tend to be different than what you’re trying to accomplish. Also keep in mind that the time of day/how many meals you eat has never been proven to so do what works best for you when it comes to meal timing and frequency.

One last, very important note. It is incredibly important to remember that you will not see results overnight. Building the body you want takes time, effort, and patience. You won’t get a round bubble butt in a week, but every hip thrust and hill sprint you do will take you closer to your goal. As with all things fitness, you are on a journey, and you can’t sprint to the end of it.