The Ultimate Guide For Building a Bigger Butt 

Building a bigger butt seems to be a popular goal.

No matter who you are, having a nice set of glutes looks and feel nice. 

The problem is that a lot of the information you see on social media is complete and utter bullshit.

As a result, I figured I’d write an article that will show you the steps to take to build a nice butt.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a glute “guru”.

There is definitely more experienced and qualified “glute specialists” out there. 

But, the information I’ll provide you in this article will work extremely well if you follow it. It’s purely based on what’s worked for me, my clients, and what I’ve learned from some of the best coaches. 

Therefore, I hope by the end of this article you will be able to implement the information I give you so you can build a bigger butt. 

Grab a quick cup of coffee and let’s dive in.

How the Glutes Work for Building a Bigger Butt 

First, let’s go over the purpose of your glutes to get a better understanding of how to properly train them for building a bigger butt. 

The glute (butt) muscles are the biggest set of muscles on your body. There are three of them:

1. Glute Maximus 
2. Glute Minimus 
3. Glute Medius 

All of which have a very important role to play. The glutes are responsible for hip extension, leg abduction, and external rotation. Additionally, they help keep your hips stable so your upper body remains upright during certain movements.

Basically, they help move and stabilize the hips.

The main move we’re going to focus on for building a bigger butt is hip extension. This movement allows you to build your butt without growing your legs.

Hip extension is where your glutes contract to bring your hips from a bent position into a straight/neutral position. Think of “popping your hips forward” or the humping motion by squeezing your butt cheeks together hard. 

The Problem With Weak Glutes

Now that you know the function of your butt muscles, let’s dive into the problems associated with weak glutes. 

Your glutes play a key role in everything you do in life such as walking, standing, picking things up, and helping you stay balanced. 

The problem is the sedentary lifestyles we live because sitting down this much leaves your hips in a flexed (bent) position which is the exact opposite movement of the glutes.

Remember, to work your glutes we want to extend the hips. This is accomplished by squeezing your glutes.

Yet, when you’re sitting down all of the time you can’t do this. 

As a result, your body compensates by using other muscles to do the job the glutes are suppose to be doing. 

This is a problem because these muscles aren’t made to preform the jobs of your glutes. In fact, this stress adds up and can lead to pain and other injuries over time.

For example, instead of using your hips to pick something up off the ground, your body will use its lower back. This places a lot of tension on your lower back and places it in a vulnerable position.

Yeah… Not good.

Other problems associated with weak glutes:

• Pain in your knees and lower back.
• Poor balance
• Bad Posture
• Unsexy looking glutes
• Decreased strength and performance

For that reason, it’s very important to keep them strong not only for aesthetic purposes, but for an improved quality of life as well. 

Build a Bigger Butt By Activating Your Glutes

This ones a bit controversial, but activating your glutes can be an important step when you’re first beginning.

You may or may not have heard of the term “sleepy glutes”. This simply means that your glutes are weak, therefore, you may have a hard time feeling them contract.

It does not mean that your glutes aren’t working. If that were the case, you wouldn’t be able to walk or stand.

When building a bigger butt, the goal is for the glutes to be doing most of the work. For this to happen, we have to get those glute muscles firing again.

Therefore, when you hear the word activation, it’s referring to building a better connection to your glutes so that when you perform the bigger movements, you’ll be able to recruit more muscle fibers, lift more weight, which will lead to building a bigger butt. 

Try this: Perform 5 squats. Where did you feel that? If you didn’t feel it in your glutes then I want yo to perform 8 glute bridges with a 5 second hold. Now go perform a squat again and see if you feel it more in your butt.

Choose one of these activation exercises before your lower body workout:

• Glute Bridges with 5 second squeeze at the top x 8
• Butt Squeezes x 8
• Banded Side Steps x 8/side 

Keep in mind that these exercises are meant to go light and not to failure. The goal is to connect to your butt so that you can feel it.

The 5 Best Exercises For Building a Bigger Butt

Let me start off by clarifying – there are more than 5 exercises to grow your glutes. I’m not saying this is the end all be all of glute training.

Remember, I’m not a glute specialist. I’m a strength coach who loves to help get people strong, confident, and leaner. 

That said, these are some of my favorite movements that I think will give you the most benefits and efficient results. 

Note: Be sure to stick around for the end of the article where I show you a few common reasons why your glutes may not be growing. 

First Exercise For Building a Bigger Butt: Bulgarian Split Squat 

The Bulgarian split squat creates single leg stability, balance, strength, and hypertrophy (muscle building).

Fair warning: this exercise will light your glutes and quads on fire. That said, in terms of building a big butt, they’re one of the best. 

Instructions:

1. Start with your body weight first to find your foot position. Grab a bench, box, or anything that you can elevate your back foot on. 
2. Place the top of your back foot on the platform. Next, find your front foot position. I like to start from the ground first if you’re struggling with balance.
3. Once you find your foot position, slightly lean forward to open up the hips and place more emphasis on your glutes.
4. Sink straight down. 
5. At the bottom, make sure to drive up through that front heel. That front heel must stay on the ground the whole time. Make sure your knee stays in line with your toes as well. 
6. Add dumbbells at your sides to continue to progress this exercise. You can load this pretty heavy.
   

Second Exercise For Building a Bigger Butt: Sumo Deadlift 

This is another controversial one but I’m going with experience here. 

Any type of deadlift will work your glutes, but the reason why the sumo deadlift is great compared to other deadlifts is because not only are you still getting the hip extension with heavy ass weight, but you’re also externally rotating your feet which helps work that side butt as well. 

Instructions:

1. Start by walking up the bar until its about .5-1” in front of your shins. 
2. Take a wide stance and point your toes out so that your knee is in line with your toes. This will depend on a myriad of things so find a stance that feels comfortable to you. 
3. Allow your arms to hang down, send your butt back to the wall behind you until you are down low enough to grab the bar in between your legs.
4. Make sure to not have your hips to low or your hips too high. Think of having your hips as high as possible while being able to show your chest to the mirror in front of you.
5. Spread the floor apart with your feet. This will help stabilize and activate your hips and legs so you can lift more weight safely and effectively.
6. Pull the slack out of the bar until you hear the *clink* noise. 
7. Take a deep breathe to fill your belly with air. 
8. Then explode up by thinking of pushing the floor away from you. 
9. Squeeze your butt at the top. Make sure you keep your arms straight, your shoulders away from your ears (do not shrug them), and don’t overextend your back.
10. Repeat.
    

Third Exercise For Building a Bigger Butt: Step Ups 

Step ups are great because just like the Bulgarian split squat, its a unilateral exercise – meaning you’re using one leg at a time. This help with balance and stability as well as fixing any imbalances.

Instructions:

1. Start with your bodyweight and place your heal on a bench, box, or a stable elevated surface.
2. Lean your torso slightly forward.
3. Drive through the heel. Think about pushing the box backwards. Make sure that you are driving through that front leg. The leg that is on the bench is the leg that is suppose to be doing most of the work. Do not use the bottom leg to assist you up.
4. Control on the way down. Don’t let yourself just fall. The goal is to work the muscle on the eccentric to build muscle and strength. 
5. Add weight once you progress to a high step up and it becomes easy.

Tip: If you are struggling with balance, start with a lower box first and work your way up. The higher the box, the more glutes you will work. You can also use a stick to help with your balance as well. 

Fourth Exercise For Building a Bigger Butt: Hip Thrusts 

This may be the king of all glute exercises. (Bret Contreras made these popular)

I know every time I do hip thrusts, they light my butt on fire which is a sign that I need to take my own advice and do more of them.

Hip thrusts are great because you’re directly loading your glutes in hip extension. The bar is on top of your hips, gravity is trying to pull the weight down through your hips into the ground, and your glutes are fighting that pull. 

Instructions:

1.Place the bar in the crease in your hip. You may need to use a bar pad or towel to make it more comfortable. 

2.Use your elbows to help you get up on the bench bench and then set your shoulder blades for stability. Think of pressing the bottom of your shoulder blades into the bench. 

3.Place your heels under your knees so that your shins are vertical. If you feel it in your quads your feet are too far back and if you feel it in your hamstrings your feet are too far forward.

4. Tuck your chin. 

5. Squeeze your butt in the air and hold it for 2 seconds. Imagine there are spikes underneath your butt and you don’t want to get poked. 

6.Allow your butt to sink down and repeat

Tip: If starting with a bar is too difficult, start with a sandbag or dumbbell if you don’t have one. 

Fifth Exercise For Building a Bigger Butt: Back/Hip Extensions

These are most beneficial to your glutes only when they’re done correctly.

If you pull up a back extension video on instagram, you’ll likely see 2 things. 

1. Someone over extending their back at the top.
2. Someone rounding their back at the bottom.

What these two things do is that they take your glutes out the movement and place most of that tension on the lower back.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it’s not the most optimal for growing your glutes.

Instructions:

1. Place the pad just below your hip bones to allow most of the bending to come from the hips.
2. You’re going to lower yourself down while keeping your butt sticking out and you’re chest up. Another way to think of this is think of having a band wrapped around your waist and its pulling you up towards the ceiling.
3. Once you’re at the bottom, bring yourself up by squeezing your butt cheeks together like you’re trying to hold a penny in between them.
4. You should finish with a slight bend in your torso. 

The #1 Key to Building a Bigger Butt: Progressive Overload

The exercises are only one part of the equation. How you load them and progress over time matters just as much.

Building a toned butt is done through building muscle and losing body fat.

Muscle is very dense compared to fat, meaning that it takes up less space. 

So the more muscle you build and the less fat you have, the more “toned” you’ll look. 

And the best way to build muscle is to lift heavy, get strong, and progressive overload. 

Progressive overload simply means doing more work over time. You have to give your body a reason to get strong and grow more muscle. 

This can be done in a few ways by:

• Lifting more weight 
• Completing more reps 
• Doing more work in less time
• Total volume
• Improve technique 
• Slowing down or speeding up the tempo

Thus, progressive overload is vital to building a nice looking butt.

Common Reasons Why Your Glutes Are Not Growing:

Ok, you now know what’s needed to grow yourself a nice looking booty. 

That said, there a few common mistakes that prevent people from achieving the results they’re looking for.

Glutes are probably one of the most challenging muscles to grow for most people who are not blessed with the genetics of a greek god or goddess. 

To be honest, I’m not sure why this is but, it just seems to be the case. 

So, I’ll leave you with a few common reasons why your glutes may not be growing and how to fix them:

1. Not Focusing on The Right Exercises

Focusing on high rep booty band workouts, donkey kickbacks, stair master kickbacks, good girl/bad girl machines, and banded side steps in order to feel the burn is where most people mess up when trying to build a bigger butt. 

While these exercises have a place, they should not make top the bulk of your glute training.

Instead, focus on the 5 main compound lifts that I gave you above and go heavy. These are the exercises that will allow you to work the most muscles with the most amount of weight, therefore, producing the best results. 

Save the isolation work as either activation exercises or for the end of your workouts if you have extra time and want to add in some more volume. 

2. Living In a Calorie Deficit

This is another common one that often gets overlooked.

If you’ve been training for awhile (>6 months), you’re going to have to eat enough to build muscle. 

The reason for this is that trying to build muscle in a calorie deficit is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It’s very hard to do because your body needs that extra energy from food to turn into new muscle.

The solution? Eat at maintenance or in a small surplus.

Multiply your bodyweight by 15-17. 

3. Not Progressive Overloading

I want to emphasize this again. 

Random training leads to random results.

Your body is stubborn.

Therefore, you have to give it a reason to grow through progressive overload by continuing to send a stronger muscle building signal over time.

Unfortunetaly, if you randomly complete exercises, your body never has a chance to adapt and get more toned. 

4. Not Focusing On Form

Lifting a lot of weight is cool. But actually having good form and connecting to the right muscles is way sexier. 

Your quality of form is more important than the quantity of weight you lift.

Therefore, make sure that you have near perfect form first before adding weight. 

By lifting with good form, you’ll decrease your risk of injury, improve your posture, and will be able to lift more weight and build more muscle over time. 

Therefore, you should have a slow and controlled tempo while working the muscles through a full range of motion. If you can’t than lower the weight until you can.

Tip: Count to 2 seconds on the way up, squeeze for 1-2 seconds, and count to 4 seconds on the way down.

5. Not Working Your Butt Frequently Enough 

Research indicates that training muscles twice per week leads to greater outcomes than once per week. 

Think of your muscles having a clock that gets started when you workout. Once the clock gets started, a “muscle building signal” is created. 

The issue is that this muscle building signal only lasts for 48-72 hours. Obviously, the goal is to keep this signal active by increasing the frequency or amount of times you workout a muscle during the week. 

If you only work a muscle one time during the week, your muscle building signal may only be active for 2-3 days. However, if you workout that muscle 2-3 times per week, you will constantly have an elevated muscle building signal. 

That said, recovery still matters. But, too much recovery does not equal adaptation (AKA muscle growth), which is where your body gets stronger and adds more muscle. 

Tip: Workout your glutes 2-3 times per week for optimal growth.

6. Lack of Patience & Hard Work

Building a bigger butt takes time so I don’t want you to start complaining you’re not seeing any changes after 4 weeks. 

If you’re not willing to commit at least 6-12 months that maybe building your butt isn’t for you right now. 

Bonus: Programming Summary

Hopefully you have the tools you need for building a bigger butt. Below, I’ve provided two glute workout examples as well as a summary of the tips provided in this article.

• Train glutes 2-3 times per week to keep that muscle building signal active. 
• Make sure you prime/activate your glutes before you workout so that you have a better connection to them. 
• Stay within 5-15 reps ranges. Make sure you are lifting heavy enough to promote a change. (1-5 reps shy of failure)
• Focus on the principle of progressive overload.
• Maintain perfect form throughout with a full range of motion. If you notice that your form starts to break down then stop the set. The goal is to get quality reps, not quantity. 
• And remember to have patience. Building muscle takes time, consistency, and hard work.

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for reading. If you have any questions or need help with anything, feel free to reach out to me.

I hope I provided you with practical information and tips that will allow you to build up your booty.

Now go build a nice set of glutes and let me know how it goes!

-Coach Bob

Ps. Do you want free workouts that will help you get stronger, leaner, and burn fat? Well, download my free 30 Fat Loss Workouts You Can Do From Anywhere. If you haven’t yet then what are you doing???

Pps. If you’d like a more personalized approach to get leaner and more fit, apply for my 1:1 online strength and nutrition coaching where I take all of the guess work out for you. We’ll hop on a free call and go over your goals 🙂