How to Get a Bigger Butt: 18 Exercises You Should Try

Want to sculpt that sought-after “bubble butt”? Good news: You can get stronger, shapelier glutes with an at-home booty workout.

The benefits of a booty workout are more than aesthetic, explains Cody Braun, NASM performance enhancement specialist.

The three major muscles in your butt anatomy — the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus — work together to move the legs and hips, provide balance, and offer stability during single-leg movements like walking, running, and climbing stairs.

Stronger glutes may also help you improve your 5K time or get through a game of pick-up basketball without rolling an ankle.

“The glutes are the powerhouse for most of our lower- and full-body movements, from squats to jumping,” Braun says. “If you want to increase your strength, power, stability, and limit the likelihood for injury, it’s important to incorporate butt workouts into your programming.”

We handpicked some of the best exercises for glutes below.

1. Calf Raise Bridge

Appears in: Clean Week – Strength

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor about hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells on your hips. This is the starting position.
Lift your hips as high as possible, squeezing your glutes as you rise up on the balls of your feet.
Reverse the movement to return to the starting position, and repeat for reps.

2. Quadruped Hip Extension

Loop a small resistance band above your knees and get on all fours in tabletop position. Adjust one end of the resistance band so that it’s pinched between the floor and your left knee.
Keeping your right knee bent 90 degrees, flex your right foot, squeeze your glutes, and extend your right hip. Your neck should be neutral and the sole of your right foot should face the ceiling.
Pause before lowering your right knee.
Do all of your reps, switch sides, and repeat.

3. Single-Leg Hinge with Loop

Appears in: 80 Day Obsession – Booty Month 3

Loop a resistance band around your left foot, and grip it with your right hand as you rise up to stand, feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Keeping your back flat, your core engaged, and your left knee slightly bent, raise your right leg off the floor and hinge forward at your hips until your torso is as close to parallel with the floor as possible.
Return to a single-leg standing position and repeat the move, completing all reps on your left leg before switching sides.

4. Bulgarian Split Squat

Stand with your back to a box or bench, holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides.
Extend your left leg behind you, and place your toes on top of the box. This is the starting position.
Keeping your chest up and core engaged, slowly lower your body until your right thigh is parallel with the floor.
Pause, then push through your right foot to return to the starting position.
Do all of your reps, switch sides, and repeat.

5. Romanian Deadlift

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing back.
Keeping your back flat, shoulders back, and core engaged, push your hips back and hinge forward, lowering the dumbbells to mid-shin height. The weights should remain within an inch or two of your legs throughout the movement.
Reverse the move to return to the starting position, squeezing your glutes and thrusting your hips forward as you rise up.

6. Lateral Band Walk

Loop a small resistance band around your legs just above your knees and stand with your feet hip-width apart, creating slight tension on the band.
Keeping your back flat and abs engaged, step only your right foot out to your right as you push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower yourself into a partial squat.
Step your left foot next to your right foot as your rise back up, and then lower yourself into a partial squat again.
Continue “walking” to the right in this manner for several steps, and then reverse the direction to return to your starting position.

7. Dumbbell Thruster

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells in front of your shoulders with your palms facing each other.
Keeping your abs engaged, push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body as low as you can (try to get your thighs parallel to the floor.
Drive through your heels, extend your hips, and, as you straighten your legs, press the dumbbells directly above your shoulders.
Lower the dumbbells to shoulder height to complete one rep.

8. Clamshell

Loop a resistance band around your legs just above your knees, and lie on your right side with your hips, knees, and feet stacked. Rest your head on your right arm, and place your left palm on the floor in front of your chest.
Bend at the hips, swinging your legs out to a 45-degree angle, then bend your knees to 90 degrees. This is your starting position.
Keeping your core engaged and your heels together, raise your left knee as far as you can without rotating your hip or lifting your right knee off the floor.
Hold for 1 second before returning to the starting position.
Repeat the move, completing all reps on one side, then switch sides, performing equal reps on both.

9. Squats and Sumos with Pulses

Appears in: PiYo – Buns

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides.
Keeping your back flat and core engaged, bend your knees and push your hips back as if closing a car door with your butt, and lower into a squat as you raise your arms in front of you.
At the bottom of your squat, use a pulsing motion to raise and lower your hips a few inches. Complete three pulses before standing up. This is one rep.
Repeat the sequence, coming to a three-quarter standing position between each rep.

10. Camel

Appears in: 80 Day Obsession – Booty Month 2

From a kneeling position, with your butt resting on your heels and the tops of your feet on the floor, hold a heavy dumbbell at your chest with both hands.
Keeping your chest up, shoulders back, and core engaged, squeeze your glutes as you push your hips forward to full extension, shifting your weight onto your knees.
Pushing your hips back, slowly lower your body back down onto your heels, and repeat for reps.

11. Step-Up

Stand in front of a bench or box around knee height. You have the option of holding dumbbells at your sides. Lift your right knee and place your right foot in the middle of the bench. This is the starting position.
Keeping your chest up and shoulders back, drive through your right foot, squeeze your glutes, straighten your right knee, and come to a standing position with your left foot held slightly off the bench behind you.
Pause, and then slowly lower your body back to the starting position.
Do all of your reps, switch sides, and repeat.

12. Bowlers

Appears in: PiYo – Buns

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend both knees slightly and shift your weight to your right leg. This is your starting position.
Step your left foot behind and outside your right foot in a curtsy lunge, pumping your right arm back and your left arm forward.
Raise your body several inches then lower it, pulsing yourself upward a total of 3 times.
Return to the starting position, lightly tapping the floor with your left toes before repeating the movement.
Complete all reps on one side, then switch, performing equal reps on both sides.

13. Jump Squat

Appears in: 22 Minute Hard Corps – Resistance 2

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointed forward, holding a dumbbell or sandbag with both hands in front of your chest.
Keeping your back flat and chest up, bend your knees, and push your hips back until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Explode upward, jumping as high as you can.
Land softly, immediately dropping back down into a squat to begin your next rep.

14. Single-Leg Hamstring Slide

Appears in: 80 Day Obsession – Booty Month 3

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, arms at your sides. Place a strength slide under your left heel and extend your left leg.
Keeping your glutes and core engaged, simultaneously bend your left knee, sliding the disc toward your body as you lift your hips off the floor and into a bridge.
Slowly extend your left leg and lower your hips to the floor.
Complete all reps on one leg before switching sides, performing equal reps on both.

15. Squat Arabesque

Appears in: Brazil Butt Lift – Bum Bum

From a standing, hip-width position, push your hips back and bend your knees into a squat. As you lower your body, place your hands on your thighs, which should be parallel with the floor.
As you return to a standing position, extend your arms overhead and your left leg behind you, squeezing your glutes at the top of the move while keeping your core engaged throughout.
Lower again into a squat, returning your hands to your thighs, and repeat the move, this time extending your right leg.
Continue alternating legs, performing equal reps on both.

16. Attitude

Appears in: 21 Day Fix – Barre Legs

Stand tall, hands on your hips, with your heels together and your toes turned out slightly.
Move your right foot back, lightly touching the floor behind you with your big toe, and letting your heel drop slightly inward. This is your starting position.
Keeping your torso tall, lift your right leg behind you as high as you can, squeezing your right glute.
Return to the starting position, gently tapping the toes of your right foot to the floor, and repeat.
Perform equal reps on both sides.

17. Fold Over

With your feet hip-width apart, stand a few feet from a barre, chair, or sturdy counter. Your knees should be slightly bent.
Keeping your back flat and core engaged, hinge forward at your hips and grab hold of the barre or rest your forearms on it.
Keeping a slight bend in your left leg, lift your right leg behind you until you feel your glutes contract, keeping both hip bones pointed toward the ground.
Maintaining the contraction, pulse your right leg upward several times.
Lower your right leg and repeat on your opposite side, performing equal reps on each.

18. Wall Balls

With your feet hip-width apart, stand a few feet in front of a sturdy wall. With both hands, hold a medicine ball at chest height.
Keeping your abs engaged, push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body into a squat.
Drive through your heels, extend your hips, and, as you straighten your legs, toss the ball up at the wall. Pick a target height that feels challenging but sustainable for multiple reps.
As you catch the ball, lower into your next squat.

Tips for an Effective Booty Workout

“If you’re looking for #bootygains and want to lift, tone, and define the shape of your tush, then you need to be sure you’re doing the right exercises,” says Andrea Rogers, creator of Xtend Barre and XB Pilates.

So what are the best exercises for a bigger (stronger) butt?

“Just as a bodybuilder can increase the size of their body by increasing their muscle size, you can get a bigger butt by focusing on weight-bearing exercises that increase in intensity and load,” Rogers says.

Be sure to warm up with dynamic stretching first — Braun recommends leg swings, walking high knees, glute bridges, and bodyweight squats to stretch and activate the glutes before your booty workout.

Anatomy of the Butt

Your body’s gluteal region comprises three major muscles that work together to move the legs and hips, provide balance, and offer stability during single-leg movements like walking, running, and climbing stairs.

Gluteus maximus

Among the trinity of butt muscles, the gluteus maximus gets all the glory. As its name indicates, the G-max is not only the biggest gluteal muscle, it’s also the largest muscle in the human body.

And due to its superficial (closest to the surface) placement, it’s responsible for providing the booty’s famously rounded shape.

The gluteus maximus originates from the hip bone, sacrum, and tailbone. It runs across the rear at a 45-degree angle and inserts into the IT band and femur (thigh bone).

The muscle’s primary function is hip extension, meaning that your gluteus maximus is (literally) behind everyday movements like standing up from a seated position as well as athletic feats like the 40-yard dash.

Gluteus medius

Originating from the ilium and inserting atop the front of the femur, the gluteus medius is the fan-shaped muscle responsible for abducting (lifting out to the side) the leg.

The gluteus medius is also charged with medial and lateral rotation, turning the leg so the knee faces inward and outward.

Without a sufficiently strong gluteus medius, you can develop an altered walking/running gait, which can lead to a number of movement-related issues.

Gluteus minimus

Despite its rank as the tiniest of all the butt muscles, the gluteus minimus plays a vital role in stabilizing the pelvis during walking and running.

Originating from the ilium, the gluteus minimus attaches atop the femur. Like the gluteus medius, its main functions include lower-limb abduction and medial rotation.

Eating for a Bigger Booty

If your goal is to get a bigger bum, doing the best butt workouts is just part of the equation. You also need to be strategic with your nutritional intake and supplementation.

Healthy, fast-burning carbohydrates consumed before your butt workout will keep your energy consistent, from the first lunge down to the last jump squat.

Just as important is your post-workout protein intake, which the body needs for muscle growth and repair. With 20 grams of protein per serving, Beachbody Performance Recover offers a quick, convenient solution.

Besides fast-absorbing protein, Recover contains pomegranate extract, which has been shown to help promote muscle recovery and reduce soreness.

Pro tip: If you’re a vegetarian or following any other plant-based diet, try Plant-Based Chocolate Recover.