Exercises For Buttocks

You may not see your own buttocks very often but you know everyone else does and having a nice rear end is a major reason for many people getting onto the fitness bandwagon. You can have fat or skinny arms and it doesn’t matter all that much but if you have a huge back side (or a nonexistent one) well, you better get to work!

Losing That Big Ol’ Butt

First, you just cannot-- no matter how good it would be if it were true, burn fat off of just your buttocks. In order to shrink that behind, you are going to have to reduce your overall body fat. The best way to accomplish (and sustain) weight loss is to decrease calories and increase exercise slowly over time. However; just because you can’t spot reduce, there is no reason not to make your buttocks rock hard under that layer of fat so that when the fat comes off, a beautiful behind appears like finding a diamond in the rough!

Building a Round, Firm Behind

Nice behinds are not born, they are made; at least for the most part and not necessarily on purpose either! Everyone is gifted with at least some muscle groups that look better naturally due to their genetics but anyone can improve their rear end in both size and roundness through posture habits employed by those gifted with fine behinds.

Buttocks 101

The gluteus maximus muscles or just glutes, that make up most of your rear end are responsible for lifting your legs rearward and for extending or straightening your legs (as in standing from a seated position); in other words kicking like a donkey behind you or climbing up stairs.

Because the butt muscles are extremely powerful the best exercises for building up the glutes are those that straighten the legs such as the king of all glute exercises; back squats. Exercises that use the donkey kick motion are better suited to refining and toning an already developed rear end.

Improve your Butt Building Posture

People who seem to have naturally well developed behinds all share several posture traits that when adopted can lead you to the butt of your dreams. You may notice after reading this article, that the nicest behinds are those sat upon by either ectomorphic or mesomorphic body types in the somatotype system. The reason is simple; these two body types tend to have longer legs when compared to their upper body. Those who tend towards the endomorph body type, who have proportionally shorter legs, usually have flat behinds.

Any time a person with long legs squats down or climbs up, they tend to bend forward at their waist, which calls more glute muscles into the act rather than the thigh muscles. The obvious key to improving the muscles in your behind then, is to use them more; especially when performing butt specific exercises.

A few effective butt exercises you can do at home
 

Squats

Perform squats by using a shoulder width stance and squat down so that your thighs are parallel to the floor making certain that your knees remain in line with your feet and that they do not extend past your toes. To enlist more butt and less thighs, arch your lower back hard and thrust your rear out. If you have access to weight equipment, heavy weights are what glutes respond best to; remember they are VERY powerful, so use enough weight so that you can only perform 6-8 repetitions.

If you don’t have access to weights and your body can tolerate jumping (and landing), perform squats as above but instead of simply standing, thrust upward into the air as high as possible, land, and begin your next repetition. You can also use a sturdy box or staircase to jump up onto.

Sprints

Some of the best developed glutes on the planet belong to track and field sprinters, proving that sprinting is second only to squats for butt building! Sprinting is a power building exercise that has the duel effect of burning a lot of calories and building muscle. They are extremely demanding however; and should be eased into slowly in order to avoid extreme soreness, excess fatigue, or even injury.
Start with several sets of 40-50 yard sprints after a through warm up such as jogging. To ensure that you have plenty of “wind” for each of your sprints, walk back from your sprint to the starting position to get your breath back to normal.

Pelvic Lifts

Lying flat on the floor with knees bent, lift your hips up off the floor so that a straight line is formed from your knees up to your shoulders and then return your hips to the floor. Repeat. Once you can comfortably perform 20 repetitions, begin performing them with one leg at a time.

Additionally, you can perform pelvic lifts with one or both feet elevated on a block, chair, or exercise ball and/or with additional weight placed upon the hips.

After any and all exercise sessions flex (squeeze) your glutes as hard as possible repeatedly until they are totally fatigued. This will not build them but will make them rock hard. These flex sessions can also be done at other times but don’t forget where you are, some people in the grocery line may frown (or laugh) at seeing you butt being repeatedly flexed…over time they may be impressed however; that’s the goal anyway!

Donkey Kicks (kickbacks)

Donkey kicks or simply kickbacks mimic the natural action of the glutes. They are a great exercise especially for toning and firming the butt and can be performed at home or in the gym, with or without equipment.

Perform donkey kick by holding onto a chair or stationary object and raise the active leg to the front. This completely stretches one side of your glutes and readies it to be flexed. Next, simultaneously lower and begin to “kick” (slowly) rearward, so that your foot moves in a rearward arc. Try to keep your back upright as much as possible as you raise your foot as high as possible behind you and then reverse the motion until your knee is again raised to the front and your glute is stretched. Repeat for the required number of repetitions.

You can increase the intensity and effectiveness of this exercise by adding additional weight. In the gym, a low cable is ideal. At home you can use ankle weights or elastic bands.