With the “Instagram Booty” trend on the rise, it’s no wonder many women (and also men!) are jumping on the glute-growing trend.

Butt exercises and butt-focused workouts are becoming increasingly popular in the fitness world, with many female-oriented workouts focusing primarily on growing the glutes and thighs.

While these trends are mainly for the aesthetics, growing and strengthening your glutes is quite frankly a power move when it comes to improving your training performance, supporting your lower back during lifts, enhancing your posture and stance, and helping to prevent injuries associated with running and lifting.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to make aesthetic improvements to your body, but there is also something to be said for women wanting to gain strength, muscle mass, and overall improve their training performance.

Almost gone are the days of women being put off lifting weights because of the risk of “appearing masculine”.

These days, women are encouraging each other to head to the weights section of the gym and not to skimp on food intake so they can strive to gain strength and muscle, and all-round smash their body composition goals!

This article aims to provide you with some education around your glutes and thighs, offering you effective workouts suitable for all abilities, as well as some useful tips at the end to help you maximize your glute gains.

Firstly, get to know your glutes!

The Anatomy of the Butt

The buttocks are made up of the glute muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.

The gluteus maximus is actually the largest muscle in the human body, and rightly so. This muscle is incredibly powerful, being responsible for keeping the trunk of the body in the correct posture and allowing us to do simple activities such as walking upstairs.

Strength training these muscles can help give you a tighter, more rounded look - which is exactly what is so appealing about glute workouts!

When talking about glutes, it’s important to highlight that they are a big part of your posterior chain. When doing many glute-focused workouts and exercises, your posterior chain is likely to be worked as well.

The posterior chain refers to all the muscles on the backside of the body, from the back of your head down to your heels. This includes your hamstrings, glutes, calves, lats, and erector spinae muscles.

To put it simply, your posterior chain is an utter powerhouse, controlling some of the biggest and strongest muscles in your body responsible for everyday activities, such as sitting down, picking something up off the floor, and running and walking.

So, what are the benefits of working and strengthening these muscles?

The Benefits of Strong Glutes

Your glutes, and posterior chain in general, is super important for everyday body movement, so it’s no surprise that strengthening these muscles leads to further body enhancements and benefits, including:

  • Improved posture
  • Help prevent injuries
  • Improve athletic performance
  • Support lower back
  • Protection of the knees

So, next time you’re at the gym or planning a home workout, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to incorporate some glute movements into your routine.

Let’s take a look at some of the best glute exercises!

Best Butt Exercises for Girls

If you want to grow your glutes, incorporate some of the best glute exercises into your workouts and training routine! Most of these exercises can be done with no or minimal equipment, but there is always the option to add weight.

The most important thing to remember is top form. Without good form on these exercises, they simply won’t work as effectively.

Follow these tips to ensure your form is the best it can be throughout all the moves:

  • Keep your ribcage in line with your pelvis
  • Avoid over-arching your back
  • Tuck your pelvis in towards your belly button
  • Pull your ribs down
  • Keep your core tight and engaged
  • Do not add any weight until you have nailed the bodyweight movement
  • Remember to warm up thoroughly before each movement/workout to avoid potential injuries

Walking Lunges

  • Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart
  • Step your right foot forward and bend until you get to a 90-degree angle on both legs
  • Press your right foot into the floor to stand back up
  • Then step your left foot forward and repeat the movement
  • If you want to add weight to this movement, hold a pair of dumbbells at shoulder height with your elbows bent in front of your body.

Hip Thrust

  • Lie your upper back on an elevated surface, such as a sofa or stability ball
  • Your feet should be flat on the floor, your arms behind your head, and your hips hovering above the floor
  • Lean back and lift your hips towards the sky until your thighs are parallel with the floor
  • Return to start and repeat the movement

Single-Leg Deadlift

  • Start by standing up straight on your right leg, with your left leg slightly back behind your body, toe resting on the floor
  • With your right hand on your hip and left arm straight down your side
  • Slowly lean forward while lifting your left leg straight behind your body, lowering your upper body towards the floor until it’s parallel to the sky
  • Push your right heel into the floor to return to starting position

You can add weight to this movement by holding a dumbbell or weight in your left hand.

Step Up

  • Stand up tall, facing a bench, box, step, or chair with your hands on your waist
  • Step your right foot onto the elevated surface and pull your left knee towards your chest as you step up
  • Step back down carefully and repeat movement on other leg

Banded Lateral Step-Out Squat

  • Wrap a resistance band around your shins
  • Stand hip-width apart with your hands linked in front of your chest
  • Take a big step to the right, then hinge at your hips, sitting back like you’re about to sit on a chair
  • Lower until your thighs are parallel to the floor
  • Press back up and repeat on the other leg

Glute Bridge

  • Wrap a resistance band around your thighs
  • Lie down with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor, and arms by your sides
  • Press your heels into the floor, and squeeze your core while lifting your hips towards the sky
  • Ensure you maintain tension throughout the movement, and hold for a second at the top before lowering

Weighted Good Morning

  • Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, standing tall
  • Hold two weights in your hands, placing them behind your shoulders onto your back
  • Slightly bend your knees, while keeping your torso straight
  • Slowly hinge at your hips and push your butt back until your torso is parallel to the floor
  • Hold for a second before you return to the start

Donkey Kick

  • Get down onto all fours
  • Press your right leg up, kicking upwards leading with your sole while keep your knee bent at a 90-degree angle
  • Your knee should be in line with your hip and parallel to the floor at the top of the movement
  • Lower leg back down and repeat movement

Goblet Squat

  • Stand with your feet hip-width apart, while holding a weight with both hands in front of your chest, pointing your elbows to the floor
  • Hinge at your hips, push your butt back and lower yourself down like you’re about to sit on a chair
  • When your thighs are parallel to the floor, lift yourself back up, screwing your feet into the ground as you do so
  • Repeat movement

Jump Squat

  • Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes slightly pointed outwards
  • Hinge at your hips, push your butt back and lower yourself down like you’re about to sit on a chair
  • When your thighs are parallel to the floor, lift yourself back up with explosive power
  • Jump upwards towards the sky as high as you possibly can
  • Land softly before immediately lowering yourself down to repeat the movement

Bird Dog

  • Get onto all fours, on your hands and knees in a tabletop position
  • Raise your right arm in front of you as you kick your left leg backwards
  • Form a straight line from your leg to your arm, squeezing your glutes
  • Hold this position for a moment before pulling them both back in
  • Repeat the movement

Standing Glute Kickback

  • Stand up on your right foot while your left leg sits softly on the toes behind your body
  • Softly bend your right knee and hinge at the hips so your torso is slightly forward
  • Link your hands in front of your body
  • Fire up your left glutes to kick your leg straight back and upwards until it’s almost parallel with the ground
  • Slowly, control the leg back down, keeping your glutes engaged, and repeat the movement

Romanian Deadlift

  • Stand with your feet hip-width apart
  • Softly bend your knees
  • Hold a pair of dumbbells or weights in front of your thighs, palms facing towards you
  • Continuing to softly bend your knees, hinge at your hips, pushing them backwards
  • Lower your weights towards the floor, keeping your back straight
  • Squeeze your glutes to stand back up

Example Butt Workouts

You can use the above movements to create your own workout. To do this, choose 3 movements and perform 15 reps of each, then continue to the next movement.

Once you have completed all movements for 15 reps each, repeat for a total of 3 or 4 rounds.

For example:

Complete 4 rounds of:

  • Romanian deadlift x 15 reps
  • Goblet squat x 15 reps
  • Glute bridge x 15 reps

Alternatively, you could get more creative with these workouts by incorporating a CrossFit-style method, or Tabata training, to mix up the structure of the workouts.

Here are some examples:

1) Complete 21-15-9 reps of the following:

  • Jump squats
  • Weighted good morning
  • Hip trusts

(To clarify: 21 jump squats, 21 good mornings, 21 hip thrusts, 15 jump squats, etc.)

2) Complete the following for time:

x50 Jump squats
x40 Walking lunges
x30 Good mornings
x20 Glute bridges
x10 Goblet squats

3) Glute Tabata

Pick any exercise and perform the movement for:

20 seconds on, 10 seconds off (8 rounds, 4 minutes total)

Repeat 5 more times with different movements each time

Butt Sculpting: Nutrition & Supplement Tips

While incorporating glute exercises and glute-focused workouts into your training program is a great idea, it’s important not to overlook the importance of overall diet and lifestyle to maximize your gains and help sculpt your booty.

Diet is just as important, if not more important, than training when it comes to achieving your dream body.

Here are some of our top nutrition, lifestyle and supplement tips:

  • Ensure you warm up before each workout to help prevent any injuries, particularly when it comes to firing up your glutes and hamstrings!
  • Rehydrate, replenish, and repair your muscles post-workout with a balanced meal.
  • Consume adequate protein each day to support muscle growth and repair.
  • Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods for good health and wellbeing, thus supporting your gains and physical performance.
  • Stay physically active throughout the day to keep the blood flowing, ensuring proper recovery.
  • Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day to maintain healthy hydration levels.
  • Sleep a minimum of 7-8 hours per night to ensure your muscles are rested and recovered optimally before your next session.
  • Track your progress. Take pictures and measure your butt so you can track any changes and make sure you’re on the right track with your training and nutrition program.
  • In addition to the above point, track your strength gains. There is no doubt that you will gain strength doing the above movements regularly, and it would be a good idea to track strength changes, particularly on big compound lifts such as squats and deadlifts.
  • Consider a supplement such as Burn Lab Pro, which can accelerate your results by burning more fat, optimizing your performance, and supporting your overall recovery from training.