The quest for a bigger booty is one that has captured the hearts of women and the eyes of men in gyms across the globe.
Booty Building is a trend that seems to have really taken off over the last few years and (thankfully) it seems like one that’s going to become a mainstay in training programs.
Yet, their also seems to be a certain aura of mystery that surrounds the “how” behind successful glute training.
Allow us to be your saviour…OBF Gyms to the rescue.
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We’ve written this post as a modified flow chart in a listed format. Essentially, each tip builds upon the previous one and complements the one that follows.
Add in a tip at a time and over the course of a few weeks I’ll wager that not only will your glutes have seen some new growth, but you’ll be having some wicked training sessions as well.
Let’s dig into the butt stuff, shall we?
How to Build a Bigger Booty in 5 Steps
1. Give the Glutes their Own Training Day
The gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus combine to form the largest piece of musculature on your body. This is something we’ve all known for ages, yet when female (or male) clients come with the goal of building a bigger butt, the common approach is to first incorporate exercises such as hip thrusts, squat more or train your legs more frequently.
While this isn’t necessarily an incorrect approach, I don’t believe that it’s the first step that should be taken to skyrocket your glutes to new heights, and into new pants.
Which leads me back to my initial point.
Give your glutes their own training day.
2. Place Bands Just Above Your Knees in Your First and/or Second Exercise to Increase Muscle Fiber Activation
All well designed, and effective training sessions begin with a movement or two that are designed to set you up to absolutely crush the exercises that will follow.
In context of your butt, we want to “wake up” the glutes to ensure a strong mind-muscle connection and kickstart blood flow (AKA: Da Pump) to your soon to be bootylicious rear end.
—> Enter, the mini-resistance band.
Loop the band around both quads, as close to your knees as possible. Adding this band into an exercise such as air squats or bodyweight hip bridges from the floor does an incredible job of lighting up your entire butt.
The force from the band trying to pull your legs inward requires your glutes to come out with full force in order to keep your legs from collapsing and you falling on your face.
I would definitely add this into your first exercise, and depending on the context of your program, perhaps the second as well.
Now that your butt is filled with blood, and firing on all cylinders…it’s time to crush some targeted booty work.
3. Incorporate More Glute-Specific Exercises or Modify Typical Leg Exercises to Zero in on Your Booty
For ease of reading and insertion into your training programme, this section will list of 5 exercises for both glute-specific and modified leg exercises.
Glute Specific Exercises:
- Barbell Hip Thrusts/Glute Bridges (Single or double legged)
- Dumbbell Hip Thrusts/Glute Bridges (Single or double legged)
- Low Pulley Glute Cable Kickbacks
- Cable Pullthroughs
- Reverse Hyperextensions
Booty Modified Leg Exercises
- Sumo Squats
- Walking DB/BB Lunges with Long Steps
- Top Range Romanian Deadlifts from Pins
- Single Legged Leg Press (Your foot is placed both high and wide on the platform. This allows you to really sink into the stretch portion of the movement.)
- Kettlebell Swings (This is really a total body exercise, but it does wonders for the glutes. Especially if you’re able to squeeze and hold for a second or two in the contracted position.)
4. Increase Your Time Under Tension
At the root of hypertrophy is what’s known as Time Under Tension, or TUT. It’s widely accepted that magic number for inducing hypertrophy lies between 40 seconds and 70 seconds of tension per set. That means if you’re looking to solely achieve growth in any muscle, each set should fall within that time frame.
Now if your programmed set only calls for reps in a 4-6 range, that can pose a bit of an issue (unless you want to perform 8 second eccentrics on every rep). Doubtful.
Fortunately there’s a card we can play here.
—> Enter, isometric holds.
Isometric holds are the act of pausing at a given point during a rep and holding, squeezing the life out of the load and your target muscle for say, 5 seconds. This will provide an incredible stimulus to whichever muscle your targeting while also serving to extend the TUT you place on said muscle.
For example:
In the contracted position of a cable pull-through, pause and flex your glutes for 3 secondson each rep before lowering the weight back down.
I promise, this will light your butt up like no other.
5. Up Your Training Frequency
Again, another booty building technique that has stood the test of time.
Upping your training frequency and/or volume will almost always lead to more growth.
Add in a “butt day” as suggested at the beginning of this article, tack some extra glute work onto one of your upper body days or bring in an extra leg day that is a little more glute oriented.
Any of those options will serve you well on your quest for a bigger butt.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t send you off with something actionable to put into practice now wouldn’t I?
Without further ado…
BONUS BUTT BUILDING BLASTER
Below is a bonus of a butt day that you could either tack onto one of your upper body days (keep this separate from your normal leg day) or tackle it on it’s own. Keep your glute and leg day apart by 2-3 days, depending on your recovery levels.
Use normal tempos (think 2121), and keep your rest times at 50-60 seconds. Do your best to focus on moving through the entire range of motion whilst flexing your glutes as much as possible.
A1. Hip Thrusts from the Floor, Banded just below your knees 4 x 20-25
B1. Cable Pull-throughs 4 x 8-12
C1. Romanian Deadlifts 5 x 5
C2. Hyperextensions 5 x 10-15
*Take no more than 30 seconds to move from the RDL’s to hyperextensions
D1. Kettlebell Swings 3 x 20-30
*Essentially swing until you can’t swing anymore.
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Build a Booty – The Bottom Line
You’ve spent enough time working your butt off (literally) to see no results. It’s time to give up the gauntlet and lay waste to your pancake ass.
OBF Gyms is here to help you on your bigger booty building quest. Book an appointment and we’ll help you get started today.
Contact OBF Gyms for a complimentary assessment to get started with one of our trainers today!