Having a defined glutes is all the rage, but building a dump truck has major benefits besides aesthetic reasons.
I was mindlessly scrolling Facebook the other day and in a plus-size group, someone was mentioning they’re happy with the body they’re in, but have a flat backside and wanted to build it up. There were already tens of comments, so I thought, let me see what others are recommending, maybe I can add to it or it’s already covered.
I saw comments ranging from Bulgarian split squats to walking lunges, to “There’s no point, I just gave up trying”.
While the first two exercises are good for building up your backside – they are not exercises I’d ever recommend as a beginner… I also would never recommend giving up, but I think that’s obvious considering my profession. So I made a YouTube video with 3 beginner movements that are essential booty-building basics that you can do from home, click here to watch it.
But I want to get a bit deeper into the glutes here, so let’s talk about why we want to build our glutes up, besides obvious aesthetic reasons, what the glutes are, and of course, 3 exercises we can do for some booty-building basics.
Understanding what the glutes do, and why we should care
The glutes are one of the most powerful muscle groups in the human body, but also can be the hardest muscle to grow. Proper muscle activation, genetics, recovery and range of motion are just some of the reasons that can be hard to build that bubble butt. Not only that, but we’re always sitting on them! This means our glutes and hamstrings are lengthened and loose, but even with walking, it isn’t enough to strengthen these large muscles.
The gluteal muscle group comprises of three separate muscles — the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus. These muscles help us walk, run, jump and sit through all the hips movements; extension, flexion, abduction, adduction, and internal and external rotation. And of course not to mention, this muscle group helps with stabilization and posture of our bodies.
The gluteus maximus is the largest and heaviest muscle in the body, and gives off that curvaceous aesthetic. Beyond how it looks, it can generate a large amount of force, and can help our posture and rotate our hips. It can be strengthened through flexion and extension movements such as squats, deadlifts, and lunges.
Our gluteus medius and minimus on the other hand, are smaller and sit beside each other, underneath the glute maximus. The medius, the larger of the two, helps prevent the opposite side of the pelvis from dropping during activities such as walking, running or anything with single-weight bearing movement. The minimus meanwhile is a major contributor to hip abduction (moving your leg away from your midline), and also turns on during single leg support to help the pelvis from dropping. These two muscles can be activated through abduction and adduction exercises.
Whether we want to improve our posture, prevent injury, improve athletic performance or just have a cute peach — these muscles support our bodies through stabilization and are meant to carry the majority of work our lower body does.
3 booty-building basics for a stronger backside
Before getting into these 3 exercises, remember the importance of warming up. Take your time moving through these booty-building basics, and listen to your body!
Single Leg Deadlift
Reminder all these GIFs are always sped up – take your time finding how it works for you!
- Starting in a standing position, have a soft bend in your right leg
- Lift your left leg up to your chest with foot flexed
- Slowly, bring your leg behind you as you hinge your chest forward – this is the same movement as a classic deadlift, only now one leg is moving behind you
- Keep your hips square by making sure your flexed foot is pointing to the ground, and not open to the side
- Slowly bring your straight leg back down and chest up, like a pendulum. Repeat 4-6x on each leg
Variation tip: Use a chair to the side of you for balance support, or add weights if you’re ready to level it up!
Offset Squat
- From standing, take one foot back on your toes
- With control sink down as you would for a normal squat – this type of squat takes a lot of joint pressure off the knees, but stay mindful
- Engage your glutes as you push up with power
- Repeat 6-8x for each leg
Variation tip: Feel free to add a chair for balance support, and/or add a twist towards the back leg while you’re down in the deepest position.
Curtsy Squat
- Similar to the offset squat, start standing but this time cross one of your legs behind you
- Simultaneously bend both knees, thinking of dropping the back knee towards the ground like a squat (it doesn’t have to come all the way down if it doesn’t feel good to)
- Squeeze your glutes as you rise up, and repeat 6-8x each leg
Variation tip: If the single leg deadlift tested your balance, this will be just as much! Like the other movements, opt for a chair for balance support. When and if you feel ready, you can hold onto some dumbbells as you do these movements.
Do these, and your booty will be burning but in the best way possible! If you want a follow-along version of these movements, you’re in luck – l recently dropped a new YouTube video on these exact 3 movements so you can get all the cues and do it alongside me!
And remember, this is just a start with booty-building basics! Look to add in even more movements that have you strengthening your hips in all the direction and ways it can move – and you’ll have a dumptruck in no time.
