Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kiel DiGiovanni, Co-founder
FACT CHECKED
Having a big booty has always been one of the holy grails in the gym. It helps accentuate the curves of a woman and screams power on a man. The problem is frequently that the term "booty workout" can invoke images of bands and ankle weights, as many plans offer. Well, your booty is the strongest muscle in the human body and needs big exercises to produce big results.
Our booty building workout plan is a no-joke training program to build strength and put on pounds of muscle to help fill out your pants and improve your performance.
Muscles In The Booty
The booty, more technically known as the glutes, is a collection of three different muscle groups on the posterior of the hips. Together, they work to extend the hips and manipulate the thigh. As mentioned, it's the most powerful muscle in the human body and plays a pivotal role in sprinting, squats, deadlifts, and looking good in a swimsuit.
Here's a breakdown of your 3 booty muscles.
Gluteus Maximus
- Origin: Gluteal surface of the ilium, lumbar fascia, sacrum, and sacrotuberous ligament
- Insertion: Gluteal tuberosity of the femur and iliotibial tract
The gluteus maximus is a powerful, large muscle and the most prominent of the three gluteal muscles. It's the strongest and plays a crucial role in the majority of performance movements. While it originates centrally from the pelvis and lower back, it extends laterally and downward, passing beneath the gluteus medius and attaching to the femur.
This positioning allows the gluteus maximus to serve multiple functions, including;
- Hip extension
- External rotation
- Thigh abduction.
Performance-wise, it's responsible for movements such as running, climbing stairs, and rising from a seated position. It also helps to stabilize the pelvis during various movements, contributing to lower body strength and stability.
Strengthening the gluteus maximus is (should be) a key focus in your training due to its role in athletic performance, overall health, and functional movement.
Related: 8 Best Gluteus Maximus Exercises
Gluteus Medius
- Origin: Gluteal surface of the ilium, located beneath the gluteus maximus
- Insertion: Greater trochanter of the femur
The gluteus medius is the second largest of the gluteal muscles, situated on the outer surface of the pelvis. Although smaller than the gluteus maximus, it stabilizes the hip and pelvis, particularly during walking, running, and lateral movements.
Unlike the gluteus maximus, which extends down to the femur, the medius remains primarily on the pelvis. This places it in a position to be primarily responsible for hip abduction (lifting the leg out to the side) and internal rotation. Further, the gluteus medius is responsible for stabilizing the hips and body while standing on one leg or walking. Without a strong gluteus medius, your hips would sag every time you took a step.
Strengthening exercises targeting the gluteus medius can also help prevent injuries by improving balance and reducing the risk of hip and knee problems. These exercises are single-leg movements such as single RDL, single-leg sit-to-stand, and pistol squats.
From an aesthetic perspective, the gluteus medius is essential for shaping the contours of the hips and creating a desirable silhouette. For many individuals, especially women, developing this muscle can enhance the appearance of the lateral pelvis, contributing to a rounded hip look.
Related: 10 Best Gluteus Medius Exercises
Gluteus Minimus
- Origin: Gluteal surface of the ilium, located beneath the gluteus maximus
- Insertion:Greater trochanter of the femur
As the name implies, the gluteus minimus is the smallest of the three gluteal muscles. It shares the same origins and insertions as the gluteus medius, which also gives it a similar function in assisting in hip abduction and internal rotation.
Despite its smaller size, the gluteus minimus still plays a crucial role in stabilizing the hip joint and maintaining proper pelvic alignment during movement. Strengthening this muscle can improve overall hip function and contribute to better athletic performance.
Exercises targeting the gluteus minimus are beneficial for aesthetics, injury prevention, and rehabilitation, as they help support the surrounding musculature and ensure balanced hip mechanics.
Related: 13 Best Gluteus Minimus Exercises
The Best Booty Exercises
Let's get to it! We will go over the best booty exercises to build your backside using the booty building workout plan below. At the same time, we'll also explain the program when needed, such as when supersetting exercises.
For your warm-up, get on the stair climber and climb some flights. Climbing stairs requires a hip extension to propel the entire body up a step or two, making it the perfect exercise for warm-ups.
If your glutes are a priority, use the stair climber every warm-up. It could also be your exercise of choice for your cardio work.
1. Barbell Hip Thrust
Your primary booty exercise, without a doubt, is going to be the barbell hip thrust. This is the exercise you choose if you can only pick one, and it should basically always be in your rotation if building your bum is a priority. In fact, some studies have shown that solely adding the barbell hip thrust to the women's training program caused a significant difference in the thickness of the glutes!¹
The barbell hip thrust is unique from every other exercise as it's the only exercise that places the load directly on the joint! During the barbell hip thrust, the barbell is placed in the crease of the hips and is propelled upwards due to hip extension by way of the glutes, specifically the gluteus medius.
2. Bulgarian Split Squat
The Bulgarian split squat is another fantastic booty builder. One reason is the deep stretch in the glutes as the body descends. Readers of SET FOR SET will have heard us speak about a phenomenon known as "stretch-mediated hypertrophy."²
This simply means that a loaded and contracted muscle, while in a greater stretch, sees more muscle growth. When performing the Bulgarian split squat, descending all the way to the floor causes a great stretch in the booty, which means awesome growth.
When you perform these, be sure your front leg is set up properly so it's vertical at the bottom of the movement. To target the glutes to a higher degree, as you descend, think about pushing your hips back as you go down. As you ascend, your glutes will have to pull your body forward, which means more booty activation!
3. Single-Leg Deadlift
As we mentioned above, the gluteus medius fires on overdrive during single-leg exercises, as it must contract to maintain balance and prevent the body from falling over. With the single-leg deadlift, you get the unilateral aspect and utilize hip extension.
As far as a loading mechanism, you're free to use a barbell, dumbbell, or kettlebell. Some people find dumbbells or kettlebells easier to perform, but it's up to you. We like performing these in the 6-8 rep range, using a slower tempo and really concentrating on getting the deepest stretch possible with good form.
4. Romanian Deadlifts
At the same time, you can rotate bilateral Romanian deadlifts in. These allow more weight, meaning greater strength gains.
If you're advanced, you can swap in deficit Romanian deadlifts. These are the same movements, but you must stand on an elevated surface as you perform them. This increases the stretch and ROM, which have been shown to increase glute activation in studies.³
Using both the single-leg and bilateral versions will increase variety and increase adaptations.
5. Cable Hip Abduction
Hip abduction and kickbacks (the next exercise) are unilateral exercises that isolate the glutes. Both can be performed with a cable machine and ankle attachment, making them super easy to superset.
Hip abduction is performed by extending the leg out laterally. Attach the cable and let it pull your leg so it crosses your other leg slightly to get maximum range of motion. Use a weight that allows 8-12 reps. This will really target the gluteus medius.
6. Kickbacks
You'll then perform kickbacks directly after. Kickbacks essentially involve hyper-extension by pulling your leg back behind your hips. Use lightweight so you can take your leg back as far as possible in a controlled motion.
7. Clamshells
Your last exercise will be another super set using clamshells and goblet-banded squats. Both movements use hip abduction, meaning your glutes will be on fire with this finisher.
You'll first use clamshells to isolate the gluteus medius by performing a set until 80-90% failure, ideally in the 8-12 rep range.
8. Goblet Banded Squats
When completed with the clamshells, you'll stand up with the band around your hips and perform banded goblet squats. During the goblet squat, your gluteus medius will be firing to keep your legs from caving in while the gluteus maximus is working to extend your hips.
Research on pre-exhausting a muscle isn't exactly clear on the benefits or if there is one. We know some research shows it can contribute to more hypertrophy, but this could simply be due to increased volume.⁴ But hey, growth is growth!
However, this should theoretically improve the glutes' workout as they'll already be exhausted from the clamshells, not to mention that this will be at the end of your booty workout!
Regardless, your goal on these is to burn out, so use a weight that allows at least 8-10 reps and go until you can't anymore (or your form breaks).
Booty Building Workout Plan
Before jumping into the workout you should complete a dynamic warmup plus 5 minutes on the stairclimber.
| EXERCISE | SETS | REPS |
| Stairclimber | 1 | 5 mins |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 3/1 | 6/6+Drop sets |
| Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 8-10/leg |
| Single Romanian Deadlift | 3 | 6-8/leg |
| Cable Hip Abduction x Kickbacks | 3 | 8-12/exercise |
| Clam Shells x Band Goblet Squat | 3 | RPE8-9 +failure |
| Stairclimber | 1 | 5 mins |
You'll perform 2-3 drop sets on your last set for the barbell hip thrust. If you feel good, you can follow a similar scheme for your other exercises, but you'd be good with just 1-2.
We also put an optional burnout session at the end. Get on the stair climber again and climb as high as possible in 5:00. To feel a burn, skip every other step.
This is a lot of volume, but we have found that most people's booty can handle it. Of all your muscles, the booty seems to handle high volume pretty well. However, you know your body, so you can make adjustments where necessary.
Nutrition For A Bigger Booty!
We've created an awesome program to build your glutes. However, the best booty workout in the world can only do so much if you don't eat to reap the benefits. Therefore, if you want your booty to grow, you must pair this workout with a proper diet.
Per calories, aim for a 300-500 caloric surplus; this will give your body the extra energy it needs to build new muscle. In terms of your macros, here are some basic guidelines;
- Protein: 1.6-2.2 g/kg
- Fat: 30-40% of your total calories
- Carbs: Fill in the rest.
Benefits Of Building Your Booty
You don't need a reason, but we're going to give you some! Here are the top reasons you need to include booty-specific training.
1. Aesthetics
The most obvious reason someone looks for a booty workout is for aesthetic purposes, and there's nothing wrong with that! Everyone wants to look good; for many people, the glutes can make or break a body. This doesn't mean everyone needs "more junk in the trunk," but having a defined set of glutes looks good on everyone.
The best way to build your booty and accentuate your look is to concentrate specifically on the glutes with a proper program.
2. Better Performance
After training your glutes, your backside will turn heads. At the same time, the improvements in your lifts will also turn heads! Let's not forget the glutes are the most powerful muscle in the human body and are your powerhouse. They're involved in almost every major movement pattern and will help you lift more, run faster, and jump higher.
Increasing the strength of the glutes has been repeatedly shown to improve a variety of athletic skills, such as sprinting, jumping, squats, deadlifts…almost everything! You simply can not excel in sports or lifting with a weak, small pair of glutes.
3. Stronger Body
Stronger glutes mean a stronger and healthier body. Your booty is the muscle that connects the upper body to the lower body and is the primary foundation for the legs. Think about living in a stilt house on the ocean. Those stilts are directly responsible for the safety of that house; there is no other way around it. We can make the same comparison to the glutes.
We already talked about how strong glutes improve performance. However, even if you don't care about performance, you probably care about health and living pain-free! Weak glutes are like the weak foundation of a house in the ocean. You will experience issues eventually as other muscles and joints are forced to compensate for a lacking booty. Things like back pain, hip pain, and knee pain. In fact, it's even been suggested that some neck pain could originate from weak glutes!
In other words, your stabilization and function are based on your glutes.
Wrap Up
The good thing about this booty-building workout plan is that it's still going to train your entire lower body. We simply used glute-centric exercises and various methods to concentrate on the glutes, but your quads and hamstrings will still get hit. This means if you really want to grow your glutes, this could simply be used as your lower body workout for 8-12 weeks or so. Or, you could also simply add a back squat to round out a lower body training program.
Check out our full collection of glute workouts!
References
- Witalo Kassiano, et al. “Addition of the Barbell Hip Thrust Elicits Greater Increases in Gluteus Maximus Muscle Thickness in Untrained Young Women.” International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, vol. 4, no. 1, 6 Sept. 2024, journal.iusca.org/index.php/Journal/article/view/284, https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v4i1.284. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
- Warneke, Konstantin, et al. “Physiology of Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy and Strength Increases: A Narrative Review.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 9 Aug. 2023, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37556026/, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01898-x.
- Coratella, Giuseppe, et al. “An Electromyographic Analysis of Romanian, Step-Romanian, and Stiff-Leg Deadlift: Implication for Resistance Training.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 19, no. 3, 8 Feb. 2022, p. 1903, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031903.
- Ribeiro, Alex S., et al. “Potential Role of Pre-Exhaustion Training in Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Review of the Literature.” Strength & Conditioning Journal, vol. 41, no. 1, 2019, pp. 75–80, journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2019/02000/Potential_Role_of_Pre_Exhaustion_Training_in.7.aspx, https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0000000000000418.
Garett Reid
Author