Bubble butts and booty trends may come and go, but one thing never goes out of style: a firm, lifted backside. That’s why we’ve put together these Bubble Butt Workouts. But first, let’s talk about glutes.
The truth is, your gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in your body, so strengthening and firming your rear does more for you than help you look hot in a pair of jeans.
Glute strength can help reduce hip and knee pain and protect your back from injury; it also improves your athletic performance in nearly any workout.
In this article, we’ll explain how the glute muscles work, why strong glutes are essential, and how to achieve that toned and lifted bubble butt with exercise, not over-the-top medical procedures.
(Yep, butt enhancement surgeries are one of the most common plastic surgery procedures around…and unnecessary!)
In this article:
- Anatomy of a firm butt
- Benefits of glute strength
- Full Bubble Butt Workout
- Basic Squat
- Skaters
- Jump Squat
- Resistance Band Butt Blaster
- Glute Bridges
- Plié Squats
- Cross Behind Lunges
- Free PDF Download: Bubble Butt Workout
Muscles To Work for a Firm Butt
How to get a bubble butt starts with understanding the mechanics of your powerful butt muscles.
When you think of toning your butt, you may picture the actual butt cheek itself, but there are a few different muscles responsible for creating a firm, lifted appearance.
Three muscles make up your rear:
- the gluteus maximus: the largest muscle in your body, which produces the shape of the buttocks and helps with hip and thigh movement.
- The gluteus medius: a fan-shaped muscle that assists in hip rotation.
- The gluteus minimus: a muscle that helps with thigh rotation.
Your hamstrings also extend up towards your glute muscles, making them a vital muscle to include in your next butt workout.
Hamstrings are a frequently overlooked muscle, but you need strong hamstrings to not only prevent injury to your hips but also create a lean, tight backside.
Why Glute Strength Is Important
All talk of bubble butts aside, glute strength is important for overall strength and fitness. As mentioned, your glutes are the largest muscle in your body, and they’re crucial for so many different movements concerning your hips and thighs.
Here are three reasons you need to strengthen your glutes in order to get a round butt:
1. A Firmer Buttocks Improves Your Posture
Most of us sit for long periods of time for work, and this causes the glute muscles to “turn off,” so to speak.
When our glutes aren’t firing effectively, our hip flexors tighten and shorten, which not only increases the chances for injuries to our hips and knees but can cause what’s known as “postural deviations” such as slouching.
Strong, activated glute muscles prevent this from happening and keep our postural alignment upright and healthy.
2. A Strong Buttocks Reduces Hip, Back, and Knee Pain
Strong glutes stabilize your pelvis and help protect your hips from injury. Similarly, when your hips are protected, your lower back is also free of pain.
When your pelvis is stable, it also takes the pressure off your knees and ankles, which can overcompensate otherwise. All around, strong glutes lead to a pain-free body.
Related: Sciatica Stretches to Relieve Pain Fast
3. Strong Glutes Improves Athletic Performance
Strong glutes are also crucial to athleticism: they boost your agility, speed, and overall athletic performance.
Especially if you’re a runner, strong glutes help propel you farther and faster, not to mention they reduce the impact your feet have to take every time they strike the ground.
Bubble butt exercises are more than aesthetic – they’re athletic!
The Best Bubble Butt Workouts
Now that you know the importance of working your glute muscles let’s get into the exercises for a curvy, round butt.
Squats are known for their ability to build beautiful backsides, but we’ve also added plyometric movements to this workout—plyometrics make a huge difference in building muscle quickly.
You can incorporate these movements into your existing workouts, or do them all together for one killer, butt-kicking workout!
If you do them all together, perform 8-10 repetitions of each exercise. These moves are all bodyweight except for the resistance band butt blaster—but this move can be modified without the resistance band, too.
7 Exercises To Get Round Glutes and A Firmer Buttocks
1. Basic Squat
- Stand tall with your feet hip-distance apart. Your hips, knees, and toes should all be facing forward.
- Bend your knees and extend your buttocks backward as if you are going to sit back into a chair. Make sure that you keep your knees behind your toes and your weight in your heels. Rise back up and repeat.
To learn more about the benefits of squats and other similar exercises, see our basic squat guide.
2. Skaters
- Start with your legs slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart and arms at the sides.
- Bring one leg behind at a slight angle into a reverse lunge. The front knee will come to a 90-degree angle.
- Swing the arms in front of that bent knee and leap the back leg forward to switch sides in a skating motion—arms alternate as you switch sides like a speed skater.
For more information on skaters, check out our skaters’ guide.
3. Jump Squats
- Start standing with feet hip-distance apart and lower into a squat position by bending the knees. Keep the spine straight, chest lifted, and knees behind toes. Arms are in front of the chest for balance.
- Jump straight up and swing arms overhead. Return to squat.
To learn more about calories burned and muscles worked when doing squat jumps, check out our squat jump article.
4. Resistance Band Butt Blaster
- Kneel on the floor and wrap band under the right foot, and place hands down under shoulders holding handles against the floor.
- Lift right knee off the floor slightly and push the right foot back to extend leg straight against the band, squeezing your glute.
- Release slowly, bringing the knee back into a bent position. Continue for desired reps and switch feet.
Note: You don’t have to use a resistance band if you don’t have one; it can easily be modified as bodyweight-only. Check out more information on resistance band workouts.
5. Glute Bridges
- Lie on back with bent knees hip-distance apart, and feet flat on mat stacked under the knees.
- Engage the core and squeeze your glutes as you lift your hips to a bridge. Hold, squeezing tight, and return to the mat with control. Repeat for the desired number of reps.
Want to learn more about glute bridges? Check out our awesome glute bridge article!
6. Plié Squats
- Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder distance apart and toes turned out into a 45-degree angle.
- Bend knees and lower your torso, keeping your back straight and abs tight.
- Squeeze your glutes and come to a standing position.
A firm booty is just one of the perks of this exercise. Check out more benefits of plié squats.
7. Cross Behind Lunges
- Begin standing with your feet hip-distance apart.
- Transfer your body weight onto your left leg and cross your right foot behind your left leg keeping your hips facing forward as you bend both knees and lower yourself toward the floor in a lunge. Keep your back straight, and chest lifted to keep your weight in the front leg. Step back to the start position and repeat on the other side.
Check out more helpful information on cross-behind lunges.
Want to save these moves, so you always know what exercises to do for a better butt? Download or print it here:
8 Comments
Kirei white on November 26, 2022 at 11:39 PM
Thank you guys for working for the community and helping us and giving people advice.
Shilo on February 25, 2021 at 12:48 PM
These are turning my life around! I have always been terrible at exercising due to childhood stuff and being bodyshamed and forced on diets my whole life by my mother. I'm comfortable with my body today but have never been happy at all with my butt. I luckily found this article right when I was ready to exercise just for me. And not to lose weight, just to shape myself in a way I am comfortable with. I have only been at this for less than 2 weeks, and I kid you not, both me and my wife can already see the difference taking shape! It's early still, so it's subtle. But for me, I definitely see the difference already. I have been sticking to this regimen religiously every 2nd day with a 30 minute walk everyday. Eating healthier foods at more consistent times throughout the day has now just come naturally! As I would HATE to hinder the work I've been doing! Now I find I'm waking up easier in the mornings, I'm sleeping better at night, my posture can remain upright all day (never happened in my life before this! Would always naturally slump by midday because my back couldn't handle the weight of my frame), and I have WAY more energy and motivation to do things throughout the day. An added bonus, is that I struggle with depression and anxiety, but I find those symptoms nearly non existent since getting into this routine. All this because I wanted to have a sexy bum!? Unreal! I have definitely caught the fitness bug finally. I totally understand how it is addicting now, and I never understood how that was possible before. So I'm not joking one bit when I say this changed my life! Thanks so much!
Projeto Você Feliz on November 9, 2020 at 6:37 PM
Awesome, informative content. Thanks!
Mandy Garcia on June 18, 2020 at 5:20 AM
Honestly, I always try to start doing these because I genuinely want a change but then I end up never following through :/ This time I think I’m going to be very strict on myself. One like=one day of motivation...so help me out.
Mykhaila on May 23, 2020 at 6:27 PM
Thank you for sharing this article. I really liked the information about the Glute muscles breakdown. I always thought that my butt consists just with one muscle lol :) Also, I recently started 30 Days Big Booty Challenge here: https://shinyhealthyyou.com/how-to-get-a-bubble-butt-in-1-month/ . I'll definitely add some exercises outlined in your article to my booty challenge to make it GROW! Thanks again!
Steve Archie on March 26, 2019 at 3:19 AM
Thanks for sharing these butt exercises. Great content.
Beth Horner on August 12, 2018 at 6:40 PM
Hi Chris, I used to take a lot of your classes at Lifetime in Plymouth when we lived there and always appreciated your positive motivation. I'm an avid exerciser, and regularly get your emails, and consistently read them. I love the detail, the explanations, the recipes and constant encouragement you provide. Thank you for everything Chris. Beth Horner
Chris Freytag on August 13, 2018 at 10:11 AM
Aww, Beth - thank you so much for your sweet words!! We're so glad to have you as part of this community!