A nice booty is a rare thing these days. When you train people all day long, you get a good sense of what a nice butt looks like – male or female. One time as I sat at the mall waiting for my girlfriend to complete her shopping extravaganza I counted the number of “great butts” that walked by. Out of 100 individuals (females and males) who passed me by, there wasn’t a single butt that I would consider “great!” I counted 8 “good butts,” but no “great butts.”
I think that I speak for almost all men when I say that I can certainly appreciate a nice booty! While often a nice booty is a factor of genetics, it is also a factor of hard work. A nice booty needs just the right amount of muscular shape and bodyfat. A nice booty is usually the result of lots of hard work in the form of sports, strength training, and/or dancing. Stop being active and your glutes will slowly start to atrophy away. The good news is that everyone can dramatically improve the shape of their butts.
Lifts
When I had my training studio called Lifts, I was turning out nice butts left and right. Seriously, Lifts was a butt-shaping haven. During my two-year lease, I had four different males show up at my studio who simply wanted to shake my hand and thank me for whatever it is I was doing to get their girlfriends’/wives’ butts looking so great. They’d say, “I don’t know what you’re doing but just please keep doing it!”
Here is a picture of one of my client’s gluteal progression over the course of a year (yes, she also got breast-enhancement surgery):
Personal Training or Home Workout?
A workout supervised by a good coach or personal trainer will always trump a workout that can be done at home. A good trainer/coach knows how to perfect your form, get the right muscles activating, improve your mobility, and strengthen the right muscles so your body can look its best. A good trainer knows how to hold you accountable and motivate you to achieve incredible workouts.
However, there are many individuals out there who can’t afford a personal trainer or even a gym membership for that matter. There are also individuals who are self-conscious and do not want to work out in public. Finally, there are people who are confined to their houses because they are raising kids or working around the clock. For these people, I filmed this video to provide a butt-sculpting workout that can done in the convenience of one’s own home.
Home Butt Workout
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK7zIUBH6Z0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]It’s Not Just About Doing the Exercises; it’s About Getting Much Stronger
The biggest two mistakes that people make when trying to improve the shape of their butts is that they never learn how to use their glutes in the first place and they assume that just because they are doing glute exercises their gluteal appearance will improve. You can’t just do the same workout week-in, week-out. You have to do more over time. You must push yourself to reach new personal bests. Each month you should be stronger than the previous month. Do this, and you’ll be very happy with your glutes!
Spread the Word!
If you stumble across this blog, send it to as many woman as you can. Nearly every woman I know wishes her butt looked better. If she performs the following weekly workout, her butt will begin to look better very quickly:
Do 2 sets of each exercise:
Day One
hip flexor stretches
glute bridges
side lying clams
bird dogs
Bulgarian squats
Day Two
hip flexor stretches
quadruped hip extensions
side lying abductions
prisoner full squats
hip thrusts
Day Three
hip flexor stretches
single leg glute bridges
quadruped hip circles
high step ups
single leg hip thrusts
I have a dream. A dream that people will work hard and take pride in the appearance of their glutes. A dream that I can go to a mall, beach, or airport and see an abundance of nice butts. A world full of better butts is a better world indeed! I hope you enjoyed the blog.
Nice post.
Been on the American Apparel website lately?
No. Why?
Bret,
On the Bulgarian Split Squats, do you ever use a 1 and 1/4 (all the way down, back up a quarter of the way, down, and all the way back up) or “stutter” technique (down, back up a quarter of the way and back down say 3 times, and then all the way back up to equal 1 “rep”) to place further emphasis on the portion that stresses the glutes the most in that movement? (for those who are ready for that, of course)
Just curious if you see value in that or think it is trying to get “too cute” with things.
Thanks for all the quality content you share.
Ron,
In theory I like things like 1 1/4 reps, isoholds, slow eccentrics, etc. but I never seem to devote too much attention to them. I’ve had some of my clients do 1 1/4 reps in the past but I never “stuck” with them. I tend to be more creative with my exercises than with my rep styles. But I certainly can’t say anything bad about 1 1/4 reps and have no problem if a trainer likes to utilize them. I’ve certainly been guilty of being “too cute” before, but I’d argue that you have to try all sorts of things to figure out what works and what doesn’t. So in order to be a good trainer you’ll get “too cute” every once in a while. So don’t ever sweat it if you get too cute here and there. The good thing is that the clients don’t usually mind, as they like trying new things. Haha!
Glad you like the blog and thanks for the kind words.
Bret
This looks like an awesome workout! Can’t wait to try it! Can you give me any advice regarding the addition of weights with this workout? What rep range should I be aiming for? Thanks!
Iris,
Even if you consider yourself “advanced,” perform the workout with just bodyweight for the first week. Focus on really squeezing the glutes. You want to develop a good mind/muscle connection over time.
During the second week, begin to add weight.
I would stay in the 10-20 rep range for hypertrophy, as the glutes have tons of slow-twich muscle fibers (68%) and most bodybuilders have seen more muscle growth with higher rep ranges, especially for the lower body musculature.
So hold onto dumbbells, place a dumbbell in your lap, wear ankle weights, use bands, etc., but make sure you keep really good form and don’t go too heavy to where you can’t perform at least 10 reps.
Hope that helps!
Great post! I dig the single leg hip thrusts. That’s some brutal buns-workin’ work!
Thanks Nick! Guys always think that these are “pussy” exercises but some of them are brutal!
THANK YOU for this site and your ebook, Bret! I can’t remember how I stumbled upon it, but I’m thrilled. As a “white girl with a desk job and long limbs,” having great glutes is working against the force of nature, but I am winning… mostly. I think your techniques are going to sky-rocket my progress. Having the best glutes is always my goal, but I have always felt like something is missing with the standard “squat, deadlift, and lunge” mantra I read everywhere. I did my first weighted hip thrusts and glute bridges today and plan to include them in my training for the rest of my life. I eagerly await having to buy new pants 🙂
You’re very welcome Jessica! Keep working hard to develop an extreme “mind-muscle connection” as the bodybuilders would say (learn to feel the glutes maximally contracting with each rep) and keep getting stronger at hip thrusts. Eventually your glutes will be the talk of the town!
Brett, how do you incorporate this glute workout into the rest of a training program? Would you do this in addition to exercises for the rest of the body?
Is the program you sell a full-body program or is it strictly glute exercises?
Jody,
This is just a home-workout. When I train people, I may start them off with some of these exercises but the goal is to progress them to harder variations or get them using resistance.
Many of my healthy, younger female clients are doing barbell squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts, in addition to Bulgarian squats, lunges, high step ups, single leg hip thrusts, 45 degree hypers, reverse hypers, pendulum donkey kicks, and glute ham raises.
I’ll still have them do some bodyweight and band glute-activation stuff at the beginning of the workout, but the goal is to get them strong over time.
The eBook I sell has programs in it but it also has a ton of new exercise variations, information on the glutes, EMG data and charts, etc.
Hope that answers your questions,
Bret
Is it ok to add these exercises to kettlebell training?? I do lots of kettlebell swings, goblet squats and lunges. They used to work my glutes fine, but I feel like their shape is not improving lately even though I am getting stronger at them. Thanks
Bret, I’m married to a man who is a big narcissist but also MMA trainer. He thinks only his training will make my body look great. That alone offends me because I know that I haven’t been reading up on bullshit. Moreover, I trained with him for years. It results in a slightly better body but mostly bruises, scars, pain and injuries. Also I hate the way he treats his students. That’s why I’ve been holding his training off for as long as i can, and doing your workouts as often as possible. I have to do them secretly though, and don’t always get the opportunity (only about once a week). I wish I lived in the USA so I could come and train with you personally! Honestly, within about a week I already had better legs by just squatting a lot. Now I’m changing it up with hip thrusts n stuff. We have no money, so I mcGyver most of the equipment. Love your work! I’m so grateful for the knowledge you share!!