13 Butt-Sculpting Exercises for Stronger Glutes

Here at Byrdie, we're always promoting body positivity. Even if you already love and appreciate your body no matter what size or shape it is—as well you should!—there still might be certain areas you’re looking to tone up or strengthen. A popular place for many is the butt, and there’s no shame in wanting to firm and perk up your bottom. Fortunately, there are several effective exercises aside from your basic squats that target your backside.

We called on a few of our favorite professional trainers to help us design a plan to get a bigger, perkier, and stronger butt.

Keep scrolling to learn the 13 best butt-sculpting moves to give you the strong and perky backside you’ve always wanted with how-to videos from fitness trainer Traci Copeland.

Safety and Precautions

In general, our experts share that these butt-sculpting moves should be safe for everyone. However, if you have any lower-body or back injuries, you should consult your doctor, physical therapist, or a certified personal trainer before attempting the moves. And, across the board, if you experience any pain or discomfort during an exercise, stop immediately.

Be sure to progress the amount of targeted exercise you do gradually to try to prevent excessive soreness and injury. For example, try just two or three exercises on the first day, then give yourself a day or two off. Add one additional exercise to your routine at a time, taking rest days in between as needed.

To try to prevent lower-back strain, focus on consciously engaging your glutes and core during each movement, and use proper posture and form. Avoid rounding your back. Lastly, when using weights, always wear proper footwear, like supportive training shoes.

Myths

Our experts say it’s a myth that a particular exercise will sculpt everyone’s bottom the same way and with the same results. Just as our bodies are all unique, so, too, are the shapes of our butts. For example, some of us have more of a square-shaped bum, while others are more round. Then there are heart-shaped butts and V-shaped butts. And while all of the exercises included here will provide bum-firming and strengthening benefits, according to our experts, you can actually tailor your butt-sculpting workouts to your particular butt shape.

Square and heart shapes both benefit from lifting the butt. “The best exercises to perk up the heart shape and round it out a bit are lateral movements that attack the gluteus medius, which sits higher, closer to your waist,” Quimbo says. This muscle can be targeted with some of the side-lying exercises and those with lateral movements. People with square-shaped butts also benefit from targeting the waist, which Quimbo says you can do by adding rotation. “When you add rotation to your lunges and legwork, you’re working your waist as well, which [can] help to trim down the love-handle area. Two of my favorite exercises are a forward lunge with rotation and a curtsy lunge. Other than hitting your butt, these will target your waist, abs, obliques, and lower back as well,” Quimbo says.

“With the round shape, the goal is just to maintain the shape with a great overall program,” says Quimbo. Lastly, to round out the V-shaped butt, you need to fire up that gluteus maximus (the posterior glute muscles that give your butt a little more lift and pop). Quimbo suggests exercises that also focus on hip range of motion, which can tone and plump up the outer parts of the bum.

Meanwhile, McCombs reminds us that you can’t target fat in a specific area; you can only strengthen and grow the muscles in that area, which can create a more trimmed appearance. “More often, your muscles will hypertrophy, or grow in size, if you target one muscle,” she says. “This can give a slimming or trimming effect if tied in with nutrition and a full-body exercise routine that puts you in a caloric deficit.”