How to Lift Your Butt

Co-authored by Laila Ajani

Last Updated: November 18, 2024 Approved

Toning your buttocks requires the use of fat burning and strength training exercises. Many of the moves used in barre classes and cardio burn classes use your own body weight to burn fat and sculpt your buttocks. Using exercises that work your thighs, hips and butt together will improve the overall shape of your buttocks and thigh region, making your torso look tighter and leaner. Do these exercises every other day to help lift your butt.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Using Body Weight Exercises to Tone Your Butt

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Do squats.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Laila Ajani
Fitness Trainer

Expert Interview. 31 October 2019.} Doing squats is a great exercise not only to tone and lift your buttocks, but also to help build overall lower body strength. To do squats:
- Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Your feet should be facing forward, rather than turned out to the side. Tighten your stomach muscles for stability.
- Place your hands in a prayer position, with the palms touching. They should be parallel to your chest, but not touching.
- Bend your knees and squat down as if you were going to sit on a chair. Stop when your thighs are parallel to the ground.
- Be careful that you squat downward, rather than forward. Perform your first squats sideways in front of a mirror, so that you can check your knees and the curvature of your back.
- Pause at the bottom. Then, rise again squeezing your buttocks as you stand. You should feel your gluteal muscles and upper thighs working to lift you to a standing position.
- Repeat this exercise in reps of 10-20. Keep in mind that squats are a strength training and cardio exercise so they should be difficult. Reduce the repetitions to 10 if you cannot keep the proper form throughout the exercise.
- Increase the intensity of this butt-lifting exercise by adding hand weights. Use 2 to 5 lb hand weights and hold them down at your sides as you squat down.
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Try plie exercises. The plie is actually an exercise that got it's start in ballet studios. A common exercise for dancers, doing plies is another great exercise to lift your butt.^{[2]
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- Move your feet out so that they are slightly wider than hip width apart. Your toes should be turned outwards away from your body at about a 45 degree angle.
- Check whether you are in proper position by ensuring your knees line up with your second toes. If they do not, turn out your feet less. Your knees must track over the second toe to keep the pressure from falling into the knee joint.
- Raise your arms out to the sides so they are parallel to the floor, like a ballet dancer, as you squat down until your thighs are parallel with the floor. If you cannot plie to a parallel position, do a smaller move and work toward the full squat.
- Pause at the bottom. Then, slowly lift yourself back up to a straight position squeezing your glutes as you come back up to the starting position.
- Repeat the exercise 10 to 20 times. You can increase the intensity by holding a kettle bell with both hands. The process of turning out the legs will concentrate the effort in a different part of the glutes.
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Do lunges.^{[3]
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Expert Source

Laila Ajani
Fitness Trainer

Expert Interview. 31 October 2019.} A common exercise to strength and tone your lower body, the lunge is one of the best moves to tone your butt.^{[4]
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- Stand with feet at hip width again. Make sure you have plenty of space to the front and back of you for this particular exercise.
- Reach one leg back several feet. Bend the knee of your back leg until it almost touches the ground. Your front knee should be in a straight line with your front foot.
- Pause at the bottom of the lunge, and then return to the original position by pushing with your front leg back to a standing position.
- Repeat 10 times switching between each leg.
- You may want to consider holding light dumbbells in each hand to increase the intensity of this exercise.
4
Add standing hip extensions. This is an easy move that you can do anywhere and requires no weights. It's great to help isolate your butt muscles.^{[5]
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- Stand with feet hip width apart holding gently onto the back of a chair. Lift your right leg straight back with your foot flexed. Lift until your leg is almost at hip height.
- Bend your left knee slightly so that it can stabilize you.
- Lower your right leg down until your toes almost touch the ground and then repeat the exercise.
- Repeat the exercise 10 to 20 times on your right leg. Then, switch to your left leg.
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Do clam digs. This is a unique exercise that isolates the outside muscles of your buttocks.
- Lay down on an exercise mat. Lay on your left side first, with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and slightly in front of you.
- Rest your head on your left arm. Focus on flexing your stomach in and keeping your hips and back in the same position during this entire exercise.
- While keeping your feet together, lift your right knee up and back towards your hips as far as you can while keeping your hips stacked. You should feel this in the side of your butt.
- Pause at the top and slowly lower. The movement should look like the closing and opening of a clam shell. Repeat 10 to 20 times on each side.
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Incorporate the bridge pose.^{[6]
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Expert Source

Laila Ajani
Fitness Trainer

Expert Interview. 31 October 2019.} This particular exercise works not only your butt muscles, but also the back of your legs and lower back.^{[7]
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- To start, lay down on your back on an exercise mat. Bend your knees at a 90 degree angel in front of you with your feet flat on the ground.
- Lay your arms in a relaxed position by the side of your body. Tighten your core muscles throughout the exercise.
- Lift your butt up towards the ceiling, pressing through your pelvis. Lift until your body is in a straight line.
- Squeeze your buttocks as you pause for a second as you hold the bridge position, then lower back down to the floor. Do this exercise about 10-20 times.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Using Cardio Exercises to Help Tone Your Butt

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1
Go for a run. Studies have showed that some cardio exercises work your gluteal muscles more than others.^{[8]
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Research source} The treadmill or jogging was ranked as number 1.
- Jogging is a great cardio exercise that not only lifts your butt muscles, but can help you burn fat to help you look more toned overall.
- When you're jogging, make sure you focus on running heel to toe. This is the appropriate form for running.
- To take jogging to the next level, increase the incline on the treadmill or find a hilly route to run.^{[9]
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Bike. Another butt kicking and toning cardio activity is spinning or using a stationary bike. This high intensity exercise will be an excellent aerobic exercise but also helps tone your butt and legs.^{[10]
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- Use a stationary bike (not a recumbent) at your local gym. Take it slow if you're a beginner.
- To help really work your butt, push down forcefully on the pedals as you bike.^{[11]
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- It's actually a myth that spinning makes your legs bigger or thicker. Overall, it generally helps slim down your legs.^{[12]
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Hop on the elliptical. Another cardio machine that was ranked as activating your butt muscles was the elliptical.^{[13]
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Research source} Although not as good as jogging, the elliptical is a low-impact machine that can tone your butt.
- When you're using the elliptical, help isolate your butt muscles by sticking your butt out slightly and pushing down hard with the heels of your feet.^{[14]
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- You can increase the resistance of the elliptical to make it more difficult.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Taking Classes that Help Lift Your Butt

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1
Try yoga or pilates. Yoga and pilates are strengthening classes that use your own body weight to help you strengthen, tone and elongate your muscles.
- There are a variety of poses in both pilates and yoga that specifically target your buttocks and lower body.
- Classes range from 45-60 minutes in general. Take a beginners or introductory course if you haven't tried it before.
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Take a barre class. Barre classes are fairly new to the gym class scene. It is based on ballet dance moves and also incorporates some yoga, pilates and light hand weights.
- As with yoga and pilates, barre class will focus on a variety of exercises. Some focus exclusively on targeting the buttocks. For example, the plie exercise is done frequently at barre classes.
- Barre classes are a great class for both beginners and advanced fitness-goers as the poses are easily adaptable to any skill level.
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Take a kick boxing class. Many gyms and fitness centers also offer kickboxing classes. These are high intensity cardio classes whose moves are great for toning your thighs and butt.
- Kickboxing involves a variety of moves based on martial arts. Many of the kicks require strength from your glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings.
- In addition to toning your butt, kickboxing may burn up to 350 calories an hour.

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Expert Q&A

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Question

What exercises can I do at home to make my glutes look tighter?

Laila Ajani
Fitness Trainer
Laila Ajani is a Fitness Trainer and founder of Push Personal Fitness, a personal training organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over 13 years as a trainer and exercise specialist, Laila has expertise in competitive athletics (gymnastics, powerlifting, and tennis), personal training, distance running, and Olympic lifting. Laila is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), and USA Powerlifting (USAPL), and she is a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES).

Laila Ajani

Fitness Trainer

Expert Answer

Squats with weights work really well to target your glutes. You can also try doing glute bridges or incorporating deadlifts into your routine.

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