Try one of our tips and build the butt of your dreams!

Ass. One of the most noticed parts of the body, and not just the female one! Especially in the fitness community, a well-developed butt gets a lot of attention. Let's face it, almost everyone wants a round and firm butt. It just takes a lot of diligence, effort and perseverance to build it up. If you are looking for a guaranteed recipe how to get it, we won't give you that, but we will give you some useful tips and exercises that will be appreciated not only by ladies, but certainly also by our male readers.

If you say round butt and exercises, surely 90% of you will think of the squat. The squat is undoubtedly a very effective butt building exercise, but it definitely cannot be called the best one ever. In fact, as is the way in fitness, there is generally no one best exercise. In order to determine it, many tests would have to be done, the effect of many exercises on muscle growth would have to be compared, many subjects would have to be studied (by gender, age, length of training), etc. But as we already know, what is best for one person may not suit anyone else.

After all, not everyone has the genetic and anatomical disposition to squat heavily, others can't do deadlifts because of their backs, etc. It's also important to remember that if you want a round and firm butt, you need to load it from multiple angles, with different exercises of varying loads and repetitions, When doing classic exercises like squats or deadlifts, which are great butt exercises, some people simply engage mostly the thighs or hamstrings instead of the butt. A perfect tight butt posture is not just about squats! So we'll skip those in today's list of effective exercises and look at some other effective exercises you can use when training your butt.

Article Content:

• Lunges
• Hip thrust
• Pistol squats
• Glute bridge
• A few small tips to finish

Lunges

Lunges are probably the first exercise you'll think of in conjunction with the butt after the squat. Don't be. When performed correctly, lunges are a really awesome exercise for your butt. When performing them, stride length and depth are important. The stride should be long enough so that your knees don't overtake the toes of your feet tremendously, and deep so that your knee goes as low to the ground as possible, but be careful - not touching. The movement should be done through the heels, i.e. with the whole foot on the ground.

If you are bored with the classic dumbbell back lunges, don't despair! Try one of the countless other variations of this exercise. For example, standing lunges, standing backwards leg lunges, lunges on the smith machine, sideways lunges, lunges with the barbell overhead, with the one-armed dumbbells, with the resistance band - in short, the variations that belong to this exercise are perhaps endless! Try, change, invent.

Hip thrust

And let's take a look at one of the most effective, albeit perhaps strange looking, exercises. Yes, we're talking about hip-thrusts, or lifting the pelvis with a large barbell. But right off the bat, we have to say that this exercise is definitely not just for women! For example, Dwayne Johnson, known as "The Rock", incorporates it into his workouts very often. This exercise is part of the training not only of top bodybuilders, but also of athletes, wrestlers, American football players, or even basketball players.

The hip-thrust is considered to be one of the best butt exercises ever, but beware, the involvement of the butt muscles definitely doesn't stop there! The hip-thrust also activates the thighs, hamstrings and adductors, which are also very neglected body parts. In addition, the load exerted on the joints, spine and lower back is not as significant as, for example, when performing a squat with a barbell. This allows for a truly maximum involvement of the buttocks muscles.

In addition, this exercise is a great "motivator". What this means is that you will still feel the muscles while performing it and you will still be able to add weight! What's more? The results will surely be visible. Many people (especially gentlemen) may not feel the most comfortable when performing this exercise... But it really is worth it to persevere and survive the initial discomfort. Work on your technique and you will see that not only your butt will thank you!

Incorporating hip-thrusts will not only do a good service to your butt, but also work on improving your acceleration, strength, and since the butt is the source of many of the movements we make in the lower body, starting with walking, you will also work on improving the mechanism of engagement of the lower extremities. It can be performed in many modifications. With your own weight, with a rubber band, with a barbell, with a disc - in short, everyone will find a variation that suits them.

Thanks to the fact that the hip-thrust activates not only the butt, but also the hamstrings, quadriceps and adductors, it is a great tool for your squats and deadlifts and can help you significantly improve your performance when performing them. Furthermore, by performing this exercise you can also learn to control the position of your pelvis and spine so that there is as little bending as possible, which is also useful when performing other exercises. For example, you can use a large ball or bosu instead of a bench to increase the load. So let's describe the basic variation with a large barbell using a bench.

The bottom position of the exercise

It is advisable to support the dumbbell (for example, with a towel or foam pad), because if you load more weight, it will be very uncomfortable to have a heavy dumbbell directly on top of you, which will push you and the pain of performing it could prevent full range or more reps. Sit on the floor in front of the bench and roll the dumbbell on top of you. Take a deep breath, tighten your mid-body and slowly lift the dumbbell so that your feet are all the way on the ground!

No heel lifting. So now we are in the top position, with the dumbbell off the ground. Be sure to be precise! The movement must be slow, controlled and fluid, no swings or speed. Concentrate on actually engaging the butt, not the lower back or thighs. In the top position, still finish the movement with a good butt squeeze. Next, be careful not to let the barbell slide forward or backward, keeping it in one position. Perform the movement as high as your hips will allow, but keep your spine neutral. This is ideally in the top position so that the body is parallel to the ground. Release the dumbbell back again in a slow controlled movement.

Upper position of the exercise with the spine in a flat position

The exercise can be performed by placing the dumbbell all the way on the ground in the lower position and starting again, or by stopping just above the ground with the dumbbell and pushing it back up again in a slow, smooth motion, keeping the butt muscles in constant tension. And you're going to give your butt a real workout.

Common mistakes:

• Neck position
• Excessive weight
• Arching in the back
• Heel lifting

Pistol squats

The pistol squat, or single leg squat, is another great exercise that will really give your butt a workout. Generally exercises where you exercise one side of your body first in isolation and then the other are very effective! The pistol squat is a variation of the single leg squat where you have one leg extended in front of your body. This exercise looks easy, but it's not that fun to perform. Use a bench, ladder, axle or trx for support.

Stand at the fulcrum, lift one leg, and begin to bend the knee of the leg you are standing on until you are in a position that your body will allow. It may not be great at first, but patience and practice makes perfect! Be careful to keep your heel on the ground. That's why, in the beginning, use a fulcrum to hold yourself in the down position. In the top position, clench your butt again!

Glute bridge

This exercise probably also needs no lengthy introduction. Even its unloaded version is a great option for activating the glutes, which you can also do at home in front of the TV or use when stretching. However, when you use some additional weight, the exercise takes on a whole new dimension. The bridge, or glute bridge, is actually such a simplified version of the hip-thrust. Its disadvantage over the hip-thrust is the reduced range of motion.

But it's still effective, of course. It's very important that your midsection is really toned and that the execution of the exercise is really just using your butt, not your lower back and hamstrings. Additionally, if you pause in the top position and give your butt a good squeeze, you'll increase the load a little more.

There are, of course, a bunch of other exercises - if you're interested in a follow-up piece, we'll list some more.

A couple of little tips to finish up

Avoid long cardio. A long cardio workout of the same intensity will definitely not help you in building your butt muscles, and quite possibly hurt them. Even for burning fat, long cardio focused on the butt is not exactly twice as effective. Targeted cardio where the butt is involved will not remove fat from it - as has been mentioned countless times -IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO REDUCE FAT LOCALLY. Period. IF you want to use cardio with butt involvement, try stairs, for example, or walking uphill. But if you use HIIT, you'll burn fat more efficiently.

Genetics. Whether you want to or not, butt shape is also very much a matter of genetics. Look at your parents and grandparents - you'll probably have the same shaped butt. And just like with your calves, or where you store fat, there's not much you can do about genetics when it comes to your butt. Which is definitely not an instruction not to work on your butt! You can do a lot with training and diet, but you simply can't affect genetics very much.

Even if you have a bigger butt, definitely don'tbe afraid to use some extra added weight. It's the same as with any other muscle. You don't have to worry about your butt growing to gigantic proportions (unless you have it genetically :)) and if you add weight, you'll burn more calories.

Watch out for overloading. We said in the first paragraph that a firm and round butt is a dream for many of us... but again, don't overdo it! The butt is a muscle like any other. If you overload it, it needs time to recover! So if you exercise your butt every day, definitely don't expect miraculous results, but maybe more like uncomfortable pain and exhaustion. It is optimal to exercise the buttocks once, twice or three times a week at most.

There is no one single best exercise for the butt. Alternate, load the muscles from many angles, try new things. The butt isn't just about squats, there are many other great exercises - even isolation exercises - that will engage your butt and keep it properly honoured for the next three days.

Patience bears fruit. Just as it is with fat reduction, or other muscle growth, the same is true here - BE PATIENT AND DON'T MOVE EVERYTHING. It takes a really long time to build muscle, make sure you have the right technique of performing exercises, enough nutrition and recovery and hang in there!