Knowledge is power. And this could not be more true when it comes to building a bigger butt. You see, there are a billion and one bigger butt workouts for you to try out. They’re all over YouTube, each one promising to lift, tone, firm, tighten, and enlarge that booty in just a few minutes of sweaty labor…but how do you know which ones are actually going to work for your bum?

This is where knowledge comes in handy. In order to get an idea of the best bigger butt workouts that will expand your booty – you’ll first need to get familiar with that gorgeous behind of yours.

Meet Your Butt

If you – like us – spend a lot of your time thinking about your butt, you might think you already know a lot about it. But most of us actually only see the surface. We look at a butt and say it is fat, flat, perky, saggy, etc – without a second thought to what makes a butt look the way it does. 

You see, every butt may look different but all of them – be they fat, perky, small, saggy, or plump and perfectly round – are made of the same two components: fat and muscle.

Fat is that lovely component that gives your derriere a beautiful jiggle when you walk but muscle – oh, muscle – is everything else. Muscle is what directly determines the shape, firmness and beauty of your butt. Weak and neglected butt muscles lead to saggy, flabby butts while a pair of well-toned butt muscles give your booty that firm, round, perky, “pop-out” look we all desire. Muscle determines how the fat on your behind will be arranged. Will it sag with nothing to hold it up? Or will it sit solidly (and perkily) atop your shapely butt muscles?

Think of muscles as the cake and fat as the frosting on top – frosting’s obviously a huge highlight, but without the cake, it’s really got nothing to hold it in place. Same thing with your butt – without the right muscle structure to support it, all the butt fat in the world won’t give you a gorgeous, shapely bum.

So how do you go about building up your precious butt muscles?

The first step is knowing what they are.

Say Hello to the Big Three

#1. Gluteus Maximus: This one is, by far, the most well-known butt muscle – and with good reason. It is the largest muscle group in your entire body, after all. Not to mention, it makes up the majority of your bum. This is obviously a must-target muscle since building up your gluteus maximus will directly lead to a bigger butt.

But keep in mind that this muscle needs targeted attention to grow – it’s not used when you’re just standing around and it’s only minimally used in walking. It is more active when you’re engaged in more intense workouts, like running and climbing, but to really give it a proper burn – you need laser-focused workouts that specifically hit your gluteus maximus, like…

What turns it on? Squats, deadlifts, and sideways, front, and transverse lunges are the most effective in recruiting your gluteus maximus and giving it a damn good muscle-building workout.

#2. Gluteus Medius: As its name suggests, this is a smaller bum muscle that sits near the outside of your pelvis. Its a “stabilizer muscle” and its primary function is keeping your pelvis stable when you walk or run. The gluteus medius is also very involved in rotating your thigh and the muscle responsible for allowing you to pull your leg out to the side. Working this muscle is crucial – especially if you have a sagging butt – since it will lead to a higher butt.

What turns it on? Side-lying hip abductions are hands down the most effective for building up your gluteus medius as well as squats, lateral band walks and deadlifts.

#3. Gluteus Minimus: This muscle is the “baby” of the family – it’s the smallest but also the deepest of the butt muscles. It sits directly below the gluteus medius and acts sort of as an assistant to it, helping the g. medius muscle keep you balanced.

What turns it on? Side-lying hip abductions, machine hip abductions, inverted flyers and crossover lunges.

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To shape the perfect butt, you cannot simply repeat one or two of the same exercises over and over again – you need to target your booty from many different angles in order to consistently hit and build up each of the gluteal muscles. This is why knowing how your glute muscles work and which exercises target each muscle is the first thing you need to know before starting any bigger butt workouts.

Instead of mindlessly doing this and that exercise, it’s crucial that you focus your efforts on exercises that directly target each of your glutes and has maximum effect. You see, workouts like speed walking, running and even climbing stairs provide great exercise but these do not directly engage your glute muscles. Instead, you’ll be recruiting other, nearby muscle groups to do much of the work when you can be focusing on workout routines that specifically laser-target your glutes.

And it is ultimately those workouts that will give you the perky, full, and popping bum that you’re after. The best thing is that once you know the best combination of booty-enlarging exercises that hit all your gluteal muscles from all angles – you can build up your butt with very little time investment. All it takes is knowing what you need to target and the most effective ways to do it.