If you’re anything like us, you think about how to improve your butt a lot. It could be too flat, too saggy, too rounded, the list goes on. But how well do you really know your butt? And what exactly it needs to improve it’s shape?
If you’re after a desirable derrière, you definitely don’t have to look far. There are numerous ways to go after your goal, depending on the amount of time and effort you’re looking to commit. To address one of the biggest myth about getting a butt lift, you don’t have to go under the knife to get noticeable results.
There are tons of natural options you can go for. We give you a run down of the choices you have available and the kinds of results you can expect with each.
Saggy Butt Saver #1: Butt Lift Exercises
Before we jump into the kinds of exercises you have to inject into your routine, lets do a bit of a science throwback and get to know the parts of the butt. No matter the shape or size of your booty, it’s made up of two main components: muscle and fat. The proportions may vary which would account for the differences in appearance.
Most people think they don’t want a butt that’s made up mostly of muscles because their concept of a tight tushie is bouncy and pinchable. However, this is actually a very common misconception. The perky, rounded butt that you see on Sports Illustrated covers are actually made up mostly of muscle. It’s the muscle that determines the shape, firmness, and general perkiness of the butt.
The famous butts on social media are the results of months slaving away at the gym, so that pop out bubble butt look? You’ve got muscle to thank for that as well.
To help you understand better, think of muscle as the big juicy steak and fat just being the gravy. The gravy helps with flavor, but it’s really the steak that’s the main highlight of the meal. So now that we’ve cleared up how important muscles are, how do we make sure they’re doing their job for our bums?
The Gluteus Maximus isn’t being exercised when you’re standing around or walking from one place to another. It needs high intensity workouts to be activated. Uphill running, rock climbing, a mean routine of lunges, abductions and squats, that’s what your Maximus needs to really keep it going.
The butt is actually made up of three muscles, namely the Gluteus Maximus, the Gluteus Medius and the Gluteus Minimus.
The Maximus is definitely the most well known muscles, in fact some people think this is the only muscle in your butt.
It is actually just the biggest muscle, so it also makes sense to focus most of your attention on developing it if you’re unhappy about a flat butt.
Here’s the tricky part with your Gluteus Maximus, it needs focused attention in order to grow. The Gluteus Maximus isn’t being exercised when you’re standing around or walking from one place to another.
It needs high intensity workouts to be activated. Uphill running, rock climbing, a mean routine of lunges, abductions and squats, that’s what your Maximus needs to really keep it going.
The Gluteus Medius, also known as the stabilizer muscle, is what you need to focus on if your biggest problem is sagging. It’s the same muscle responsible for your ability to rotate your thigh or do leg raises.
In order to recruit this part of your glutes, you have to work on those hip abductions, dead lifts and lateral walks with resistance bands.
Lastly, we also have the smallest muscle which is the Gluteus Minimus, don’t make the mistake of ignoring it because of it’s size. It’s a crucial component in helping you keep your balance during all those butt workouts. It also acts as an assistant to the Gluteus Medius in improving a saggy booty.
To really turn on the heat on your G. Minimus, combine an exercise cocktail of machine and side-lying hip abductions, crossover lunges and throw in a few inverted flyers to the mix.
Here’s another thing to remember. You can’t just keep doing the same set of exercises if you want to see fast results. You have to be able to target all three butt muscles at different angles to really recruit your glutes and keep them from sitting on their butts.
If you want a simple, effective program that combines the most effective glute exercises in a maximum-impact fashion, check out the 30/30 Bubble Butt program – you can do the whole thing at home, it takes you no more than 30 minutes a day, and it’s intensive enough for you to see results in 30 days or less.
But in the meanwhile, here’s a taster in the form of the 5 great booty workouts that you can do to give your glute muscles a lift…
Deep Sumo Squats
Think of this as a level up to your basic squat. The great thing about this move is that it works on a different part of your glutes (so don’t think you can replace your regular squats with this one) plus your inner thigh as well.
To do this, you have to stand up right but instead of having toes parallel, they should be pointed in opposite direction.
Lower yourself until your legs are parallel to the ground, and make sure you clench your glutes the entire time.
Donkey Kicks
An oldie but goodie, donkey kicks are a great way to kickstart your body into a booty-specific gym session.
If you’re serious about your research in improving your butt, chances are you’ve come across Jen Selter’s name a couple of times.
Best known for having the tightest tushie on Instagram, the donkey kick is actually one of her signature booty boosting moves.
The donkey kick is a great way to warm up for your body for more booty specific muscle workouts.
No equipment is needed for this one, so you can get down and do reps wherever you are.
To amp up this move, Jen also recommends adding 15-20 pound ankle weights to maximize the burn. Check out the rest of Jen Selter’s butt workout!
Bridges
Bridges are your best friend when it comes to achieving that perfectly plump, rounded bottom, and as an additional bonus it keeps your sensitive lower back pain free, so you can do as many reps as you want.
No equipment is needed to do it, you just have to lie face up on the floor, with feet flat on the floor and knees bent.
Just slowly raise your hips till you form a diagonal line from your shoulders to your knees. Hold the position for two seconds and lower yourself to the original position. Three sets of 15 reps each daily are the minimum for visible results.
Walking Lunges
Lunges are a staple when it comes to any butt improvement workout. When you extend your hips during a lunge, the glutes are being worked at from different angles.
Walking lunges have even more benefits since there is an added element of balance. The trick with walking lunges is to go for longer steps to keep the burn in your gluteal muscles.
Using the Hip Abduction machine in the gym is great for working your inner thighs and your gluteus maximus, for added muscle workout, a resistance band around your ankles will activate glutes much faster too.
Saggy Butt Saver #2: Maca & Protein
If you can’t carve out enough time to really delve into an exercise routine, you also have the option to take various supplements to fast track results with minimal exercise. Note however, that for these supplements to work some form of exercise is still needed.
Maca is a plant originating in Peru that has been long considered a superfood since it provides the body with a ton of health benefits by supplying it with much needed vitamins, minerals and amino acids. However, more and more women are taking Maca supplements specifically to enhance their butt.
There are two ways that Maca works for the body. First, it has the ability to tinker around with your hormones. As an adaptogen, it takes into account what hormones are lacking in the body and attempts to balance them to make sure your body is functioning in tip top shape.
So if the reason you have a problematic booty is a lack of estrogen, Maca makes up for it and the additional estrogen pushes your body to store more fat in the lower regions (hips, butt and thighs) of your body.
Another way it helps build booty is through it’s protein content. A regular dose of three teaspoons of Maca is very low in calories yet chock full of bioavailable protein. It’s a 100% natural protein that is very easily absorbed by the body. The increase in protein in the body can provide the fuel to build your gluteal muscles as well.
Speaking of protein, you also have the option to just take straight up protein to help your booty build muscle. If you’re doing heavy workouts it’s important to up your protein intake so your body would have all the fuel it needs to build muscle. Recommended daily protein intake ranges from 0.65 – 1 gram for every pound you currently weigh.
Protein helps you get your dream booty in a variety of ways. It is integral in the growth and repair of muscle tissues. So you want to make sure all that work that you put into your gluteal muscles doesn’t damage the muscle but makes them grow. The best way to make sure that the supplements are working for you is if you pair them with a healthy exercise routine for maximum benefits.
Saggy Butt Saver #3: Rear Lifting Shapewear
There’s nothing wrong with going after a quick fix from time to time. Butt improving, rear lifting shape wear has been gaining popularity among women who are looking for a temporary boost in both their derriere and their confidence.
When it comes to apparel that provide that much needed butt lift, you have quite a few choices, from butt lifting underwear to butt lift jeans to padded panties that will fill out the tops of your bum to create a bubble butt.
Butt lift jeans are a great option to begin with since hey, you wear jeans anyway, right? Also known as booster fit jeans, these lifting jeans are all about that push-up motion that enhances your natural curves. First, they take advantage of clever stitching. Booster jeans have a diagonal seam that cuts across your hips and forms a slight heart shape on your bum area so that your tush looks extra plump.
It also plays with fit, keeping the seat of the jeans narrow to naturally push your butt cheeks upwards, so no more saggy butt.
Aside from these, butt boosting jeans also takes advantage of other optical illusions such as clever dyeing and fading, plus very strategic positioning of the pockets to help draw the eyes upward. More overt designs of the jeans are also gaining popularity – there are even jeans that add extra fabric in the seat of the pants for an extra boost!
Of course, they’ve been doing that with underwear for ages – padded panties are exactly what they sound like and use soft padding like silicone or foam to create an immediate bigger, fuller bubble butt.
Butt lifting underwear is even more inventive and can be a better option especially if you already have some buttocks fat to work with – it’s sort of like a push up bra for the butt, gathering up all the buttocks fat you have and “rearranging” it into a full, perky bum!
Of course, these jeans or panties may not completely mimic the effect of surgically enhanced booty or one achieved from hard work at the gym, but they’re very affordable and easy to use, which makes them a great, quick option for an instant butt lift.
And of course, there are a huge range of options in this category – if panties and jeans don’t float your boat, just know that there’s even bum shaping leggings and yoga pants that make your bum look good!
Saggy Butt Saver Last Resort: Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery
If you’re really looking for drastic results, you can also reconsider going under the knife. The surgical procedure we’d recommend is the Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery. What sets this procedure apart is that is uses your own body fat to add volume to your booty, unlike other procedures that utilize silicone or even some unregulated injectibles.
The BBL procedure starts with harvesting some excess fat off your stomach or lower back, purifying it, and injecting it back in specific areas of your buttocks. The great thing about injecting fat into specific areas of the butt is that fat has some very interesting properties. It tends to mimic the form wherever it is injected.
So if you instruct the doctor to inject the excess fat on your muscle, the injected fat would feel exactly like muscle. So you don’t have to worry that transferring fat to your derriere will render it lumpy, bumpy or even more shapeless, it can actually improve your butt’s appearance very drastically.
Other benefits of this procedure is that it has a relatively quick turnaround time. No need to lie around for months to recover, you can go back to work in as little as two weeks. It’s also known to have a permanent effect. Barring a bit of natural fat reabsorption, whatever effect you see after a couple of months or so is how your butt will be for the coming years.
