The Best Exercises for Activating Your Butt (2024)

FAQs

What exercises activate the glutes the most? ›

In general, the step-up exercise and its variations present the highest levels of GMax activation (>100% of MVIC) followed by several loaded exercises and its variations, such as deadlifts, hip thrusts, lunges, and squats, that presented a very high level of GMax activation (>60% of 1RM).

It only takes 5-10 minutes of glute activation before the workout to prevent this. Take a look at our favourite glute activation exercises below. Performing 2-3 sets of 15 reps on a couple of the exercises should set you up nicely for the rest of the workout.

The squat tops every list of butt-sculpting exercises. It directly works the glutes. You can build bigger bottom muscles by adding hand-held weights. Form: Slowly lower the hips as if sitting way back in a chair, trying to keep your knees from moving forward toward toes; then return to standing.

It helps to activate the glutes and hips: The glutes and hips are the primary movers in kettlebell swings and squats. Squeezing the glutes helps to activate these muscles, which allows you to generate more power and perform the exercises more effectively.

Glutes can get stronger—and rounder—with the right glute exercises, including walking, lunges, and hip thrusts.

“The first sign of gluteal weakness is generally poor posture, which will eventually lead to low back pain,” said Dunn. “Weak glutes will also cause an inability to get out of a chair without using your hands or to go down the stairs without holding onto the railings, which will eventually cause knee and hip pain.”

How often should you do glute activation exercises? When you're sitting a lot in your daily life, it's best to do these exercises every day. If that's not feasible, aim to do them at least two to three times each week.

If you're new to training, you may want to start with two to three sessions per week. As you become more experienced, you can increase the frequency to four or five times per week. And if you're aiming for maximal muscle growth, you may need to train your glutes every day.

With many people sitting down for large portions of their day, glute activation is reduced, and these muscles become weaker than they should be. For more active people, reduced glute strength and poor activation can result from an over-reliance on other muscles during athletic or everyday movements.

What is an underbutt? ›

What is the underbutt. The underbutt, as the name suggests, is that area underneath your butt where your glutes meet your hamstrings, sometimes called the glute-ham tie-in. There isn't another muscle here, it's just where the two muscles meet and form the sought after 'crease'.

The most commong reason is that most people sit for long periods of time. The glute muscles tend to stop firing due to a lack of oxygen and tightened hip flexors. This, in return, puts more strain on the lower back, hamstrings, and knees, that imbalanced and stiff feeling when you head out for a run.

With your knee bent to 90 degrees, you have to recruit the gluteus maximus as the prime mover. Resist the desire to bend the knee more than 90 degrees to avoid activating the hamstrings. Begin with five bent knee lifts and one straight leg lift (as in the test, above). Repeat five times before every run.

This phenomenon is known as "gluteal amnesia." If you can't feel your glutes when working out, it could indicate a muscle imbalance and that other muscle groups are compensating for the weakness in your glutes.