What Exercises Lift Your Butt at Home? Top 9 Straightforward Movements

It’s no secret that strong, lifted, and rounded glutes are in. If you’re a gym-goer, you likely think about how your workouts will benefit your backside. And the good news is that regular strength and resistance training is fantastic for sculpting lean muscle throughout your body — including your glutes!

If you’ve wondered what exercises you can do to lift your buttocks at home, this article is your answer. We’ll list out the most effective movements for building strong glutes and simple instructions on how to do them. 

Why You Want to Have Strong Glutes

Besides the aesthetic, why is a strong buttocks important? According to Methodist Health System, your gluteal muscles are key for keeping your body upright, moving your body forward, and keeping your pelvis in alignment. 

When you move and lift heavy things, your glutes also protect your lower back by stabilizing your hips and pelvis. They also help prevent knee injuries and provide balance.

The 3 Glute Muscles to Target

Your buttocks contain three different glute muscles:

1. Gluteus maximus
2. Gluteus medius
3. Gluteus minimus

Your gluteus maximus is the primary (and largest) muscle in your buttocks. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles support the glueus maximus in moving your body and keeping you stabilized. 

If you want to lift the butt, you’ll want to build up the glutes in general — but pay special attention to the area where your gluteus maximus connects to your hamstrings (back of your thighs). 

How to Lift Your Buttocks Fast at Home: 9 Exercises

So, you want to lift your glutes as quickly and effectively as possible? Awesome, but remember that muscle gains take time, no matter who you are. You will need to put in the effort working your muscles regularly, eating well, and keeping rest. Your consistency will compound to help you build lean muscle. 

But beyond that, these exercises will help you lift and firm your buttocks area right from home. You can complete most of these with dumbbells, a Gorilla Bow, resistance bands, or your own body weight. 

A couple of these movements will require a workout bench to complete, but if you don’t have that, you can just stick with the other movements we’ve listed here. 

1. Squats

Squats are a classic movement, and they’re great because you can do them anywhere! If you’re new to squats or need to work on your form, start by doing them without weight, then move on to using resistance bands or holding dumbbells or a kettlebell.

How to Do Squats

• Stand with your feet just beyond hip-width apart and your toes pointed slightly out to the sides.
• Keep your feet planted and your weight distributed through your feet while keeping pressure on your heels.
• Hold your chest proud as you move your hips back, bend your knees, and lower down as if you’re going to sit in a low chair. Ideally, your hips should go slightly below your knees, but if you can’t go that far down yet, that’s okay.
• Pushing through your heels, lead with your chest to push your hips forward and up, using your glutes to return you to standing. That’s one squat.
• Breath in as you lower down into the squat. Breathe out as press back up to standing.

Tips: Keep your spine straight throughout the movement. Make sure your knees track forward and slightly out in the direction your toes are pointed. Keep your knees from tracking inward. 

To make it harder, add a pulse at the bottom. You could also make it a jump squat to add more of a cardiovascular element.

2. Glute Bridges

Glute bridges are another fantastic movement for the buttocks muscles. You can do them anywhere with body weight, and you can increase the intensity by holding a weight on your hips as you perform the movement.

How to Do Glute Bridges

• Lie on your back with your knees bent. 
• Place your feet flat on the floor so that your knees are right above your ankles. If you extend your arms straight by your sides, your fingers should be able to graze the back of your heels.
• Press your lower back into the floor to engage your core. Keep your arms extended beside you with palms on the ground.
• Engage your glutes and core to raise up so that your buttocks, lower back, and upper back are off the ground. Keep your chest open. 
• Carefully lower back to the ground before repeating. That’s one rep.
• Exhale as you lift up into the bridge. Inhale as you return to the ground.

Tips: As you lower down between reps, just press your lower back lightly to the ground. This will keep your glutes and core engaged through the entire set. Don’t tuck your chin into your chest; keep your airways open.

To make it harder, hold weight over your hips or do the glute bridge with one leg extended in the air (and make sure you do equal reps on each side). 

3. Reverse Lunges

Lunges are some of the best exercises to lift your buttocks at home. They also work several muscle groups at once, maximizing your workout and adding a powerful cardio element. 

How to Do Reverse Lunges

• Start standing with your feet hip-width apart. 
• Shift your weight into one foot as you step your other foot backwards several feet. Your back foot should be on the ball of your foot with your heel off the ground.
• Bend both knees into 90 degree angles as you lower down into a lunge. Your front thigh should be parallel with the floor. Your front knee should be straight above your front foot (and not beyond your toes).
• Push into the heel of your front leg and squeeze your glutes to push out of the lunge and back to your original standing position. 
• Repeat on the other leg. That’s one rep.

Tips: Keep both feet pointed straight head at all times. To emphasize your buttocks more in the movement, lean your torso (with a flat back) about 45 degrees forward as you lunge. You can also do isometric lunges where you’re staying in one place. Here’s an example with the Gorilla Bow.

To make it harder, hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.

4. Hip Thrusts

Hip thrusts build stronger glutes and hamstrings. Since this article is about buttocks-building exercises you can easily do from home, we’re going to take you through how to do hip thrusts with a dumbbell rather than a barbell. However, you will still need a workout bench to do these. If you don’t have one at home, you can do glute bridges or other movements instead.

How to Do Hip Thrusts

• Start sitting on the floor in front of the bench with your knees bent and your feet about hip-width apart.
• Driving your heels into the ground, lift yourself up so that your upper back is on the bench and your knees are bent at about 90 degrees. 
• Drive your hips up as your squeeze your glutes, tucking your pelvis under. Keep your abs tight.
• Place a dumbbell on the hips. Lower your hips, keep your torso in a straight line, until your glutes are hovering over the ground.
• Drive through your heels as you push your pelvis up and squeeze your glutes back up. Your torso should be parallel with the ground, your knees bent at 90 degrees, and your shins parallel with each other. Each time you complete a thrust is one set.
• Exhale as you thrust your hips up. Inhale as you lower down.

Tips: As you complete each rep, make sure you’re not arching your lower back. You can also do this with a stability ball.

5. Romanian Deadlifts

Deadlifts target your buttocks and hamstrings, and you can work up to heavy resistance to maximize results. 

How to Do Deadlifts

• Start standing with your feet firmly planted and shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. (You can also do this using a resistance band or the Gorilla Bow. Watch a tutorial here.)
• Make sure your spine is long and tall and your core is engaged. 
• Bend at your hips and knees as you hinge your hips backwards and lower the weights to track down in front of your knees and shins. 
• Continue lowering, with control, until your torso is nearly parallel with the floor.
• Squeeze your glutes and move your hips forward into a standing position again. That’s one rep.
• Inhale as you lower into the deadlift. Exhale as you come up. 

Tips: Be careful to keep your back neutral as you perform each deadlift. Think about hinging your hips back with a slight bend in the knees rather than lowering your weights down.

6. Bulgarian Split Squats

Split squats are some of the most intense butt-lifting exercises. They’ll get your heart pumping while building strong glutes.

How to Do Bulgarian Split Squats

• Start by standing about two feet in front of a workout bench. Keep your shoulders, chest, and hips facing forward.
• Bend one leg and place the top of your foot on the bench. Place your hands on your hips, bent in front of you, or holding dumbbells for extra weight.
• Bend the knee of the leg on the bench to lower your body until your knee is just above the ground (or as low as you can go to that point). 
• Press back up to the starting position through your front heel. This is one rep.
• Inhale as you lower down. Exhale as you come back up.

Tips: If you experience any knee pain, try standing a little farther from the bench. It might take some time to get the distance just right.

To make it harder, hold one weight goblet-style in front of you with both hands or hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.

7. Lateral Band Walks

Target your side glutes with some band walks — you’re guaranteed to feel these!

How to Do Lateral Band Walks

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with a band around your thighs just above your knees. Keep your knees slightly bent.
• Step one leg widely out to the side. Then, step your other leg to meet the first. 
• Keep side-stepping in one direction, then repeat for the same number of reps on the other side/other direction.

Tips: Keep your feet pointed in front of your body with your hips and shoulders squared forward. If you don’t have a resistance band, you can perform this without one. 

To make it harder, use a thicker band.

8. Bird Dogs

Bird dogs work both your glutes and your lower back, which is good for protecting your glute muscles, helping you build up your buttocks more effectively, and preventing injury. 

How to Do Bird Dogs

• Start on your hands and knees with your shoulders above your wrists and your hips above your knees. Keep your neck and back in a neutral position.
• Extend one arm forward in front of you (and in line with your torso). At the same time, extend the leg on your opposite straight behind you (in line with your torso).
• Hold this position for a few seconds, then return to the starting position. Repeat with the opposite hand and leg. That’s one rep.

9. Dumbbell Frog Pumps

Frog pumps feel silly to do, but they’re a terrific way to target your glutes and even add an extra pump after your regular workout. 

How to Do Dumbbell Frog Pumps

• Lie on your back with the bottoms of your feet together, and your knees splayed out. Your legs should form a diamond shape.
• Move your feet toward your body as far as you can without causing discomfort.
• Place a dumbbell or kettlebell on your hips, holding the weight with both hands.
• Raise your head and shoulders off the floor to activate your abs. 
• Squeeze your glutes to raise your glutes and hips off the ground. Pause briefly, then lower back to the ground. That’s one rep.

So, these are the top nine exercises to lift your buttocks right from your own home. 

You don’t need to do all of these at once, of course. Keep reading for tips on how to incorporate these movements into a butt-building workout routine.

FAQs on How to Lift Your Buttocks at Home

How Often Per Week Should You Perform Glute Exercises?

Generally, a glute-building program should include glute exercises two to four days per week. The exact number of days will depend on your goals and how much time you can devote to weekly workouts.

How Many Glute Exercises Should You Do Per Workout?

A glute-building program typically includes three to six different glute exercises in one workout. However, keep in mind that most exercises work more than one muscle group at once, so each exercise doesn’t need to work solely the glutes. 

Some of the exercises you do could work your glute along with other muscles, and those still count towards the total. For example, lunges work not only your glutes but your quads, hamstrings, and calves too. 

Other at-home exercises that work your buttocks muscles along with other muscles include:

• Squats
• Burpees
• Box jumps
• Deadlifts
• Thrusters

As long as you’re including exercises that focus on engaging the glute muscles, and you use weight or resistance that is challenging, you’ll be on your way to building a strong, lifted backside.

How Many Reps and Sets Per Glute Workout to Lift Your Buttocks?

Building muscle in your glutes means training for hypertrophy. So, you’ll probably want to focus on three to six sets per workout and six to 12 reps per set. You can learn more about the proper rep and set counts for your goals here.

Besides using the above exercises and advice to build lifted glutes, you should also focus on eating a balanced, protein-rich diet, getting enough sleep, and practicing stress reduction. These factors will also influence your ability to gain and maintain lean muscle mass. 

Need help sculpting a stronger, healthier body? You can do so without leaving your home. All you need is a Gorilla Bow system and access to fitness expert-crafted workouts. Try Gorilla Bow All-Access to get started today.