Baby Got Back: Top Booty Building Tips

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With the babes back in school, there’s never been a better time to start focusing on YOU—checking off all those important to-dos and continuing to crush your transformation goals.

That’s right, moms. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is your season of success. And even though I want you laser-focused on forward movement, aka making progress toward your dreams.. I also want you to look back. At your booty, that is.

Top Tips for Building a Booty

Building lower body strength is SO important. Not only does it help you with all those activities of daily living (running errands, taking care of your house and family, getting you from point A to point B), it also helps you feel strong and sexy in just about everything you do. And the one question I get time after time after time is, “Heidi, HOW do I shape my butt?!” Building your glutes may feel impossible sometimes, but I promise you, it CAN be done.

Feed the Glutes: EAT

If your goal is to lose weight and also build a butt, it’s not going to happen. Tough love moment: In order to build a firm, lifted booty that has that peach-shape, you’re going to need to feed your body. This is one of those times where you have to learn to train your mindset that food is fuel, feeding your body more calories is a good thing, and sometimes, weight gain will come with changing our body composition. But it doesn’t have to be a negative. Weight gain can also be an indication of muscle gain, and the glutes are just that – muscle. If you’re not eating enough calories (and I’m talking ALL the macros – carbs, protein, and fat), you can do all the squats in the world but that booty won’t grow.

Learn how to properly fuel your body, make sure you’re getting enough carbs and protein after your lower body sessions, and repeat. Day in, day out.

Don’t be Afraid to Lift Weights

It’s time to say goodbye to cardio. Or at least minimize the time you spend each day on a cardio machine. Instead, get comfortable picking up a dumbbell until you graduate to a barbell. Learning how to properly lift (and paying attention to form while doing so) is essential for building a booty.

Cardio is great for a number of things: cardiovascular health, endurance, and stress relief. Just to name a few. But when you focus more on cardio and less on resistance training, you’re going to see a muscle loss – not a gain. To build a butt, focus on resistance training, and progressive overload – which means you increase reps and/or weight week after week (safely!) to see gains and new PRs in the gym.

Ready to build your booty? Here are some of my fave exercises to get you started:

Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets of 15 each leg (rest 1 minute between sets)

Stand in front of a couch, chair, table, or bench.
Put one foot on the raised surface, and with your other leg, step out into a lunge position. Slowly lunge down so your back knee almost touches the ground but not quite, and make a 90 degree angle with your front leg. Be careful not to let your front knee go out past your toe. To help with this, push all your weight through your heel.
Repeat 15 on one leg, then do 15 on the other leg before resting.
To progress, you can hold dumbbells in each hand or water jugs if you don’t have weights at home (Pro tip: Each water full water jug weighs 8 pounds!).

Banded Squat Shuffles: 3 sets of 15 on each leg (rest 1 minute between sets)

Place your resistance band right above your knees and lower into a squat position. No band, no problem!
Quickly shuffle your feet to one side (a few steps will do ya!) and then jump into the air, landing back down into a squat.
Repeat on the other side.

Froggy Pumps: 3 sets of max repetitions for 60 seconds (rest 1 minute between sets)

Lie flat on the floor, bring the souls of your feet together, and rest them above you on the couch.
Using your elbows to hold your upper body into the ground, lift your glutes up and squeeze.
Repeat this movement as many times as you can within the 1 minute time frame, then rest one minute before repeating.

Alternate Single Leg Glute Thrusts: 3 sets of 15 on each leg (rest 1 minute between sets)

Lying on the ground, elevate your heels on a solid surface. This can be a chair, table, bench, etc.
Slowly lift one foot off the surface and raise your glutes high into the air, squeezing the entire time.
Lower back down and repeat on the other side.

Be Patient With Yourself (and your Booty)

The glutes are one of the slowest growing muscles sets in our bodies, so give yourself time, grace, and patience as you work toward this goal. Don’t be frustrated when you look in the mirror after your first leg day and don’t magically see a difference. Just like all good things, it will take time.

Instead, focus on the progress you’re seeing in your workout sessions and how you’re feeling. I also recommend taking pictures every week or two and comparing those vs. relying on what you see in the mirror. Sometimes we are our own worst critic, and when we think we’re not seeing a difference, we’re only letting our emotions cloud our judgement. Having photos to compare each week or each month is a great way to notice visible changes that sometimes we miss in the moment.