Flat Butt: 3 Tips

The glutes are the muscles that make up the butt and contribute to its round appearance. However, a flat butt can occur due to factors such as genetics or problems with the way the buttocks function.

Buttocks can get stronger—and rounder—with the right glute exercises, including walking, curls, and hip thrusts. Read on to learn more about what to do to help lift a flat butt.

The appearance of your butt is partly out of your control, she said Harley Pasternak, celebrity trainer and Fitbit ambassador. “Genetics is the number one component of the size and shape of your butt,” Pasternak said. This is because genes can contribute to how much muscle mass a person has.

Your buttocks can flatten as you age, as age is associated with muscle changes. You may lose muscle tissue, tone and contractility as you age.

Pasternak also noted that how you’ve used your buttocks throughout your life can affect the shape of your butt. “So someone who was an exerciser as a child may have more developed glutes or tone the glutes more easily as they get older than someone who maybe didn’t do any sports as a child,” Pasternak explained.

Sometimes, people may have a flat butt due to gluteal amnesia or inactive buttock syndrome. The condition occurs when the gluteal muscles do not work or are not activated at all.

Just because you can’t necessarily change the natural curve of your booty doesn’t mean you can’t enhance the assets you have, Pasternak assured. Additionally, there are many benefits to developing a strong, toned glute. Having strong glutes can help in the following areas:

• Increase in athletic performance
• Injury prevention
• Normal walking patterns
• Eliminate pain

With that in mind, make these exercise and lifestyle adjustments to lift your butt and accelerate your results.

Two exercises that can work your glutes and add cardio to your workout include side skates and power skips. You’ll also need to do more with your cardio than steady treadmill runs if you want to lift your butt and zero in on your glutes, Pasternak said.

Instead, opt for walking or sprinting. “Walking forces you to take a longer stride, which gives you a chance to better access your glutes. Sprinting requires your knees to lift higher, which also fires up the glutes,” explained Pasternak.

For even more effective cardio targeting of the glutes, add an incline. “I think stairs are just the most underrated gluteblaster out there,” Pasternak said. “I recommend that all my clients hit a step goal of 10,000 or 15,000 steps a day, and at least 1,500 of those should be on hills or stairs if you really want to tone the glutes fast.”

Putting all of your body weight on your butt for hours on end every day can actually change its shape, Pasternak said.

“Sitting also shortens and tightens the hip flexors, which affects our ability to really activate both our glutes and core even when we’re not sitting,” physical therapist David Reavy, PTowner of React Physical Therapy in Chicago, said Health.

When you get ready to stretch, consider doing the following activities:

• Breathe normally and stay still while stretching.
• Do individual stretches for no more than 15 to 30 seconds at a time.
• Stretch at least twice a week for general flexibility.
• Take five minute breaks from sitting to stretch when possible.

Some movements we often associate with the glutes recruit other large muscles of the lower body (ie the quadriceps) to do most of the work. “This tends to happen with basic bodyweight squats and leg presses,” Pasternak said.

Instead, Pasternak recommended focusing more on unilateral movement, or working one side of the body at a time, so that other large muscles in both legs don’t dominate.

“Unilateral training will allow you to get more direct access to the glutes,” Pasternak said. Moves for your glute workouts at home include single-leg deadlifts, lunges, and single-leg hip thrusts.

After a period of being sedentary (and especially before going from your desk chair to working out), Reavy suggested doing these three exercises to help lengthen your front and reactivate your glutes:

Backbend Movement

Backbends can be done as part of a yoga workout. This exercise also helps in strengthening the muscles of the arm, hand and shoulders. Here’s how to do a mobilization back:

• Start in a split stance, with one leg slightly behind you and the heel slightly lifted.
• Reach back with the arm of the same side and place your fist on your sacrum—the bony area at the base of your spine that connects to your pelvis.
• Lean back as far as you can and hold for a few seconds.
• Repeat the movement on the other side.
• Do about 10 reps on each side, bending back as far as you can each time.

Hip-Flexor Release

Stretching your hip flexor muscles can improve the stability of your lower spine and reduce muscle tightness. Follow these steps to do a hip flexor release:

• Lie on your stomach.
• Place a lacrosse ball next to the bony part of your hip in the direction of your belly button. This places the ball under your psoas — a hip flexor muscle that connects your torso to your lower body.
• Allow your body weight to release onto the ball as far as possible without pain.
• Lie down until you feel your hip flexor relax.

Hip thrusts

This exercise can help lower body strength. Hip thrusts will also engage the hamstrings, quads, and core. To do this exercise:

• Place your shoulders on a flat bench, heels on the ground.
• Using your glutes, lift your hips into a bridge position.
• Hold for a few seconds and lower your hips.

Reavy suggested putting a resistance band around your thighs for an added challenge: “This helps activate your external rotators, which are part of your glutes, so you’ll work your butt all the way,” Reavy said. Do three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

A person may have a flat bottom due to age, genetics, gluteal use, or issues with gluteal activation. Fortunately, you can add movements to your workout to build bigger, stronger glutes. These options include glute-focused cardio, general glute-focused exercises, stretches, and unilateral movements.