Genetics is a trip. Some people hit the gym once and walk out with a shelf, while others spend years under a barbell only to look in the mirror and see a straight line from their back to their thighs. It’s frustrating. We call it "pancake syndrome" or "square booty" in the fitness world, but medically, it’s often just a lack of gluteal volume combined with a specific pelvic tilt. If you’ve been scouring the internet for flat buttocks before and after photos, you’ve probably seen the dramatic transformations—the kind that look almost too good to be true. Sometimes they are.
Honestly, the "after" isn't always about a surgeon’s knife. It’s often a mix of progressive overload, massive caloric surpluses, and, frankly, better lighting. But for others, the change comes from a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) or implants. You have to know which path you’re actually looking at before you set your expectations.
Why Some Glutes Stay Flat No Matter What
It isn't always laziness. You can do a thousand squats and still have a flat backside if your "mind-muscle connection" is trash. This isn't just "woo-woo" fitness talk; it's about neural drive. If your brain doesn't efficiently signal the gluteus maximus to fire, your quads and lower back will take over the heavy lifting. You end up with strong legs and a backache, but no booty.
Then there’s the "Dead Butt Syndrome," or lower crossed syndrome. This happens when you sit at a desk for eight hours. Your hip flexors get tight, your glutes become lengthened and "inhibited," and they basically go to sleep. When you see a flat buttocks before and after where the person suddenly has a curve, half the time they just fixed their anterior pelvic tilt. They didn't grow new muscle; they just stopped tucking their tailbone or over-arching their back.
📖 Related: The Tdap Vaccine During Pregnancy Pros and Cons Explained
Dr. Stuart McGill, a world-renowned spine biomechanics expert, has spent decades studying how the torso and hips interact. He often points out that if the glutes aren't functioning, the spine pays the price. So, fixing a flat butt isn't just about looking good in jeans; it's about not having chronic back pain when you're 40.
The Non-Surgical "After": What Muscle Growth Actually Looks Like
Let's get real about the gym. You see these influencers claiming they grew a massive posterior in three months by doing "glute pulses" with a resistance band. They’re lying. Muscle hypertrophy—actual growth—takes a long time.
A natural transformation involves heavy compound movements. We’re talking hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts, and Bulgarian split squats. The hip thrust is the king here. Unlike the squat, which is limited by your back strength and mainly hits the quads, the hip thrust puts the greatest tension on the glutes at the top of the movement.
If you want a true flat buttocks before and after without surgery, you need to eat. Muscle is metabolically expensive. You can’t be in a 500-calorie deficit and expect your body to build a bigger backside. You need protein—at least 0.8 grams per pound of body weight—and you need to be lifting heavier weights every single month. If you’re still using the 10-pound dumbbells a year later, your "after" photo is going to look exactly like your "before" photo.
The Role of Body Fat
Sometimes the "flat" look is just a lack of body fat. The glutes are muscle, but the "shape" we associate with a "round" butt is often a layer of subcutaneous fat sitting over that muscle. If you are extremely lean, you might have strong glutes that still look flat. This is why many fitness competitors look "flat" on stage but "curvy" in the off-season.
When the "After" is Surgical: BBLs and Implants
Sometimes, the gym isn't enough. If your bone structure involves a wide pelvis and a long femoral neck, you might have "hip dips" or a naturally flatter profile that no amount of squats will fully round out. This is where people turn to plastic surgery.
The Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) is the most famous version of the flat buttocks before and after story. It’s a fat transfer. A surgeon performs liposuction on your stomach, flanks, or back, processes that fat, and injects it into the gluteal muscles.
It’s risky.
✨ Don't miss: Why an ache under left rib cage after eating is usually just your digestion acting up (but not always)
In fact, for a few years, the BBL had the highest mortality rate of any cosmetic surgery because of the risk of fat embolisms. If that fat gets into the large veins in the butt, it can travel to the heart or lungs. Newer guidelines from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) now mandate that surgeons inject fat only into the space under the skin, not into the muscle, which has made it safer, but the "before and after" results might be slightly less dramatic than the older, riskier methods.
Then you have implants. Gluteal implants are solid silicone (different from breast implants) and are placed either under or inside the muscle. These are for people who don't have enough donor fat for a BBL. The "after" is permanent, but the recovery is brutal. You can’t sit directly on them for weeks.
The Psychological "Before and After"
We don't talk enough about the body dysmorphia tied to this. We live in a "BBL era" where the standard for a "normal" butt has been skewed by surgical interventions. When you look at a flat buttocks before and after online, you are often looking at a curated, posed, and potentially photoshopped image.
Angles change everything.
A "before" photo is usually taken with a neutral spine, flat lighting, and high-waisted leggings pulled down. The "after" involves a "pelvic tilt," dynamic lighting, and the "scrunch" leggings that are designed to separate the cheeks. Before you drop thousands on surgery or quit the gym in frustration, realize that half of what you see on social media is an illusion of posing.
Real Expert Insights on Glute Development
Bret Contreras, often called "The Glute Guy," popularized the science of glute training. His research suggests that the glutes are actually three different muscles: the maximus, medius, and minimus. To change a flat profile, you have to hit all three.
- Maximus: The big meat of the butt. Hit this with thrusts.
- Medius: The "shelf" on the side. Hit this with abductions (clamshells, cable kickbacks).
- Minimus: Stability.
If your "after" photo shows more "width" on the sides, it's usually because the medius grew. If it shows more "projection" from the side, that's the maximus.
Misconceptions You Should Stop Believing
"Squats are the best booty builder." Nope. For many people, squats are just "leg builders." If you have long femurs, your quads will do 90% of the work.
"Stairmaster will give you a BBL look." Also no. The Stairmaster is cardio. It might tone the area, but it won't provide the mechanical tension needed for significant growth.
"You can spot-reduce fat to make your butt look bigger." You can't. You can't lose fat only on your stomach to make your butt pop. Your body decides where it loses fat based on genetics. If you want that "snatched" waist to emphasize the glutes, you have to lower your overall body fat percentage, which might also make your butt smaller if you aren't lifting heavy to preserve the muscle.
Your Path to a Different "After"
If you are serious about changing a flat backside, you need a plan that isn't based on 30-day challenges.
Start by assessing your posture. If you have a flat back (posterior pelvic tilt), work on hip mobility. Your glutes can't "pop" if your pelvis is tucked under like a sad dog.
Next, prioritize the hip thrust. Do it twice a week. Start with your body weight, then 45 pounds, then work your way up to 135 pounds and beyond. Most women with impressive natural "after" photos are thrusting well over 200 pounds. It takes that kind of force to move the needle.
Third, eat more than you think. You need the building blocks.
Finally, give it a year. Not a month. A year. The flat buttocks before and after photos that are legitimate—the ones where the skin looks healthy and the muscle looks dense—are the result of hundreds of hours in the gym and thousands of grams of protein.
Practical Steps to Start Today
- Film your squats and thrusts. Check if your knees are caving in. If they are, your glutes aren't firing properly.
- Increase your protein. Aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass.
- Buy a glute loop. Use it for warm-ups to "wake up" the nerves in your hips before you hit the heavy weights.
- Track your measurements. Don't just trust the mirror. Use a tape measure around the widest part of your hips. The scale might stay the same while the inches increase.
- Fix your "desk posture." Set a timer to stand up and do 10 bodyweight squats every hour to prevent gluteal amnesia.
The transition from a flat profile to a curved one is a slow burn. Whether you choose the surgical route or the iron route, the most important thing is managing your expectations and understanding the biological reality of your own unique frame. Genetic "flatness" isn't a flaw; it's just a starting point.