You've probably spent some time staring at the mirror, wondering why those endless air squats aren't doing anything. It’s frustrating. You’re putting in the work, but the results just aren't showing up where you want them. Honestly, the fitness industry has kind of lied to you about how exercise to increase bum size actually works. Most people think they can just do a few lunges and suddenly develop the physique of a professional sprinter. It doesn't happen like that. Building the gluteus maximus—which is the largest muscle in your body—requires a specific blend of mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and, frankly, a lot of food.
Muscles don't grow from thin air.
If you aren't eating enough calories to support muscle protein synthesis, you can do all the kickbacks in the world and your backside will stay exactly the same size. Or worse, it might even get smaller if you're doing too much cardio. We need to talk about the anatomy of the posterior chain because if you don't understand what you're trying to grow, you’re basically just throwing noodles at a wall and hoping they stick.
Why Your Current Glute Routine Is Probably Failing You
The "glutes" aren't just one big blob of muscle. You've got the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. Most people focus entirely on the maximus because it's the "show" muscle. But if you ignore the medius, which sits on the side, you’ll never get that rounded, shelf-like look. This is where most generic "bum workout" apps fail. They give you 100 reps of bodyweight exercises. High-rep, low-resistance training is great for endurance, but it’s pretty mediocre for hypertrophy (muscle growth).
Dr. Bret Contreras, often called "The Glute Guy" in the industry, has spent years researching this via EMG (electromyography) testing. His findings consistently show that the gluteus maximus is most active when the hips are in full extension. This is why a squat—where the hardest part is at the bottom when the muscle is stretched—isn't actually the "king" of glute exercises. The hip thrust is.
When you do a hip thrust, the peak tension occurs at the top of the movement when your hips are locked out. That’s the "sweet spot." If your routine is 90% squats and 10% everything else, you’re leaving a lot of gains on the table. You need to be hitting the muscle from different angles.
- Vertical loading: Exercises like squats and deadlifts.
- Horizontal loading: Exercises like hip thrusts and glute bridges.
- Lateral loading: Exercises like seated abductions or "clamshells."
The Exercises to Increase Bum Size That Actually Matter
Let’s get into the weeds. If you want real growth, you have to prioritize compound movements. But not just any movements. You need exercises that allow for "progressive overload." This is a fancy way of saying you need to get stronger over time. If you’re lifting 10kg today, you should be aiming for 12kg in a few weeks.
The Barbell Hip Thrust
This is the gold standard. Period. To do it right, you need your shoulder blades pivoted against a bench, feet flat on the floor, and a loaded barbell across your hips. You drive through your heels. You squeeze your glutes at the top like you're trying to crack a nut between your cheeks. Sounds weird? Maybe. But it works. A study published in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics compared the squat and the hip thrust and found that hip thrusts elicited significantly higher gluteus maximus activity.
Deficit Reverse Lunges
Most people hate lunges. I get it. They're hard and they make your lungs burn. But the deficit reverse lunge is a secret weapon for exercise to increase bum volume. By standing on a small platform (like a weight plate or a step), you increase the range of motion. This puts the glute in a deep stretch at the bottom. Muscle fibers love being stretched under load. It creates micro-tears that, when repaired with proper nutrition, lead to a thicker muscle belly.
Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)
RDLs are often thought of as a hamstring exercise, but they are incredible for the lower glute "tie-in." The key here is the hinge. You aren't squatting the weight down; you're pushing your hips back as far as they can go until you feel a pull. If you don't feel it in your glutes, you're likely using too much back. Keep the bar close to your shins. Like, grazing-the-skin close.
The Role of "Glute Amnesia" and Mind-Muscle Connection
Ever heard of "dead butt syndrome"? It’s a real thing, sort of. Clinically known as gluteal amnesia, it happens when your glutes "forget" how to fire because you spend eight hours a day sitting on them. When you sit, your hip flexors get tight and your glutes become lengthened and inactive. Then you go to the gym, try to do a squat, and your lower back and quads take over all the work.
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You have to wake them up.
Before you touch a barbell, spend five minutes on activation. Do some bird-dogs or bodyweight glute bridges. Focus intensely on feeling the muscle contract. This isn't just "woo-woo" fitness talk. Research into the mind-muscle connection suggests that internally focusing on a specific muscle during exercise can increase its activation levels. If you can’t feel your bum working during the workout, it’s probably not growing.
Nutrition: You Can't Sculpt a Pebble
You can do every exercise to increase bum size perfectly, but if you’re eating 1,200 calories a day, you’re just wasting your time. Building muscle requires a caloric surplus or, at the very least, maintenance calories with very high protein intake.
Protein is the building block. Aim for about 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you're a 70kg woman, that's roughly 112g to 154g of protein daily. Think chicken, tofu, Greek yogurt, or lean beef. And don't be afraid of carbs. Carbs fuel your workouts. They give you the energy to push that heavy barbell, which in turn signals the muscle to grow.
Recovery Is Where the Magic Happens
Growth doesn't happen in the gym. It happens while you're sleeping. When you lift heavy weights, you create tiny tears in the muscle fibers. Your body then uses the protein you ate to "patch" those tears, making the muscle slightly larger and stronger than before. If you're training glutes every single day, you're never giving them a chance to repair.
Two to three dedicated glute sessions per week is usually the "sweet spot" for most people. Any more than that and you're likely just hitting a point of diminishing returns.
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Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Too much cardio: Running five miles a day is great for your heart, but it’s a "catabolic" activity. It can eat away at the muscle you're trying to build if you aren't careful.
- Chasing the "burn": Just because a muscle burns doesn't mean it’s growing. Lactic acid buildup is a side effect of high reps, not necessarily a sign of hypertrophy.
- Poor form: If your knees are caving in during a squat, your glutes aren't working; your joints are suffering.
Anatomy of a Perfect Glute Session
If I were designing a routine for a friend today, it wouldn't be 20 different exercises. It would be four or five done with extreme intensity.
Start with a heavy compound movement like the Barbell Hip Thrust. Do 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Next, move to a "stretch" mediated exercise like the Romanian Deadlift or a High-Foot Placement Leg Press. Follow that up with a unilateral (one-legged) movement like the Bulgarian Split Squat. Finish with an isolation move like cable kickbacks or seated machine abductions to really pump the blood into the muscle.
It’s simple, but it’s hard.
Actionable Steps to Start Seeing Results
Stop searching for "overnight" fixes. There aren't any. But if you want to see a tangible difference in the next 12 weeks, follow these steps:
- Track your lifts: Write down your weights. If you lifted 50kg this week, try 52.5kg next week. This is the only way to ensure progressive overload.
- Prioritize the Hip Thrust: Make it the first or second exercise in your routine when your energy is highest.
- Increase your protein: Get a tracking app like Cronometer or MyFitnessPal and actually see how much protein you're getting. Most people realize they're significantly under-eating once they track.
- Take progress photos: The scale is a terrible tool for tracking muscle growth. Muscle is denser than fat. You might weigh the same but look completely different. Take photos in the same lighting every two weeks.
- Fix your sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours. This is when growth hormone is released.
Building a stronger, larger posterior isn't about luck or "good genetics," though genetics do play a role in shape. It's about mechanical tension. Put the muscle under a heavy load, feed it properly, and give it time to recover. Consistency is the boring answer, but it's the only one that actually works in the long run. Focus on the big lifts, eat your steak (or beans), and stop doing 500 donkey kicks. Your glutes will thank you.