Giulia Ralph is a qualified Nutritionist, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Weightlifting Coach, and Personal Trainer. She has a Bachelor of Health Science in Nutrition and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Human Nutrition.
As trends in body shape and size change, so they also affect the kind of workouts people gravitate to. In the last decade or so, a round firm butt has been the one thing that everyone seems to want to get – and thus glute workouts have grown in popularity.
Stronger glutes are not just for appearance, but they also have functional uses that can make everyday life as well as athletic performance that much easier. The under butt aka the lower butt is one area of the glutes that is rarely mentioned in most booty workout routines.
To get that peach bum you must first make sure to exercise this area on leg days. Read on to learn more about why you should have a workout for lower butt, how to lift lower buttocks, the best under butt exercises at home or at the gym and much more.
First things first, what on earth are lower buttocks? Also known as the underbutt or the glute-ham tie-in, this is the area right below your butt where the glutes meet the hamstrings, right at the upper thigh.
If you take your hand and slide it right under your bum, you can feel the line/crease/fold (aka the gluteal sulcus or gluteal fold (7) where these two meet. The larger the butt, the bigger/deeper the crease.
Other than the size of the glutes, genetics, especially related to fat distribution affects how this area looks. If you have too much under butt fat, this area may end up looking saggy, ruining the desired aesthetics or a firm, round butt.
Adding underbutt exercises in gym routines or in your at home workouts, as well as losing some body fat (if you already have a lot), is one of the best ways to help lift your glutes.
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There are several reasons why you should do exercises to round the bottom of glutes and to strengthen the butt muscles as a whole. They include (1):
Your entire butt is made up of 3 main muscles, namely the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. The gluteus maximus forms the bulk of the buttock area, from your hips to the bottom of the butt. This muscle is the most superficial and largest of all three muscles.
This also makes up the bulk of the shape and form of the buttock and hip area. This thick and fleshy muscle originates from the sacrum – in the butt crack, the ilium – hip bone area, the thoracolumbar fascia, and the sacrotuberous ligaments.
From these points, it then slopes at a 45-degree angle inserting at the gluteal tuberosity of the femur and the iliotibial tract (3, 11).
The gluteus medius lies between the gluteus maximus and gluteus minimus and is a primary hip abductor. It works to stabilize the pelvis and maintain the trunk upright when standing on one leg, running, and walking, whenever one leg is off the ground. Together with the gluteus minimus, they both work to abduct the thigh and rotate it internally (4).
Finally, the gluteus minimus is the smallest and innermost of the butt muscles, lying deep under the other two. The minimus acts as a hip stabilizer and abductor of the hip. It also shares a lot of the same characteristics as the medius from function to blood as well as nerve supply (5).
The best glute isolation exercises, specifically for the lower butt region are those that involve a hip extension movement.
In an older study published in 1983 in the Physical Therapy journal, researchers found that hip extension exercises such as walking up stairs, predominantly engaged the lower portion of the gluteus maximus (aka lower portion of the butt) while the adductor magnus muscle also played a primary role in hip extension when loaded. s (14).
In a more recent study published in 2016 in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, research findings also supported this theory.
In the study involving 20 participants and 11 different exercises, researchers found that the participants’ superior portion of the gluteus maximus had greater levels of activation during exercises that involved hip abduction and/or external rotation. The hip extension exercise, on the other hand, targeted both the superior and inferior portions of the gluteus maximus to a similar extent (6).
According to Healthline, a hip extension occurs when you extend or open the hip joint, thus increasing the angle between the pelvis and thigh.
Read more: Butt Lift Workout Guide: Top 20 Sculpting Moves for Toned Glutes
If you are at the gym, do this with a barbell, and if at home you can simply use your body weight or a resistance band- if you have one at hand.
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Unlike normal lunges, this movement provides a deeper hip flexion which not only improves and challenges hip mobility but it also recruits more from the glutes (12)
To make this exercise more challenging, hold some free weights – dumbbells or kettlebells – in each hand. If you are not at the gym, use a low stair step and improvised weights like water bottles to complete this workout.
If you are #gymtok or #gyminsta, then you know that Bulgarian split squats are the ‘IT’ glute workout of the moment.
Ps. Keep your reps as slow and controlled as possible. Slow controlled movements target the muscles more effectively – burning more calories and giving you better results.
If you do not have a kettlebell at home, improvise using detergent jugs, a heavy backpack, an actual tea kettle, milk or water bottles, paint cans, etc.
Cable pull throughs are a good machine assisted version of this workout.
If you are not at the gym, or if your gym does not have this machine, a good alternative workout for lower butt to cable glute kickbacks is donkey kicks. The only major difference between these two is that in donkey kicks the knee is bent at a 90-degree angle, while in the cable variation, it is extended.
Read more: Effective Upper Butt Workout: Make a Peachy Booty at Home
If you feel that your butt is too big, it could be because you have too much fat distribution in this area. This could be due to being overweight or simply because according to your genetic fat distribution, you store most of your fat in the buttocks.
The best way to get a smaller butt is through exercise. The best workouts for this are:
Cardio burns a large number of calories during the workout thus helps with weight and fat loss. Strength training helps build muscle and also burn fat. It also helps you build muscle in the butt, ensuring that while your butt gets smaller through fat loss, it won’t end up flat thanks to muscle growth.
If you have a naturally flat butt, then glute and leg workouts should be your best friends. Increased muscle growth in this area helps you achieve the bubble butt of your dreams.
Also known as ‘dead butt syndrome’ or gluteal amnesia, is a condition caused by not using your glutes enough. People who spend a lot of time seated or lying down are more likely to have this condition.
Signs of lazy glues include (2)
It could be due to fat and weight loss. As previously stated, all exercises, including butt and leg workouts, burn calories. Burning calories means that you will eventually start losing weight and fat – which could make your butt smaller.
This, however, shouldn’t worry you too much. The lost fat will be replaced by muscle giving you a firmer, perkier butt. The new butt size and shape might even suit your new weight-loss body much better.
Workouts for the lower butt are essential for anyone who wishes to have a nice round butt. All the above-listed workouts will help you work and tone this area giving you a nicer, well-rounded rounder butt that looks absolutely incredible in anything you choose to wear.
Remember to also eat enough protein to facilitate more muscle growth and have a calorie deficit to get rid of excess fat that may make the butt look saggy.
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