Exactly How to Squeeze a Butt Workout into Every Sweat Sesh

This year was all about the butt. We had more people asking about it—and we created more workouts for it—than we even did for abs. (Shocking, but true.) I like that it’s getting more attention, not only because it’s the strongest group of muscles in your entire body—but because, inevitably, when you start focusing on your butt, you tend to also engage most of your posterior chain (a.k.a. the backside of your body: hamstrings, low back, etc.). And that area could always use some extra love.

Building a stronger butt usually entails a mix of heavy, light, and bodyweight exercises. This quickie workout focuses on the latter. Using these non-weighted moves will not only help strengthen your glute activation, but they’ll help you really zero in on your form on two of the most fundamental lower-body movements: the hinge and the squat. By getting stronger at these two movements without weight, you’ll be able to get stronger (and fend off injuries) when you start adding more weight to moves like deadlifts, squats, lunges, and swings.