The glutes are the biggest muscle group in the human body, so you might assume that you need a gym filled with the heaviest, fanciest equipment to make them bigger and stronger. Luckily, for all the at-home workout enthusiasts with better butt ambitions, you don’t. In fact, some of the best butt exercises require minimal space and just a few basic tools.

“You can definitely improve muscle strength and hypertrophy [muscle growth] with just dumbbells,” says Jessie Duppler, PT, DPT, creator of the Chain Reaction Strength Revolution program.

As a physical therapist, she works with clients ranging from recreational athletes to competitive cyclists to build functional strength throughout the body, including the glutes. So, we asked her to share some of her go-to butt exercises you can do at home.

The glutes muscles and their function

Your butt is made up of three different muscles, all of which work in tandem to rotate, extend, and stabilize the hips as well as abduct the legs (draw them away from the body’s midline).

The gluteus maximus is the largest of the trio. “It’s a really big surface muscle,” Duppler says. That, in addition to its functionality, gives your butt its shape. The gluteus medius, aka “side butt,” is the muscle you feel working during sideways movements like lateral lunges and side-lying leg raises. The gluteus minimus, which is nestled beneath the gluteus minimus, is the smallest of the group but is especially critical to hip stabilization.

The benefits of strengthening your glutes

Glutes-targeted resistance training (paired with proper nutrition and adequate recovery) can help pack on muscle mass. Regularly performing at-home butt exercises can also positively impact your athletic performance and everyday life in multiple ways.

1. It supports functional strength

“You need your glutes to be strong just to be able to do everyday life,” Duppler says, noting that a squat is the same motion as sitting down and getting up from a chair. “As people get older, you notice them having to use their hands to help them get up,” she says. “A lot of times, that’s due to the glutes not being as strong as they need to be.”

Other basic movements like walking, climbing stairs, and getting in and out of a car also demand glute strength, as they require hip extension.

2. It improves athletic performance

If you run, cycle, hike, climb, or play a sport involving hip extension and rotation (it’s tough to find one that doesn’t), strengthening your glute muscles can improve your game by amping up your power, speed, stability, and endurance. For example, the more force you can produce as you push through your feet and extend your hips forward, the faster you can sprint to the finish line or charge up a hill.

The more powerful your glutes, the higher you can jump to spike a volleyball. With stable hips, you’re better able to quickly change directions during a game of tennis or pickleball.

“You need your glutes to be strong just to be able to do everyday life.” —Jesse Duppler, PT, DPT

3. It counteracts sitting

Take that list of things you’re already doing to mitigate a day’s worth of sitting (movement breaks, a standing desk, walking meetings, etc.) and add some at-home butt exercises to your intervention strategy.

Duppler explains that sitting for an extended period of time puts the glutes in a lengthened position. “When the muscle is stretched for a long period of time, it has a harder time remembering how to contract,” she says. Targeting the glutes with resistance training can help counteract the time you spend in a seated, flexed position so that you feel stronger when you’re up on your feet.

4. It may relieve lower back pain

Some research indicates that there may be a link between weakened glute muscles and lower back pain. When the glutes, a stabilizing force for the pelvis, don’t pull their weight, the spine has to work overtime. This can lead to movement compensations that can cause pain and injuries.

“A lot of the time, low back and hip pain can come from the fact that we simply don’t rotate as much [as we need to],” Duppler says. “The glutes are a big muscle [group] that rotates us, so the stronger they are, the more supple, essentially, our joints are.”

5. It prevents injuries

The glutes don’t work in isolation; they’re part of a kinetic chain. So, if they’re not strong enough to support healthy movement, you may experience a breakdown in other parts of the body.

“The hip has to be a really good stabilizer and shock absorber for us. If it can’t do that, then the joints below it have to pick up the slack,” Duppler says. She explains that the knees and ankles are often the “victims” of weak hips and glutes. It’s impossible to prevent injuries altogether, but strengthening the glutes is one way to stack the deck in your favor.

The best butt exercises to add to your at-home workouts

To specifically strengthen and develop your butt, Duppler recommends picking at least three of the following exercises to incorporate into your full-body or lower-body strength workouts. Do three to four sets of each exercise per workout, and for optimal results, make sure to consistently target the glute muscles three times a week.

To do all of the following butt exercises, you’ll need a resistance band, a medium-to-heavy dumbbell (the last couple of reps of each set should be a struggle), and an exercise mat.

1. Banded toe tap (each side separately)

1. 1.
   Stand with your hands on your hips and your feet shoulder-width apart with a resistance band looped around the arches of your feet.
2. 2.
   Step your right foot out to the right as far as you can and tap your toes on the ground. Immediately draw your foot back to the starting position.
3. 3.
   Step your right to the right and back diagonally behind you and tap your toes on the ground. Immediately draw your foot back to the starting position.
4. 4.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps, then repeat with your left leg.

2. Goblet squat

1. 1.
   Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed forward.
2. 2.
   Hold one end of a dumbbell with both hands against your chest in a goblet position.
3. 3.
   Keeping your chest up and spine straight, hinge at your hips, push your butt back, and bend your knees to lower your hips into a squat.
4. 4.
   Push through your feet to return to a standing position.
5. 5.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps.

3. Kickback (each side separately)

1. 1.
   Start on all fours with your wrists below your shoulders and your knees below your hips.
2. 2.
   Keeping your core engaged, back flat, and neck neutral, lift your left knee an inch or so off the ground.
3. 3.
   Extend your leg behind you to kick your foot back and up. Then, immediately bend your knee to draw your leg back to the starting position.
4. 4.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps, then repeat with your right leg.

4. Lateral lunge (each side separately)

1. 1.
   Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed forward.
2. 2.
   Hold one end of a dumbbell with both hands against your chest in a goblet position.
3. 3.
   Keeping your core engaged, chest up, and back flat, step your right foot out to the side two to three feet.
4. 4.
   Hinge at your hips, push your butt back, and bend your right knee to lower into a right side lunge.
5. 5.
   Push through your right foot and draw your right leg in to return to a standing position.
6. 6.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps, then repeat with your left leg.

5. Side-lying hip abduction (each side separately)

1. 1.
   Lie on your right side with your left hand on your hip and your right arm supporting your head. Bend your right leg slightly and keep your left leg straight. If possible, place your back and heels against a wall to keep your body from tipping forward or backward.
2. 2.
   Lift your left leg a little more than a foot. This is the starting position.
3. 3.
   Lift your left leg by about 6 inches, then lower to the starting position.
4. 4.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps, then repeat with your right leg.

6. Reverse lunge with twist (alternating sides)

1. 1.
   Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed forward.
2. 2.
   Hold one end of a dumbbell with both hands against your chest in a goblet position.
3. 3.
   Step your right foot back two to three feet and place the ball of your foot on the ground.
4. 4.
   Bend both knees about 90 degrees to lower into a reverse lunge. Keep your chest up and spine straight.
5. 5.
   From the lunge position, rotate your torso to the left, then back to face forward.
6. 6.
   Push through the left foot and bring your left foot back to meet your right.
7. 7.
   Turn to face the opposite direction and repeat the sequence, starting with your left leg.
8. 8.
   Repeat, alternating legs. Do 8-12 reps on each leg.

7. Airplane (each side separately)

1. 1.
   Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips.
2. 2.
   Shift your weight to your left foot and lean forward slightly as you extend your right foot behind you. This is your starting position.
3. 3.
   Keeping your left leg stationary, externally rotate your left hip so that your torso and right leg face right.
4. 4.
   Pause, then internally rotate the left hip to return to the starting position.
5. 5.
   Repeat. Do 8-12 reps, then repeat on the opposite side.