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No, gentlemen, the title isn’t intended to inspire you to put on a pair of sunglasses and hit the local beach to engage in some girl-watching. Rather, this article is designed to give you some guidance as to which exercises are most effective for targeting and building your gluteus maximum, or your tush. Ready to get your butt training?

Squats
You’ll never meet an avid squatter with a small butt. It’s that simple. If you want to be thick all over, then you need to squat. The deeper you go (within reason for knee tendon health), the better results you will enjoy. Four Sets of 6 to 12 should start every leg day!

Lunges
First and foremost in the glute isolation movement would be lunges with moderate weight for higher repetitions. This exercise is one of intense focus and feel, where you should be flexing your glutes at the top and bottom of every repetition, along with your quads and hamstrings. This movement brings out detail and is required for full development, on men and women alike.

Deadlifts
Keeping your knees locked will target the hamstrings and glutes much more, while allowing a slight bend in the knees will result in more emphasis being pointed to your back. Use a back brace, warm up thoroughly and just devote a solid 25 to 30 minutes to dedicated deadlifting with each hamstring workout.

Flexion Movements
Simply flexing your glutes, between sets with subtlety, or at home with a tad more emphasis will help develop them and allow you greater control over their contraction, giving you a better mind-muscle connection when you train them the following week. Five to ten minutes is more than adequate for reaching this connection.

Leg Curl/Glute Focus Machines
Your gym certainly already possesses a variety of movements such as leg curl (seated and lying) in addition to dedicated glute targeting machines. Use them!

Adductor/Abductor
While not exactly an exercises you brag about doing on a billboard, the adductor and abductor movements are very useful for delivering isolation and targeted focus to your rear end.

Remember that a well developed rear section is both functional for all lifts (gym and real life) and required for bodybuilding competition standards. Without a thick and muscular rump, you’ll never hit big squat or deadlift numbers, and you will always be at greater risk for injury to back and hernias in the front. Train for complete balance all over your body – total thickness from head to toe, including the glutes!