Whether you want to get more muscle or lose some fat in your butt area, exercises and good nutrition are the only ways to get to your goals. I encourage you to revamp your diet so that you are getting enough low fat protein, whole grain carbs and dark green veggies. I emphasize the importance of drinking a lot of water and getting in at least 30 – 60 minutes of cardio per 3 – 5 days per weeks. These are all part of the magical solution to dropping fat and building muscle. Another major part of meeting your goal is doing specific exercises every day to target this area. Squats are one of the very best exercises for this. Work on increasing your reps a little each day and soon you will even be able to add weight to amp it up! Here is a great booty busting and butt building exercise that you can start right now. Squats!

How to Do A Proper Squat for Booty Building & Toning Your Butt

This is the “go to” exercise that builds your butt. The important thing to note with this exercise is that you MUST have good form or you will not see the benefits and you WILL injure your knees, back and even your ankles. Squats do feel awkward at first but it is quite easy to do them well once you practice a bit.

TIP: Using a mirror to check your form is the best way to go when doing squats!

Here’s what you do:

Begin with legs shoulder width apart.

Start by rolling your shoulders back and down. You do not want your shoulders up by your neck and ears.

Suck in your stomach to try and pull your belly button toward your back to support your core.

Shift your weight into your heels so that you can still balance while wiggling your toes a little. You will keep this weight in your heels the entire time.

Begin moving your butt backward hinging at the knees and hips. You will be doing a squat correctly if you make a move that looks like you are sitting down in a chair that is a little ways behind you.

As you bend, align your spine so that your lower back is flat rather than arcing.

Do what feels best with your hands and arms. Holding them out in front of you to keep your balance works well.

Go as low as you can while both holding your balance and pushing your muscles to a point where they are stretched but not hurting. There is a range of how far you will be able to go. The more you practice and stretch your muscles, the lower you will able to go into a deeper squat. At this point when you are at your lowest point, you hold it for 3 seconds and then come back up to standing while you are squeezing your butt cheeks!

The main injury from this exercise affects the knees. Here is what to keep in mind for proper form:

Your knees bend as your butt goes backward and as they come forward, they track toward your middle toes. They do not flare outward and they do not buckle inward.

When you are bent in the squat position, you should be able to see your toes over your knees. This means that the main bending in this move is coming from pushing your butt backward while hinging in your waist and knees. Spot yourself in the mirror to check your form. It will feel like you are going to lose your balance and fall backward (and  maybe you will once or twice) but you will quickly learn good form to keep your knees safe and to build that booty!

Once you are doing great on your air squats, add weight to the equation. Here are three different placements for holding weights while squatting.