If you're looking to build your curves, we have a three-week plan to jump-start your booty gains. This 21-day plan will not only build your backside, but will strengthen your glutes and hamstrings, too.
How it works: You will do three sets of these five exercises, which target the glutes from a variety of angles, every other day. Over the course of the challenge, the number of reps per set increases. By the end of the challenge, you will be doing 15 reps, per set, of each move. Rest a minute between sets.
Check out the plan ahead and keep reading for an explanation of each of the exercises. Choosing the appropriate-size dumbbell is key here — you want a weight that completely fatigues your muscles by the end of the three sets. If the challenge ever feels too easy, that's your cue to increase the weight, and if you find you're fatiguing too early, decrease the weight amount. Beginners should start the plan with five-pound dumbbells or can opt to do the first two workouts without weights. For more experienced lifters, make this challenge work for you by grabbing a heavier set. I like to use 10-pounders.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart with toes pointed slightly out. Hold your dumbbell at chest level with both hands. Keeping your back flat, push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor and your elbows touch your knees.
With your weight focused in your heels, push yourself up to the starting position to complete one rep.
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2) Romanian Deadlift
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Stand upright holding a dumbbell in each hand, hands at the front of your thighs, with your knees slightly bent.
Keeping your arms straight and knees slightly bent, slowly bend at the hips (not your waist) and lower the weights as far as possible without rounding your back, which should remain straight. You should feel a nice stretch in the back of you legs.
Squeeze your glutes and keep your back straight as you return to standing to complete one rep.
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3) Alternating Curtsy Lunge
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Start from standing holding weights just above your shoulders, and step your right leg diagonally behind you and to the left so your thighs cross, bending both knees as if you were curtsying. Make sure your front knee is aligned with your front ankle.
Return to standing and switch sides to complete one rep.
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4) Single-Leg Touch
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Begin standing with all your weight on your left foot.
Keeping your spine long, reach forward, bending your left knee and touching your right fingers to the ground. Keep your abs engaged to keep your torso stable and back straight. Your right leg will go behind you to help you balance.
Press your left heel into the ground as you lift your torso up to return to standing, bringing the right toes to touch next to the left foot. This completes one rep. Once you complete all the reps for one leg, switch sides.
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5) Full-Body Bridge
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Begin seated with your hands behind you and your fingers pointed away from your pelvis.
Press the heels of your feet and hands into the ground as you raise your pelvis off the floor until it is in line with your shoulders and knees.
Keep your torso in one solid piece as you bend at your hip joint to lower your pelvis back to the floor to complete one rep.