The A shaped bum is quite similar to the hearth shaped bum and is often considered one of the more desirable shapes.

Much like it’s hearth shaped cousin, A shaped glutes are characterised by being larger and wider at the base, narrowing up into a relatively smaller waist.

But there are a few small differences that characterise an A shape bum compared to Heart shape bum. Mainly it comes down to fat distribution around the hips, aka the saddle bags.

On that note, I HATE the term saddle bags! You are not a work horse, you are a person, can we come up with something better please!

We have LOVE handles for our lower back fat, can we have ‘love pockets’ for out thigh fat? Let’s workshop a better name 😂.

Anyway…. the extra thigh fat gives the A shape a ‘sharper’ looking, more triangular base than the heart shape does but that’s really the main difference.

We are all born with different glute genetics that will largely control what glute shape you have.

I strongly suggest you check out my insanely popular post on How Your Genetics Shapes Your Glutes after you read this.

Before we go on let’s get one thing clear - ALL BUMS ARE GREAT!

Whatever shape you may fall into doesn’t matter. It doesn’t define you, make you any less sexy and awesome or any less capable.

Any shaped butt is capable of looking great and more importantly being the powerhouse for your whole body.

You can’t really change what nature gave you, but we can fine tune it into something you are happier with.

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What Characterises A Shaped (trapezoid) Glutes?

The A shape is generally considered to be one of the most feminine and desirable bum shape by both women and men, it’s big, it’s round, it signifies strong, ‘child bearing’ hips and can visually make the waist look smaller.

Women with an A shaped bum have a higher fat distribution around the lower portion of the bum and thighs and less fat around the waist.

This results in the glutes appearing wider at the base of your bum and tapering up into a comparatively narrower waist (hence “A” shape, Triangle or Trapezoid).

While every person’s body is uniquely beautiful, many women with A shaped glutes don’t like the thigh fat (those saddle bags) that often comes along with it.

Do You Still Need To Build An A Shaped Bum?

This shouldn’t be a surprise but…. Yes! 100%

Like the heart shape it may be one of the most desirable and sought after but it’s also easy to lose it as you age.

Yep…. it could end up saggy and as you age and your hormones change, particularly oestrogen. This change causes a gradual shift in where your body holds fat. Typically fat storage will move away from the glutes, legs and hips and migrate up to the midsection.

So over time the fat that gives you your A shaped butt may shift to your belly and you end up at the other end of the spectrum with a V-Shaped booty.

Luckily I’ve already got you covered on that in another article.

So to keep that butt nice and peachy we need to train it hard and often and we need to feed it.

Glute Building Nutrition

To save you time I’ve already written an in depth article on glute building nutrition in this article, check it out after when you are done reading this one.

I’ve also got a brilliant and handy CALORIE CALCULATOR on my website that will give you custom calorie targets, advice on macro splits and advice on either building muscle or burning fat, make sure you check it out.

Two Main Steps

To make an A shaped (triangle) bum into a rounder one we need to both build up the glute and quad muscles and then try to lose some of the fat from the hips. Bearing in mind that we CAN NOT target you hip and thigh fat specifically, fat will come off from everywhere and will likly come off your ‘problem’ areas last and slowest.

Step One (the next few years)

You need to spend some time in a calorie surplus with a high protein diet in order to build new glute and leg muscle (you can get this from the calculator).

I recommend training your glutes and legs 3-4x a week for a minimum of 3 months to see any real change in glute shape and size. But in all honesty a great bum can take years of consistent work and effort. You need to look at this as a minimum 12 month project, but probably 2-4 years of serious work for a serious booty.

Remember if you don’t eat you won’t grow and your glute shape won’t change.

This is not the time for diets, HIIT workouts and long runs. Keep cardio to a basic level for general fitness.

You really have TWO primary goals -

1: Grow your glutes as much as possible to give them shape, lift, size and most importantly strength, so we emphasise what you already have.

2: Grow your legs especially your Quads because increasing your leg size (aka quad sweep) will help to lessen the appearance of your thigh fat and can also help to shift the fat too.

Step Two

This is the fat loss phase. Once you’ve built your glutes and thighs up to a size and shape you are more happy with then we can look at tackling the thigh fat.

Fat loss requires a calorie deficit with a high protein diet in order to burn fat and preserve muscle (again you can get this from the calculator).

With a sensible diet, weight training and moderate cardio (as needed) we can burn off the fat around the thighs (along withe rest of the body as you can’t spot reduce fat) to help lessen the pointy base A shape and enhance the round glute shape you’ve been aiming for.

Depending on your starting point you may need to diet for 4-12+ weeks (but it’s wildly variable).

I recommend a slower, approach with a less aggressive calorie deficit around 10% to preserve as much muscle and strength as possible.

During both the glute building phase and fat loss phase your training should stay pretty much the same:

Lift weights,

Keep it heavy,

Maintain your strength levels (getting weaker is a sigh of muscle loss and too harsh a diet)

Check out this article on Progressive Overload - The one thing you MUST master to grow any muscle.

Cardio should be used as a tool as and when needed or for general fitness. Cardio will not build your glutes.

Ok….Let’s get on to why you are really here: The Exercises

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Exercises For A Shaped (Triangle) Glutes

To grow your glutes and Legs, you should train all the glute and lower body muscle from all angles.

‘A’ shaped bums are often not lacking in gluteus maximus size, but we still want to focus our attention on building the glute max but also building the quads, specifically the VASTUS LATERALIS muscle, hamstrings and glute medius to get that fuller look to the legs.

Your Go To lifts will always be your priority, no matter what you want your glutes to look like these are your bread and butter:

Hip Thrusts - Barbell, banded, foot elevated, machine, single leg.

Glute Bridges - Barbell, banded, single leg.

Deadlifts - Sumo,Conventional, Romanian.

Squats - Back, Front, Sumo, Goblet, Split. - Check out my article on why you can’t squat with good depth and how to fix it

Step Ups - Bodyweight, Dumbbell, Barbell, Lateral and Crossover/Curtsey

Lunges - Static, Deficit, Walking.

Abductions - Machine, Fire hydrants, Cable, German etc.

Focusing your training on these key movements will build and maintain those all important Glute Max and Quad muscles and help you get rounder glutes and lessen the appearance of your (apologies) saddle bags (aka Love Pockets I made up earlier).

Exercises for the Glute Max

A strong gluteus max gives the glutes their size and volume it also provides protection from chronic back pain by balancing out the forces from the front of the hips and abs. Therefore, exercises that build them are very important for everyday health and pain free living, not just a round shaped bum.

The gluteus max is the largest muscle by volume in the human body and makes up almost all of what you consider your bum, so it can take a considerable amount of training volume and intensity.

Check out this post that will teach you every thing you need to know about glute muscles.

To really grow your glutes we need exercises that hit all the major leg and glute muscles through a full range of motion and movements.

Right out of the gate we need -

Barbell Hip Thrusts and Glute Bridges

These are your prime movement, the King of the glute building exercises. If you want to add mass to you ass then you should be doing these pretty much every leg/glute day you do.

I regularly get my clients to up to lifting over 100kg at 50-60kg bodyweight. Get comfy being uncomfortable.

Barbell Glute Bridge

Kas Glute Bridges

I recommend using a variety of rep ranges and tempos on hip thrusts and bridges for maximum growth potential.

For example if you train glutes 3X per week I would do the following.

Monday - Heavy Weight/Low reps e.g. 5 Sets of 4-6 reps.

Wednesday - Light Weight/ High Reps e.g. 4 Sets of 15-20 reps.

Friday - Moderate Weight/ Moderate Reps with Pauses e.g. 3-5 Sets of 10-12 Reps with 2-5 Second pauses like the video above.

DeadLifts

A staple for developing power, strength and developing your back, glutes and legs. The three major muscle groups hit by the deadlift are quadriceps, the hamstrings and of course the gluteus maximus. So if we want to even things out deadlifts are a great choice.

Deadlifts can be difficult to master, If in doubt, play it safe with a lower load or hire a personal trainer ✅

Conventional Deadlift

Sumo Deadlift

Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift variation is perhaps the best hamstring developer you can do and it hits the glute max intensely. It should be a staple exercise to lift and shape those A shaped glutes and make your bum rounder. Again it can be difficult at first to get it right so get professional help.

Other variations you may consider for A shaped (trapezoid) glutes are:

Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Single Leg Deadlifts
Cable Pull throughs
Good Mornings

Now let’s look at the key exercises to build those quads or more accurately our VASTUS LATERALIS to get that quad sweep to help minimise that thigh fat.

Squats

When it comes to growing your glutes squats plays an important role.

That being said - Squats are not the glorified booty builder that people think they are. Squats primarily target the quadriceps, the glutes only assist the movement.

In a squat the quads and glutes are doing their maximum work in the stretched position i.e. at the bottom of the squat. So if you don’t or can’t squat deep then your glutes are not really getting much work.

I’v written a detailed article on the reasons why many people struggle to squat with good depth and how to fix it, check it out if you want to squat properly.

Your go to squat will be the back squat as long as you are capable and mobile enough to squat with weight, otherwise stick to lighter versions like goblet squats.

Front Squats

Guaranteed to grow your quads and good for the glutes too, just do it properly. Again consider getting a good coach as finding the correct stance and style that suits you can take a little practice and skill.

I’m a big fan of all squats as there are a ton of variations to play with.

You can also consider:

Heel elevated goblet squats and One and a Quarter’ goblet squats (a client favourite 🤮)
Banded goblet squats
Deficit squats
Back Squats
Narrow Stance Squats (more Vastus Lateralis focused)

Leg Machines For Quads and Glutes

Narrow Stance Leg Press

Machine based leg exercises are an amazing option to target the legs safely and effectively and the leg press is the big one. There are many foot placement options on the leg press to move the emphasis to different areas of the legs but to hit the Vastus Lateralis our best option is the narrow stance leg press.

Now… Don’t ego lift! The leg press is like a magnet for ego lifting bullshit, if you try them on this variation you will have a bad time.

Focus on a sensible weight, full range of motion and feeling the burn.

Narrow Stance Hack Squats

Prepare for a new level of growth. The hack squat is brilliant and by brilliant I mean you’ll probably hate it and want to die….. but that’s why it’s so good. Training legs isn’t meant to be fun 😂. This is mega for quads and glutes.

If your gym doesn’t have a Hack Squat then just stick with leg press and squats.

‘Toes In’ Leg Extensions

About as functional as a waterproof match but a very good quad builder. Some people worry about if they are bad for your knees, but as long as you set up the machine properly, use a light to moderate weight and use slow controlled reps in a higher rep range you’ll be fine. Again it’s about avoiding ego lifting.

Pointing your toes slightly inwards can help to hit that Vastus Lateralis muscle a little harder.

Split Squats, Lunges and Step Ups

Bulgarian Split Squats

Once described to me by a client as “absolute AID’s” The Bulgarian Split Squat is an ‘absolute’ killer. To hit the glutes more I recommend leaning forward over the leg and getting as deep as possible. You may hate me while you do them but you’ll thank me later.

Step Ups

Among glute exercises Step Ups have been shown to have some of the highest glute activation of any exercises and are in my opinion a top choice. You can do them bodyweight, weighted, Curtsey style or Lateral style.

Lunges

Lunges work every muscle in the legs, they require balance, mobility and even grace to complete properly. When done well they will set your glutes on fire, challenge your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and even improve your balance and gait.

There are many variations of lunges, all of which are perfect for changing that A shaped butt in to a rounder butt. Lunges can target the glute max brilliantly as we can get nice and deep (like squats). This is really going to help make your glutes rounder.

The most bang for your buck lunge variation has to be walking lunges, an absolute killer and a massive quad, hamstring and glute grower.

Other lunge variations to consider are:

Alternating lunges
Static lunges
Smith machine lunges/Deficit Smith machine lunges
Side lunges/Forward lunges
Lunge and Squat combosAnd Finally and odd one….

Now An Odd One To Finish

Sissy Squats

The sissy squat is a great way to move target the quads. Your glutes and hamstrings will still be worked, just not as much.

It’s likely you gym won’t have a Sissy Squat machine like the video so here is another video showing how to do them without equipment.

Warning - These are not easy and I only suggest trying them if you are 100% sure you are doing them correctly!!!!

All the above exercises are your go to glute and leg mass builders. They are the standard, basic compound exercises that should make up any good glute and leg workout.

If you want a bigger, rounder bum then stick to these basics lifts. Don’t get sucked into all the crazy variations and social media influencer 🤮 workouts with booty bands etc.

Lift heavy

Lift Big

Eat big

Icing On The Cakes 🍑

You always want to add some isolation and abduction work to round that booty and train your Glute Medius. I have a whole article on building you upper glute shelf here. Make sure you check it out for all the detail on filling out your upper glutes and hips.

A few I recommend are the following:

Hip Abduction with Bands, Machines and Cables
Fire hydrants
Side Lying Hip Raises
Extra Range Side Lying Hip Abductions
Banded Frog Pumps and Glute Bridges.

Final Thoughts…..

This is by no means an exhaustive list of exercises but they are fantastic options to add in to your glute workouts if you have an A shaped bum and you are looking to improve the size, shape and minimise your thigh fat.

But remember, you can’t change your glutes completely. Your genetics gave you your glute shape, all we can do is try to enhance what you already have and learn to love what you got.

As I say in all my glute articles - glutes have a huge impact on performance and injury prevention. So if you are prone to injuries training your glutes is an absolute must.

Thanks for reading

Aaron

If you are looking to make that change, work with a strength and conditioning coach who understands and respects individuality and is trained to work with women then you should

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And Check out of a few of my clients glutes below

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