AKA How To Get A Bubble Butt

A round “bubble” shaped pair of glutes or a heart-shaped bum is a pretty common goal for a lot of women.

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

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

There are at least 4 widely recognised butt shapes, which are round, heart, square, and inverted V-shaped.

A V-shaped booty lacks volume, and it’s this lack of size and shape that bothers most people. It is also more common in underweight and older women as they lose muscle and fat distribution shifts with age from the hips to the abdomen.

If you are a naturally skinny woman, I suggest you check out this article on how to build muscle for skinny women.

If you are reading this then you may have a V-shaped bum, so let’s dove straight into how we can turn that V-shaped booty into a rounder peachier set of glutes.

What we need is to add mass to that ass, and we do that by focusing our v-shaped glute training on the gluteus maximus and eating a lot of good food.

inverted trapezoid bum, v shaped bum, triangle butt

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Glute Building Nutrition

There is no point in looking at the exercises that build and shape round glutes if we don’t fix your nutrition first.

Check out this article I wrote all about glute-building nutrition.

We need calories and protein to build those glute muscles, so to change your v-shaped glutes to round glutes we need to eat.

I’ve got a brilliant and handy CALORIE CALCULATOR on my instagram 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.

Your Primary Goal

You need to spend some time in a calorie surplus with a high-protein diet in order to build your glutes. (you can get this from the calculator).

I recommend training your glutes 3-4x times a week for a minimum of 3 months to see any real glute shape and size change. But honestly, a great bum can take years (not a week) of consistent work and effort.

Remember, if you don’t eat, you won’t grow, and your glute shape won’t change. You need to overload your training to grow progressively. I recommend this article on Progressive Overload and why it’s essential for booty growth.

This is not a time to focus on fat loss, this is about growing. Your glute shape will change much more if you focus on growing and not shrinking. If fat loss is needed, that comes after.

Lift weights,

Keep it heavy,

Increase your strength levels (remember progressive overload).

Cardio will not build your glutes, so stop doing kickbacks on the stairmaster!!!

Exercises For V Shaped Glutes

To grow your glutes, you should train all the glute muscle from all angles, but with V-shaped glutes, we want more focus on the gluteus maximus - the big one!

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 - Kas Glute Bridge, Barbell, banded, single leg.

Deadlifts - Sumo, Conventional, Romanian.

Squats - Back, Front, Sumo, Goblet, Split.

Lunges - Static, Deficit, Walking.

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

Exercises for the Glute Max

A strong gluteus max gives the glutes their size and volume it also protects 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 everything you need to know about glute muscles.

To 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 -

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Barbell Hip Thrusts

They are a staple of any good glute training program but are especially important for people with v-shaped butts looking to add size. The hip thrust and its variations are responsible for all those big, juicy booties you see daily on social media.

Now is not the time to be timid; get comfy with a big barbell and heavy weights - my client Emily managed a 200kg hip thrust in 2020.

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

For example, if you train your 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.

Kas Glute Bridge

They are again a staple for many of my clients, yet it’s not a well know exercise (but it’s becoming popular). The Kas Glute Bridge uses a small range of motion and a slow, controlled tempo to focus purely on maximum end-range glute contractions with little to no hamstring or quads involved.

Give this a go!!

DeadLifts

The king/Queen of all power moves and is a staple for developing glutes and legs. The three major muscle groups hit by the deadlift are those found in the hip, lower back and knees. These include the quadriceps, the hamstrings and, of course, the gluteus maximus.

Deadlifts can be difficult to master and are prone to ego lifting and terrible form (see any bro in your gym 😂). 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 V 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 v shaped glutes are:

Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Single Leg Deadlifts
Cable Pull throughs
Good Mornings

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Squats

When it comes to growing your glutes, squat depth plays an important role.

Squats have been given a bad rap over the last decade for glute growth (thanks mainly to guys like Bret Contreras), but science has shown us now that squats are just as good for glute growth as hip thrusts.

Squats primarily target the quadriceps; the glutes assist the movement.

Squats are great v-shaped butt exercises, but you need to ideally want to squat as deep as you can.

The deeper you squat, the more you stretch the glutes, which may help. Or you can do a more glute-focused squat that’s not as deep, but you sit back further and hinge at the hips more.

And in a squat, the glutes are doing their maximum work in the stretched position, i.e. at the bottom of the squat. That’s why we want to get to at least parallel when we squat, deeper if you can, but don’t stress about it.

I’ve 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.

Back Squats

The Mac Daddy of leg day exercises. Guaranteed to grow your quads and is good for the glutes, too; just do it properly. Easier said than done! Squats take practice, mobility and skill; again consider getting a good coach who can squat .

Deep Goblet Squats

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

You can also consider:

Heel elevated goblet squats
Heel elevated ‘One and a Quarter’ goblet squats (a client favourite 🤮)
Banded goblet squats
Dumbbell between bench squats
Pulse goblet squats.

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.

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, and calves and even improve your balance and gait.

There are many variations of lunges, all perfect for changing that v-shaped butt into a rounder butt. Lunges can target the glute max brilliantly as we can get nice and deep (like squats). This will help make your glutes rounder and shift that flat bum.

Without question, my favourite lunge variation is the deficit reverse lunge. The deficit gives you extra depth to stretch the glutes (as that’s where the glutes do the most work), and they will smash your quads; get ready to feel the burn.

Deficit Reverse Lunge

Walking Lunges

A great variation if you have space, these are challenging and tiring but highly effective for leg and glute growth.

Other lunge variations to consider are:

Alternating lunges
Static lunges
Smith machine lunges/Deficit Smith machine lunges
Side lunges/Forward lunges
Lunge and Squat combos

All the above exercises are your go-to glute 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, stick to these basic lifts. Don’t get sucked into all the crazy variations and social media influencers 🤮 workouts with booty bands etc.

Lift heavy

Lift Big

Eat big

Let’s Round It Off

You always want to add some isolation and abduction work to round that booty; a v-shaped butt is no exception. A few I recommend are the following:

Extra Range Side Lying Clams

Cable Abductions

Cable Kick Backs (Any variation)

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 V-shaped glutes and you are looking to improve the size and shape to make them appear rounder.

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.

Finally, remember that your glutes greatly impact performance and injury prevention. So if you are prone to injuries training your glutes is an absolute must.

Looking great, staying healthy, and having a strong booty will improve your health and wellness, not just your appearance.

Thanks for reading

Aaron

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

apply for ONLINE COACHING HERE 👈👈

And Check out a few of my client’s glutes below and on Instagram @bootyandbarbellscoach

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