Skip to content

Top Navigation

Shape Shape
  • Fitness
  • Healthy Eating
  • Beauty
  • Sex and Love
  • Celebrities
  • Mind & Body
  • Lifestyle
  • Video
  • Shop
  • Sweeps

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Your Profile
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Log Out
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Shape

Shape Shape
  • Explore

    Explore

    • The Keto Meal Plan for Beginners

      The Keto Meal Plan for Beginners

      Everything you need to know to get started with this high-fat, low-carb diet. Read More
    • 10 Things I Learned During My Body Transformation

      10 Things I Learned During My Body Transformation

      Twenty months and 17 pounds later, I came away with 10 big lessons. Read More
    • The 30-Day Squat Challenge

      The 30-Day Squat Challenge

      The ultimate 30-day squat challenge, featuring 12 squats that tighten and tone. Read More
  • Fitness

    Fitness

    See All Fitness
    • Workouts
    • Cardio
    • Strength Training
    • Bodyweight Training
    • Yoga
    • Exercise Recovery
    • Exercise Tips
    • Race Training
    • Workout Trends
    • Playlists
    • Workout Clothes
    • Workout Gear
  • Healthy Eating

    Healthy Eating

    See All Healthy Eating
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Diets
    • Food & Nutrition
    • Healthy Cooking
    • Healthy Drinks
    • Weight Loss
  • Beauty
  • Sex and Love
  • Celebrities

    Celebrities

    See All Celebrities
    • Interviews
    • Celebrity News
    • Celebrity Workouts
  • Mind & Body

    Mind & Body

    See All Mind & Body
    • Coronavirus
    • Transformations
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Healthy IRL
  • Video

    Video

    See All Video
    • Workout Videos
    • Cooking Videos
    • Weight Loss Videos
    • Celebrity Videos
  • Shop
  • Sweeps

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Your Profile
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Log Out
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

LIVE
  1. Shape.comChevron Right
  2. FitnessChevron Right
  3. Exercise TipsChevron Right
  4. 5 Reasons It's Important to Have a Strong Butt—Besides Looking Good

5 Reasons It's Important to Have a Strong Butt—Besides Looking Good

By Lauren Mazzo
October 25, 2016
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
5 Reasons It's Important to Have a Strong Butt—Besides Looking Good
More reasons to get your booty work on, straight from a celeb trainer.
Start Slideshow

1 of 5

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Strong Butt = Strong Core = Strong Back

Strong Butt = Strong Core = Strong Back
Credit: Shutterstock

Do you know what protects your back? "The 'two A's,'" says Sara Lewis, celeb trainer (who's trained clients like Ryan Gosling, Kim and Khloë Kardashian, Christina Ricci, Nikki Reed, Sofía Vergara, and Jaimie Alexander, just to name a few) and creator of XO Fitness in Los Angeles. And what are the two A's? "Your abs and your ass. You can't succeed at one without winning with the others."

In case you didn't know, all the muscles in your body work together—that's why you can't spot reduce or strengthen just one muscle at a time, says Lewis. And three areas that work together a lot are your core, your butt, and your lower back. Butt-targeting moves like squats and donkey kicks require you to engage your core, meaning you're earning your core strength and abs through all those booty-builders—and strength in both those areas means you're protecting your back. (And that's key when it comes to this one trick for preventing back pain when strength-training.)

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Hips Don't Lie

Hips Don't Lie
Credit: Shutterstock

Going right back to that whole "all the muscles in your body work together" thing—a strong butt means your whole hip system is highly functioning, says Lewis.

"Your hip flexors (the front side of the hip), your hip extensors (the backside of the hip), and your psoas muscle (extending from your ribcage down your thigh) all conspire to keep you walking/running/jumping/squatting/lunging in a beautifully wondrous and flexible way."

To build and maintain your butt strength and hip mobility, keep and eye on your squat depth and your ability to turn out for things like sumo squats, says Lewis. Feel sub-par? Get those hip joints moving, or it might backfire for your booty. (Example A: Weak hip abductors can cause glute pain in runners.)

2 of 5

3 of 5

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

You Need It for Every Workout

You Need It for Every Workout
Credit: Shutterstock

From barre to biking to huffing up the stairs to your fifth-floor walk-up, your glutes get recruited in more movements than you may realize. Not only is a strong butt key to making it (safely) through whatever workout you're tackling, but it's also key to successfully completing day-to-day activities.

"Having strong glutes will make sure that all the muscles are firing in the way that they should be," says Lewis. "There are three main parts of the glutes with a laundry list of exercises to target each of them. Barre classes target your 'shelf' (aka the minimus), pliés are superior for your hidden but necessary 'middle butt' (your medias), and squats, lunges, and bridges will work the largest area of the group, your maximus." (Here's how to maximize those squats for butt-toning benefits.)

3 of 5

Advertisement

4 of 5

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Healthy Knees

Healthy Knees
Credit: Shutterstock

"Focusing on the glutes reinforces the hip region, but also the quads and your ACL and VMO muscle, which surrounds and support the knees," says Lewis. "A strong butt means strong knees." Without strong glute muscles, you won't be able to safely perform those movements with your knees in the correct position, putting you at risk for injury. (And ICYMI, women are way more likely to tear their ACLs than guys are, so this is super important.)

4 of 5

5 of 5

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Because, #GirlPower

Because, #GirlPower
Credit: Shutterstock

Because women are generally stronger in their glutes (and legs and inner thighs) than men, we should think of it as our number-one weapon—our source of strength.

"We always talk about our hips and our thighs and trying to make them thinner, more shapely, whatever" says Lewis. "But that's our power. Think about everything we do with that lower half of our body." We probably aren't going to defeat a zombie with our biceps. Everything from having babies to trekking up mountains to round-house-kicking the crap out of villains in action movies? We're going to do it with our lower body. And not a wimpy lower body, either.

"Shapely butts are beautiful," says Lewis. "But, really, it's all about working towards being strong—because that makes us feel strong."

So go ahead—train your booty for aesthetics and to rock those cheeky bikini bottoms like no one's business. But at the end of the day, know that a strong, sculpted butt is doing so much more than filling out your skinny jeans. (And being strong in itself is dead sexy—these women prove it.)

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Lauren Mazzo

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 5 Strong Butt = Strong Core = Strong Back
    2 of 5 Hips Don't Lie
    3 of 5 You Need It for Every Workout
    4 of 5 Healthy Knees
    5 of 5 Because, #GirlPower

    Share options

    Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

    Login

    Shop | Shape

    • Gym Bags
    • Juicers
    • Exercise Mats
    • Foam Rollers
    • Shaker Bottles
    • Workout Videos
    • Activewear
    • Workout Tops
    • Training Shoes
    • Exercise Bikes
    • Shop More

    Shape may receive compensation when you click through and purchase from links contained on this website.

    Shape

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Affiliate Program this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Other Meredith Sites

    Other Meredith Sites

    • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
    • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
    • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
    • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
    • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
    • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
    • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
    • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
    • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
    • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
    • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
    • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
    • Health this link opens in a new tab
    • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
    • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
    • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
    • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
    • More this link opens in a new tab
    • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
    • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
    • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
    • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
    • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
    • Parents this link opens in a new tab
    • People this link opens in a new tab
    • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
    • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
    • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
    • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
    • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
    • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
    • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
    • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
    MeredithShape is part of the Instyle Beauty Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.shape.com

    View image

    5 Reasons It's Important to Have a Strong Butt—Besides Looking Good
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.