Leg Exercises That Make Your Butt Bigger

[mjthesecond]

All my life, even before I started training, i've always had a really big butt. I have pretty big quads naturally too. My butt is a little out of proportion however. i was just curious if there are certain exercises (i.e. squats vs. smith squats) that would actually increase the size of the glutes and if i should avoid them, with the goal of competing in mind and keeping the glutes in check so they don't grow larger.

[That70sShowDude]

Lunges build you butt very well

[grumble1]

Squats, lunges, deadlifts, leg press, deadlift variations all work the glutes. If you want to avoid working the glutes, then you're going to have to do straight isolation work with your thighs. That would be kind of silly.

[BB4239]

Everything above and for cardio, StairMaster.

[Nick1971]

This might seem obvious, but weight loss might help, as well. You're not dramatically overweight for your height, but losing maybe 20lbs of bodyfat might trim things down for you and put things a little more in proportion. You might be a bit skinny fat.

[Tommy W.]

It's like any other bodypart. Everyone has certain muscles that are naturally bigger. Some may carry a lot of muscle tissue in their traps, some have big calves, etc. If you're predisposed to this then you need to work them differently. For the glutes you may want to stay away from heavy Squats and lunges if you're training for purely asthetic reasons.
As Arnold used to say..." The body is a sculpture......" You can add some clay here and take some off there to give you the look you want

For power nothing beats naturally big glutes though

[Kelvandros]

I've heard doing front squats instead of back squats will help keep the booty size in check.

[pezking7p]

Have to agree with Nick. I'm guessing since you're asking this question, you're not at a low BF% right now. Everyone stores fat differently, and some guys store more fat in their glutes/legs. Getting your BF around 10-12% will really help to show where your weak/strong areas are, and at 10% BF you may find that your legs are just fine.

Having said that:
--Choose exercises that de-emphasize glutes, ie front squats, leg press with low-and-narrow stance, regular lunges instead of walking lunges. Deadlifts and goodmornings are also going to have a dramatic training effect on your glutes.
--Consider working on shoulders and lats (and even chest) to improve V-taper, this will reduce the pear-shaped effect of having large glutes/thighs.

[Forumite]

I find that when I do heavy lunges, leg press and squats that it really makes my thighs and butt get big. While on my bulk I actually had to go up an extra pant size because my legs and butt would not fit into my old ones. My waist size remained the same so it wasn't a product of being a "fat ass" either.