It’s great to look good while you’re walking away, but having a strong, toned butt has other benefits. Having strong glutes helps support the lower back, hips, pelvic area, and knees, preventing future injury.
Graduate from squats and work your butt with these butt-strengthening yoga poses.
Bridge
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Extend your arms along the floor, palms flat.
- Press your feet and arms firmly into the floor. Exhale as you lift your hips toward the ceiling.
- Draw your tailbone toward your pubic bone, holding your buttocks off the floor. Do not squeeze your glutes or flex your buttocks.
- Roll your shoulders back and underneath your body. Clasp your hands and extend your arms along the floor beneath your pelvis. Straighten your arms as much as possible, pressing your forearms into the mat. Reach your knuckles toward your heels.
- Keep your thighs and feet parallel — do not roll to the outer edges of your feet or let your knees drop together. Press your weight evenly across all four corners of both feet. Lengthen your tailbone toward the backs of your knees.
- Hold for up to one minute. To release, unclasp your hands and place them palms-down alongside your body. Exhale as you slowly roll your spine along the floor, vertebrae by vertebrae. Allow your knees to drop together.
- (WARNING: Do not perform bridge pose if you have a neck or shoulder injury.)
Chair
- Stand in Mountain pose with your feet hip-width apart. Inhale and raise your arms toward the sky. Keep the arms parallel, palms facing each other.
- Exhale and bend your knees. Focus your weight in your heels while sitting back as if you are about to sit in a chair. Lean the torso slightly forward over the thighs. Keep the thighs parallel to each other.
- Keep your torso long. Press your shoulder blades together.
- Hold the pose for 30 seconds to a minute. Release the pose by straightening your knees with an inhalation. Exhale and release your arms to your sides.
Warrior III
- Begin in Mountain Pose. As you exhale, step your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach out strong with the shoulder blades wide apart. Face your palms down toward the floor.
- Turn your right foot forward 45 degrees and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the left heel with the right heel. Engage your thigh muscles.
- Exhale and bend your left knee over the left ankle. Keep the shin perpendicular to the floor. Keep the right leg engaged while pressing the toes of the right foot firmly to the floor.
- Stretch the arms as far back and as far forward as you can, keeping them parallel to the floor. Keep the torso elongated and the shoulders back and down. Turn the head to the left and gaze over the fingers.
- Stay in Warrior 3 for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat on the left side.
Crescent
- Stand with the feet wide apart and the arms reaching out to your sides. Step the right foot forward so the toes are in line with the fingertips.
- Bend until the front knee creates a right angle with the thigh parallel to the floor and the knee is stacked over the ankle. Press the left foot straight down into the floor.
- Keep the hips square and pointing forward evenly.
- On an inhale raise the torso and arms to the sky, palms of the hands facing eat other. Press the shoulder blades back and down.
- Hold the pose for 5 to 10 breaths.
Locust
Lie on your belly with the legs slightly apart and the arms by your sides, palms facing the floor.
Inhale and on your exhale, lift your upper and lower body simultaneously. Squeeze the butt muscles while gazing forward. Hold the pose for 30 seconds, breathing continuously.
