It’s not uncommon for the butt to be an area of concern, whether it’s because it’s too big or too small than your desired size and shape. The major butt muscle is your gluteus maximus, often referred to as your glutes. If you’re interested in increasing the size of your glutes, incorporating leg presses into your workouts is a good idea. But, you may find you need to do more than just leg presses to see significant results.
Build a Bigger Butt
To increase the size of your butt, you’ve got to do workouts that target your glutes and are designed to build muscle. The type of workouts that help you build muscle are ones that call for multiple sets of each exercise, with each set featuring repetition numbers at the higher end. These types of workouts overload and damage your muscles. This is the stimulus needed for building muscle, because when your tissue recovers and heals, it also increases in size.
Leg Press
The leg press is considered a compound exercise because multiple joints are involved. There are different types of leg press machines, including ones that have you sit up or recline back. All of them force your hips to extend, your knees to straighten and your ankles to plantar flex as you push the sled away from you. The majority of the force produced to push the sled comes from your glutes, which extend your hips. Your quadriceps and calves handle movement at your knees and ankles.
The Right Workout
The American Council on Exercise recommends compound exercises like leg presses to increase muscle size. Do three to five sets of leg presses, with each set consisting of six to 12 repetitions. Give your glutes and legs just 30 to 90 seconds of rest in between each set, which facilitates muscle overloading. Pick a weight that causes your glutes to become tired at the end of each set. If you perform 12 repetitions, but are using a weight that doesn’t challenge your glutes, you won’t adequately overload them or stimulate growth. Adjust the weight you’re using as you build strength. Do leg presses two days per week, scheduling two days of rest in between.
Considerations
How much your butt increases in size depends on a few factors, including genetics and hormone levels. However, you can increase the effectiveness of your workouts by performing additional glute exercises, which will ensure your glutes are thoroughly overloaded after each training session. Other compound glute exercises include squats, lunges, step-ups and deadlifts. Incorporate these into your workouts with the leg press. The American Council on Exercise also recommends taking in a meal of carbohydrates and protein immediately after your workout to facilitate the muscle-building response.
References
Writer Bio
Kim Nunley has been screenwriting and working as an online health and fitness writer since 2005. She’s had multiple short screenplays produced and her feature scripts have placed at the Austin Film Festival. Prior to writing full-time, she worked as a strength coach, athletic coach and college instructor. She holds a master's degree in kinesiology from California State University, Fullerton.