Does Running Up the Stairs Make Your Butt Bigger?

If you want to feel the burn through an intense workout that doesn't have the monotony of jogging on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike, considering running up a set of stairs. This workout is one of the fastest ways to burn calories, and can drastically tone up the muscles in your butt and legs.

Running up a set of stairs is one of the most effective exercises you can perform because it burns calories at a rapid rate while also building muscle. Find an outdoor football stadium with bleachers to use for this exercise. Run up the stairs as quickly as you can and descend at a rate twice as slow as the time it took you to run up the stairs. The slow descent gives you adequate time to recover. "Men's Health" recommends running stairs for 20 minutes for an intense workout.

Running up stairs requires several of your major muscle groups to work together. Dedication to this exercise will result in visible muscle growth in your quads and calves; your quads will appear larger and more defined, while your calves' gastrocnemius muscle will acquire a sharp, cut appearance. Stair climbing also works your glutes, which will result in a more muscular butt. If your glutes are undefined, this exercise will make your butt bigger; if your butt is large due to fat, this exercise can decrease your overall butt size due to loss of fat.

Cardio exercises don't allow you to target a specific part of your body for fat burning, but if you carry a significant amount of fat over your glutes, running stairs will burn off the fat throughout your body, including on your butt, to reveal your glute muscles. This exercise is among the quickest ways to burn calories. NutriStrategy reports that a person who weighs 180 pounds will burn 1,226 calories in an hour of running up stairs. Few other exercises will burn calories at a faster rate; these include cycling at more than 20 miles per hour and running at 10 miles per hour or faster.

If you want to build a more defined, muscular butt, adding glute-targeting exercises to your workout regimen is an effective strategy. Exercises that target your glutes include flutter kicks on a horizontal bench, kneeling jump squats, leg lifts and box jumps. Activities that help you quickly burn calories while building your glutes include swimming, running and in-line or ice skating.