Booty Band Workout: Build Your Best Lower Body EVER!

Lower body training is the foundation of an impressive physique. Training your legs will add slabs of muscle to your entire body. It’s no coincidence that squats are called the king of exercises. Deadlifts are similarly beneficial.

It’s hard to think of a sadder (or more laughable) sight than someone with great arms, pecs, lats, and delts tottering around on skinny legs, looking like an upside-down pyramid.

Strong, powerful legs are also the cornerstone of most sports. All athletes should dedicate lots of time to training their lower bodies if they want to run faster, jump higher, or kick harder.

All the lower body muscles are equally important, but the gluteus maximus is often in need of extra attention. Long periods of sitting mean that a lot of people have weak, undeveloped glutes.

Some people’s glutes are inhibited, meaning they don’t function as they should. This is often caused by tight hip flexors. Located on the front of your hips, tight hip flexors stop your glutes from firing properly because of something called reciprocal inhibition. Stretching your hip flexors may help increase glute function.

Weak glutes can cause a host of problems, including:

• Lower back pain
• Poor posture
• Hip and knee instability
• Reduced hip extension strength and power
• Saggy pants!

The good news is that your glutes are very trainable, and it won’t take long to get them “back online” and working the way they should. As they get stronger, your glutes will also get bigger, improving function, performance, and appearance, all at the same time.

One of the best ways to target your glutes is with a booty band. In this article, we reveal our tried-and-tested booty band workout, which is designed to maximize glute activation while developing the lower body of your dreams!

What is a Booty Band?

A booty band is a type of looped resistance band. Also known as a glute band, most booty bands are about three inches wide and 28-33 inches in length. Some booty bands are made of elasticated fabric, while others are made of latex or another type of rubber.

Available in a range of strengths, booty bands are worn around your legs during lower body exercises like squats and hip thrusts. They force you to push your knees outward, which increases hip abductor activation. Using a booty band works your:

1. Gluteus maximus
2. Gluteus minimus
3. Tensor fascia latae

Using a booty band turns many lower-body moves into much more glute-centric exercises. You can also use a booty band to train your hamstrings and hip flexors.

Booty bands are popular with female fitness enthusiasts, but men can (and should!) use them too. They’re a legitimate glute training device and useful for rehab and prehab.

FitnessVolt Booty Band Workout

While there is nothing to stop you from pulling on a booty band and randomly adding it to your workouts, you’ll get better results from a more structured approach. The following plan is designed to fire up and strengthen your glutes along with all the other muscles that make up your lower body.

Some of the exercises use a booty band, but the last two do not. After all, you CAN have too much of a good thing!

Do this workout once or twice a week. If you do it twice, make sure you allow plenty of time for rest and recovery. For example, do the workout on Monday and then Thursday.

Before you start this (or any) workout, prepare your muscles and joints with a thorough warm-up. Start off with 5-10 minutes of light cardio followed by a few dynamic stretches and mobility exercises, focusing on your knees, hips, and lower back.

Ready? Let’s get to work!

Exercise Descriptions and Instructions

Generally speaking, there are two ways to do any exercise – the right way and the wrong way. The right way delivers the best results with the lowest risk of injury. In contrast, the wrong way is usually less effective, and your risk of injury is higher.

The right way is always the best way!

Study the instructions below to make sure you do the exercises in this workout correctly. Also, start light and only increase your weights gradually. Even if you are familiar with the exercises, adding a booty band will make your workout more demanding.

1. Booty band side steps

This exercise is designed to complete your warm-up and wake up your glutes for the rest of your workout. It’s a good activation drill to do before any lower body workout, both strength training, and cardio.

How to do it:

1. Put your booty band around your thighs, just above or below your knees. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Bend your knees slightly, adopting an “athletic” stance.
2. Sidestep out to your left, pushing your legs apart against the resistance offered by the band. Bring your right foot in and repeat.
3. If you’ve got space, do all your reps in one direction and then work your way back to your starting position. Alternatively, you can do one step to the left and one to the right, staying on the spot.
4. Make this exercise more demanding by putting the band around your lower legs or ankles. This increases the leverage and the force on your hip abductors.

2. Booty band barbell hip thrusts

Barbell hip thrusts are a serious glute and hamstring exercise, and adding a booty band to the mix makes them even more effective. You don’t have to use a barbell, but adding some extra weight makes this exercise much more challenging.

How to do it:

1. Sit on the floor with your legs bent and your feet flat. Put your booty band around your legs, just above or below your knees. Lean your upper back/shoulders against an exercise bench.
2. Rest and hold a barbell across your hips. Brace your core.
3. Drive your feet into the floor and push your hips up toward the ceiling until your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line. Keep your knees pressed out against the resistance of the booty band.
4. Lower your butt back down to lightly touch the floor and repeat.

3. Booty band goblet squats

Goblet squats are primarily a quadriceps exercise but adding a booty band makes them much more glute-centric. Glute exercises often involve a lot of hamstring activity, so it’s essential not to neglect your quads.

How to do it:

1. Put your booty band around your legs, just above or just below your knees. Step out, so your feet are about shoulder-width apart. Push your knees out against the band.
2. Hold a dumbbell or a kettlebell in front of your chest. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your abs.
3. Push your hips back and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Do not round your lower back. Keep pushing your knees outward.
4. Stand back up and repeat.

4. Booty band Romanian deadlifts

The Romanian deadlift is one of the best posterior chain exercises around. That means they work your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Using a booty band means you’ll feel this exercise in your butt even more.

How to do it:

1. Put your booty band around your legs, just above or just below your knees. Step out, so your feet are about shoulder-width apart. Push your knees out against the band.
2. Hold a barbell in front of your thighs with a shoulder-width, overhand or mixed grip. Bend your legs slightly. Keep pushing your knees outward.
3. Push your butt back, hinge from your hips, and lower the weight down the front of your legs as far as your flexibility allows. Do not round your lower back.
4. Drive your hips forward and stand up. Do not lean back at the top; just stand upright.
5. You can also do this exercise with dumbbells or kettlebells.

5. Step-through lunges

After four back-to-back booty band exercises, it’s time to ditch your band and do some more conventional lower body exercises. Step-through lunges involve a big shift in balance which really hits your glutes and thighs hard. It’s also a valuable exercise for identifying and fixing left-to-right strength imbalances. Do this move with just bodyweight until you are confident that you can do it properly.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet together, core braced, and torso upright.
2. Take a large step backward, bend your legs, and lower your rear knee down to within an inch of the floor.
3. Push off your front leg and step forward into a front lunge. Bend your legs and lower your rearmost knee to within an inch of the floor.
4. Push off your front leg and transition back to a reverse lunge.
5. Keep going until you have done all the prescribed reps.
6. Rest a moment and then repeat on the opposite leg.

6. Kettlebell swings

Your final glute exercise is a real change of pace and is to be done explosively. This is a good exercise for athletes and is a viable alternative to other power exercises, such as power cleans and plyometric jumps.

How to do it:

1. Hold your kettlebell in both hands in front of your thighs. Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees slightly, brace your core, and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Push your hips back and lean forward, lowering the weight between your knees. Do not round your lower back.
3. Drive your hips forward and use this momentum to swing the weight up to around shoulder height. Take care not to hyperextend your spine or bend your arms. Contract your glutes and core hard as the weight reaches the apex of the swing.
4. Swing the weight back down and repeat.
5. Kettlebell swings can also be done using a dumbbell.

Booty Band Workout – Wrapping Up

Booty bands are very useful; keep one in your gym bag so you can build better glutes. One way to use a booty band is to wear one for your warm-up sets of squats and deadlifts. You can even use one for leg presses and hack squats. Then, when you are ready to do your heavy work sets, remove the band so you can focus on the exercise you are doing. This will wake up your glutes so that they fire more powerfully.

Alternatively, take our booty band workout for a spin. Do it for the next 4-8 weeks to strengthen your glutes and build a bigger, firmer butt.

Whether you are training for muscle strength, size, fitness, or performance, our booty band workout will help!   

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