Home training for legs and buttocks: 14 effective exercises with your own weight

04/03/2024

Are you looking for a way to exercise your buttocks and thighs in the comfort of your home? In that case you are right here. In today's article, effective exercises with only your own weight are waiting for you, which will help you achieve a round butt and firm thighs. Among them you will find various variants of squats, lunges, but also less traditional exercises that will help you engage your butt and legs from all angles. In this way, you will comprehensively exercise the muscles of the buttock and also the front, back and inner thighs.

How to exercise legs and buttocks with your own weight?

Exercising the butt and legs every day or, on the contrary, training the lower half of the body once every two weeks will probably not be optimal. For success and achieving visible results, it is crucial to follow a few basic rules.

Choose 4 to 6 exercises from the list below and include them in your training plan for at least 4 weeks. Subsequently, you can exchange all or only some for others at your discretion. The whole approach is in your hands.

Perform muscle and thigh training 2 to 3 times a week. For sufficient regeneration, a time gap between training sessions is important, ideally at least 48 hours.

After 2 to 3 weeks, increase the number of repetitions or sets of individual exercises. Always focus on proper technique during exercise.

Exercise through a full range of motion while maintaining proper technique. In this way, you will achieve the maximum stretching of the muscle in the given position, which is key for its maximum involvement.

Building muscle and maintaining a healthy body fat percentage is often necessary to achieve attractive curves. A proper diet with an optimal amount of nutrients and energy value can help you in this - and you can easily calculate this with our energy and nutrient intake calculator.

14 best exercises for the butt and legs with your own weight

For each exercise, you have the correct technique for the basic variation with your own weight. However, when you want to increase the difficulty and add load, you will find suitable aids for each exercise. Before you start training, don't forget to warm up sufficiently, for example by running in place or jumping rope. Then include dynamic stretching, especially of the lower half of the body.

1. Squat

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, small range of motion, leaning forward, knees turning inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Breathe in and squat by moving your pelvis back and down. At the same time, pay attention to the incorrect rounding of the back in the lumbar and thoracic region of the spine. Choose the depth of the squat so that you manage to maintain the natural curvature of the spine. The axis of the knee, ankle and toe remains in one plane. With exhalation, straighten up smoothly by activating the muscles of the buttocks and the front of the thighs. Then do another repetition.
Starting position: Stand with your legs slightly apart, roughly shoulder width apart. The weight is on the entire surface of the foot.

2. Jumping Air Squat

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, small range of motion, leaning forward, knees turning inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Breathe in and squat by moving your pelvis back and down. Choose the depth of the squat so that you manage to maintain the natural curvature of the spine. The axis of the knee, ankle and toe remains in one plane. With exhalation, using the activation of the muscles of the buttocks and the front of the thighs, make a jump. Breathe in at the top position, then return to the squat and repeat the jump.
Starting position: Stand with your legs slightly apart, about the width of your shoulders. The weight is distributed evenly over the entire surface of the foot.

3. In and Out Jump Squat

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, small range of motion, leaning forward, knees turning inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Inhale and jump straight into a squat. With an exhalation, using the activation of the muscles of the buttocks and thighs, make a jump and return to a standing position. Then immediately follow up with another repetition.
Starting position: Stand with your legs slightly apart, about the width of your hips. The weight is distributed evenly over the entire surface of the foot.

4. Squat and Leg Lift

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, small range of motion, leaning forward, knees turning inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Breathe in and squat by moving your pelvis back and down. With exhalation, smoothly straighten up and put one leg down. Then bring it back, squat again and kick with the other leg. Continue with squats and alternating legs.
Starting position: Stand with your legs slightly apart, roughly shoulder width apart. The weight is on the entire surface of the foot.

5. Sumo Squat

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, small range of motion, leaning forward, knees turning inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Breathe in and squat by moving your pelvis back and down. With exhalation, straighten up smoothly by activating the muscles of the buttocks and the back of the thighs. Then do another repetition.
Starting position: Stand with legs wider than shoulder-width apart. The feet point outward. Put your hands on your sides or clasp them in front of your chest.

6. Sumo Squat Pulses

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, leaning forward, bending the knees inward, unevenly distributed weight, tiptoeing or heeling.
Procedure: Breathe in and squat by moving your pelvis back and down. Then breathe freely and begin to make oscillations up and down in the range of a few centimeters in the lower position.
Starting position: Stand with legs wider than shoulder-width apart. The feet point outward. Put your hands on your sides or clasp them in front of your chest.

7. Forward Lunges

Common faults: Small range of motion, poor coordination of movement.
Procedure: The tips of the feet and knees point in the same direction throughout the movement, slightly to the sides. Start by stepping forward and slightly to the side. Transfer your weight to your front leg. Get deep when your thigh is about 90 degrees or deeper with your calf at the knee. With an exhalation, by activating the muscles of the front of the thighs and buttocks, return to the starting position and immediately continue with another repetition on the other leg.
Starting position: Stand with your legs slightly apart with your hands on your sides.

8. Jumping Lunges

Common faults: Small range of motion, poor coordination of movement.
Procedure: The tips of the feet and knees point in the same direction throughout the movement, slightly to the sides. Start by stepping forward and slightly to the side. Transfer your weight to your front leg. Get deep when your thigh is about 90 degrees or deeper with your calf at the knee. The back foot can gently touch the mat. With exhalation, using the activation of the muscles of the front of the thighs and buttocks, jump up and switch legs in the jump. After landing, take a breath and immediately follow up with another repetition. Use your hands to help maintain stability.
Starting position: Stand with legs slightly apart.

9. Side Lunges

Common faults: Small range of motion, poor coordination of movement.
Procedure: Inhale, take a step to the side with one leg, transfer your weight to it and bend your knee. Get deep when your thigh is about 90 degrees or deeper with your calf at the knee. Then, inhale, return to the starting position and lunge to the other side.
Starting position: Stand with legs slightly apart.

10. Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Common faults: Small range of motion, poor coordination of movement, arching of the back
Procedure: The tips of the feet and knees point in the same direction throughout the movement, slightly to the sides. Transfer your weight to your standing leg, which is slightly bent at the knee. With a breath, bend forward and at the same time put on the other leg, which remains stretched. In the lower part, it is not necessary for the body to reach a parallel line with the ground. Concentrate mainly on maintaining the natural curvature of the back and feeling the muscles of the buttocks and the back of the thighs. At the beginning, it will be enough if you raise your leg 30-50 cm above the ground. Then return to the starting position with an exhalation. Bracing your upper limb will help you maintain stability. First do a few repetitions on one leg and then on the other.
Starting position: Stand with legs slightly apart.

11. Straight Leg Kickback

Common mistakes: Arching in the back, insufficient activation of the muscles of the buttocks, small range of motion.
Procedure: With exhalation, activate the muscles of the buttock and put on the outstretched leg. Then return it with a breath and continue with the next repetition. After one set, switch legs.
Starting position: Do a push-up on all fours, keeping one leg straight.

12. Leg Circles

Common faults: Small range of motion, uncontrolled movement.
Procedure: Breathe freely, lift your upper leg, and then begin to make large circles with it in one direction. After completing the whole series, roll over to the other side and do the same exercise.
Starting position: Lie on your side on the mat with your arms outstretched. Lift your torso off the mat and support yourself with your bottom hand. Lean your upper hand in front of your body.

13. Side Plank Leg Raises

Common faults: Small range of motion, uncontrolled movement.
Procedure: With exhalation, raise the upper leg to such a height that you can maintain a stable body position. With an inhale, lower the leg in a controlled manner, gently touch the floor, and then follow up with another repetition. After completing the whole series, roll over to the other side and do the same exercise.
Starting position: Lie on your side on the mat. Bend the lower leg and leave the upper leg stretched. Lift your torso and hips and lean on your lower arm. Put the upper one on your side.

14. Single Leg Glute Bridge

Frequent mistakes: Small range of motion, insufficient activation of the muscles of the buttocks, excessive arching of the back, uncontrolled movement.
Procedure: By activating the muscles of the buttocks and the posterior thigh muscles, lift the pelvis up. Think of the leg that is lifted off the ground staying in the same position. The movement comes only from the pelvis. In the upper position, focus on the contraction of the buttock muscles. Hold for a second or two and then lower the pelvis down in a controlled manner. After practicing one set, switch legs and do the same exercise on the other side.
Starting position: Lie on your back and place your hands along your body with your palms on the ground. Bend both legs at the knees, pull your feet closer to your butt, then lift one leg up to the ceiling.

Before training, warm up and move the whole body, focusing on loosening the hip joints and activating the muscles of the lower half of the body. The number of sets for each exercise is 3 to 5. You can practice all the sets of one exercise first and then move on to the next or move from one to the other and thus make a circuit training.

Take a 30- to 90-second break between exercises. After the end of the main part of the training, if necessary, add a cool-down phase (slow running in place or walking), or gently stretch. You can include this training 2-3 times a week.

How to train buttocks and thighs with own weight for advanced people?

If you can easily handle 15 to 20 repetitions and do not feel muscle fatigue, you probably need to give your muscles a new impulse for further growth and strengthening. The following training tips might help you with this:

1. gradually shorten the length of the pause between individual exercises by 10 seconds

2. include supersets in which you practice 2 or more exercises in a row without a break

3. combine static exercises with dynamic ones. For example, classic squats followed by jump squats

4. add weight in the form of a resistance band, ankle weights, weight vest, single arms, kettlebell or barbell

Butt exercises with your own weight

You can also find inspiration for butt and thigh training in the video.

Bodyweight butt and leg exercises are ideal for anyone who wants to add variety to their lower body workout. The main advantage is that you don't need any tools for them and you can practice them at home, on the workout field or anywhere else. And when you want to take this training to a new level, just add the number of repetitions, series or load. Thanks to this, you can constantly move on your way to a perfectly shaped bottom and thighs.