Your butt and thighs make up a large part of your body, so it’s essential to have a good approach to working them. But, who has that kind of time? Don’t you have to spend countless hours in the gym honing the area for maximum impact? Not at all! You can use this five-minute butt and thigh workout to crush it and add some sexy shape to your lower half. Read on to find out how.

What Muscles Make Up the Butt?

You might think the “butt” is just one big muscle, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s actually made up of three major muscles that all work together to perform the function you need to move and groove.

Gluteus Maximus—this is the mac daddy and the largest of the three muscles that make up your glutes. It helps you straighten your legs and also step upward onto an elevated surface. You use this area to squat, run, jump, lunge, and more.

Gluteus Medius—these muscles help you walk as well as lift your legs. They are also the predominant movers when it comes to rotating your legs out to the sides.

Gluteus Minimus—this area of muscle helps stabilize your pelvis, especially when one leg is raised off the ground (like when you’re walking). It also helps you extend your leg (again, as in walking) and gives you the ability to rotate your legs at the hip joint.

What Muscles Make Up the Thigh?

The thigh may seem like just one big muscle to most, but as it turns out, it’s actually comprised of several larger and smaller muscles. The “thigh” has front muscles (anterior), muscles in the middle (medial), and muscles in that back that help form the hamstrings (posterior).

The front portion of your thighs is sometimes referred to as the “quads,” for good reason. Appropriately, the “quadriceps femoris” is made up of four different muscles: the vastus lateralis, the vastus intermedius, the vastus medialis, and the rectus femoris. There are also some smaller muscles that complete the front of the thigh, including the pectineus, sartorius, and the iliopsoas. All of these muscles work together to extend and flex your legs.

The middle of the thigh includes the adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis, and the obturator externus. These muscles help you rotate your legs.

Some folks like to split up their leg training into front and back of leg training sessions. The three vastus muscles, along with the recuts femoris, are what you typically work when you’re training the front of your legs.

As far as the back of your legs, it’s the hamstrings that help you flex, bend, and extend your thigh. The hamstrings are made up of the semimembranous, the semitendinous, and the biceps femoris.

That’s enough of a biology lesson for now! Let’s talk about how to get those legs and butt in gear to shape them up quickly…

Try This 5-Minute Butt and Thigh Workout for Yourself!

There are a number of easy to do exercises you can run through in as little as five minutes to quickly shape up your lower body. Try your hand (or legs!) at these butt and thigh workout—for even greater results, see if you can perform all five exercises in just five minutes.

1. Sumo Squats

Start with bodyweight on these for a quick butt and thigh blast. Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart and turn your toes out. Clasp your hands in front of you and bend at the knees to lower your upper body as you push your bootie behind you. Do not tilt forward or backward, but keep your torso upright throughout the movement. When you have reached a 90-degree bend in the knees (or lower if you’re comfortable with that), use your glutes and legs to push your body back up to standing. Do ten sumo squats in a row.

2. Step-Ups

You can do these onto a raised level surface or even onto a set of stairs if you have a stairwell near you or in the house. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart with your hands either clasped in front of you or on your hips. Simply step up onto the stair with your right foot and bring the rest of your body up onto the step. Touch your left foot to the step before lowering your body back to the start position. (Your left foot will hit the floor first, and then your right will follow.) Repeat on the opposite side to complete one repetition. Do ten reps in a row.

3. Walking Lunges

here’s another great exercise you can do virtually anywhere. Begin by standing with your hands on your hips. With your right leg, take a giant step forward and bend both your knees until they’re at about 90-degree angles. Push up through your right heel to propel your body forward and back to a standing position. Repeat on the opposite side to complete one repetition. Do ten reps.

4. Hip Thrusts

These are an excellent way to coax your glutes into shaping up. You may have seen people doing various versions of these. They’re also known as “glute bridges” and can be done from the floor, on a machine, or off of a bench. For our purposes, we’ll assume you’re not at a gym and you’re just getting in a quick five-minute workout at home, so we’ll stick with the floor exercises.

Start by lying on the ground on your back with your knees bent and your feet pointed straight ahead and your heels under your knees (or as close as comfortable). Place your arms by your sides. Pressing through your heels, lift your hips toward the ceiling until your back and legs form a straight line (and you can’t flex any further). Hold this squeeze before returning to the start. Repeat ten times.

5. Kneeling Kickbacks

Start on your hands and knees with your hands, palms down, directly underneath your shoulders. Take your right leg and lift it off the ground while simultaneously kicking it back until it’s straight and going either straight out or with a little lift skyward. Bring it back to start without touching the ground and repeat ten times. Do the same for the other side for ten repetitions.

After just five or so minutes of this butt and thigh workout, you’ll really feel the burn. Now, all you have to do is a couple of cooldown stretches before you get on with your day. Great work!

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