Even if you try to be body positive and feel good about how you look, it can be difficult not to stare at your reflection in the mirror and critique various aspects of your physique, such as having a flat butt.
But, what is flat butt syndrome? What causes a flat “booty” or “flat ass”? What are the best exercises to fix flat butt syndrome and give you shapely buttocks?
In this article, we will discuss the common causes of a flat booty and then provide step-by-step instructions for some of the best exercises to fix flat butt syndrome and give you the curves you are looking for.
We will cover the following:
- What Is a Flat Butt?
- What Causes Flat Butt Syndrome?
- How to Fix a Flat Butt and Build a Bigger Booty
Let’s dive in!

What Is a Flat Butt?
As the name describes, a flat butt is a bottom or buttocks that does not protrude outward in a rounded shape but lies relatively flat when you view the body profile from the side.
A flat butt, or flat butt syndrome, may also be called a flat booty, flat ass, flat bottom, or flat buttocks syndrome.
Regardless of the term that you use, flat butt syndrome is visually characterized by a lack of outward contouring of the buttocks such that there is very little convex curvature of the bottom relative to your back.
If you were to trace the outline of your body in a side profile view, when you have flat buttocks syndrome, the lower back slopes into the flat booty, which then gradually fades into the upper thigh with very little distinction in contouring between each transition or region.
Having a flat butt is also sometimes called Disappearing Butt Syndrome (DBS for short).

What Causes Flat Butt Syndrome?
The primary cause of flat butt syndrome is a lack of significant muscle mass in the buttocks.
The glutes are powerful hip extensors, and they also help stabilize and support the lower back and trunk. The smaller glute muscles play key roles in stabilizing the hips, abducting the leg, and internally and externally rotating the leg.
A sedentary lifestyle, specifically a lack of consistent muscle-building workouts like lower-body strength training or plyometrics, can cause your gluteal muscles to be underdeveloped, leading to a flat butt over time.
Inactivity and aging can lead to sarcopenia (muscle loss), which will cause a once-full and round butt to become flat. Essentially, if you stop working out and stop deliberately trying to strengthen and build your glute muscles, the size of your muscles will decrease with age (age-related sarcopenia).
Muscle loss will accelerate with age because, after the age of 50, we lose about 1-2% of our muscle mass per year. In fact, one study found that people may have lost up to 50% of muscle mass by age 80.

Therefore, one of the keys to fixing a flat butt is working to build glute muscle mass.
Many people with flat butt syndrome may also have little body fat or an overall low body fat percentage because the butt is composed of both muscle tissue (the gluteal muscles) and overlying subcutaneous body fat.
In general, although both men and women can suffer from flat butt syndrome, men are especially likely to have flat buttocks due to differences in the hormonal profile and subsequent body fat distribution between biological males and females.
Biological females have a greater propensity to store body fat on the hips, buttocks, and thighs, whereas biological males tend to have greater abdominal fat storage.
For this reason, men with a lower body fat percentage or who are “skinny“ are more likely to experience flat butt syndrome than women if all other factors, including diet and exercise habits, are the same.
Genetics can also affect the shape of your bottom, and certain people seem to be genetically predisposed to flat butt syndrome.

How to Fix a Flat Butt and Build a Bigger Booty
When doing workouts to fix a flat butt, you want to follow the guidelines for muscle growth (hypertrophy).
Therefore, you should perform three sets of each exercise, using loads that are 65 to 85% of your 1RM for 8 to 12 reps.
The fewer reps you perform, the higher the relative weight should be.
Research suggests that compound exercises tend to be best for building mass and increasing strength. However, adding isolation exercises can also lead to increases in hypertrophy.
Moreover, you also need to employ the principle of progressive overload when performing workouts to get a bigger booty and fix a flat butt.
There are various ways to do this, namely in either increasing the weight that you are lifting in your leg exercises from week to week or in the volume that you are doing in terms of reps and sets.
Finally, most evidence suggests you need to be in a caloric surplus of about 10% over your total daily energy expenditure to build muscle.
So, for example, if you burn 2,000 calories a day between your BMR, exercise, daily activity, and digestion, you should consume 2,200 calories to support muscle growth.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes consume at least 1.2–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
Here are some of the best glute exercises to fix a flat butt and give you some definition, volume, and perkiness:
#1: Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts
The single-leg Romanian deadlift is one of the best exercises to fix a flat butt and get a bigger booty.
Here are the steps to perform this glute exercise:
- Stand holding a dumbbell in your right hand.
- Bring your left arm out to the side for balance.
- Engage your core and glutes.
- Lift your right leg off the ground and extend it behind as a counterbalance as you bend your left knee slightly while hinging from your hips to bring your torso towards the floor.
- Reach your weight in the right hand towards your left foot.
- Squeeze your glutes to stand back up, extending your hips until they are fully locked out.
- Complete 8-12 reps and then switch sides.
#2: Jump Squats
Jump squats involve performing a powerful, explosive vertical jump between each rep or a regular squat, which helps build stronger glutes.
Perform a bodyweight squat and then explode upward into the air, simultaneously straightening your knees, ankles, and hips and using your arms to power your body up.
As soon as you land from the jump, bend your knees to cushion the impact, transitioning immediately into a full squat to begin the cycle again.
You can wear a weighted vest as you get stronger.
#3: Banded Monster Walks
This is a good exercise to get a fuller, rounder butt while strengthening all three gluteal muscles.
Here are the steps:
- Place the resistance band around your ankles.
- Squat down so that you are in a good squat position.
- Step your right leg forward and outwards, and then your left leg forwards and outwards so that you are pulling your legs against the resistance of the band and maintaining that squat position.
- Take 15 steps per leg.
#4: Banded Lateral Walks
Add this move to your flat butt workouts to build your gluteus medius for a rounder, fuller butt.
Here are the steps:
- Place the resistance band around your ankles.
- Keeping your leg straight, take a giant step out to the right, maintaining tension on the band as you step your left leg towards your right leg. In other words, don’t bring your feet completely next to one another.
- Maintain a good amount of space between your two feet so that the band always has tension on it.
- Take 25 steps in one direction and then walk the other way.
#5: Single Leg Barbell Hip Thrusts
This is one of the best exercises to get a stronger bigger butt.
In fact, studies have found that the hip thrust can be more effective than squats at building strength in the glutes and more effective than deadlifts for activating the glutes.
Here are the steps:
- Place your shoulder blades on the long side of a bench with your body bridging off the side with your hips up in a tabletop position.
- Rest a barbell across the crease in your hips.
- Lift one foot off the ground and straighten the knee out so that you are only pressing through the other foot.
- Lower your hips towards the floor.
- Pause when your butt is nearly on the floor.
- Press through your heel to pop back up to the top position, where your thighs are parallel to the ground.
- Complete 8-12 reps and then switch sides.
If you don’t have access to weights but still want to strengthen your glutes, try our bodyweight glute workout.
