Butt Kicks
Muscles Worked: Butt Kicks
Butt kicks mainly work your legs, especially the hamstrings, because each rep is a quick pull of the heel up toward your glutes. Your glutes help keep your hips steady while you switch legs and stay tall, so the movement stays smooth instead of sloppy. Because the drill is fast and repetitive, it challenges the knee-bending job of the hamstrings more than it builds max strength. You should feel a quick snap in the back of your thighs without your lower back taking over, and research shows that rapid knee-flexion performance is sensitive to acute hamstring fatigue (de Ruiter et al., 2025).
Technique and form
How to perform the Butt Kicks
- Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, arms relaxed at your sides, and core engaged to maintain a neutral spine.
- Begin jogging in place at a moderate pace, focusing on keeping your weight centered over the balls of your feet while maintaining an upright posture.
- Bend your right knee and kick your right heel up toward your buttocks, bringing it as close as possible while keeping your thigh relatively perpendicular to the ground.
- As your right foot returns to the ground, immediately bend your left knee and kick your left heel up toward your buttocks in the same manner, creating an alternating pattern.
- Allow your arms to swing naturally in opposition to your legs, keeping your elbows bent at approximately 90 degrees and hands relaxed.
- Maintain a consistent breathing pattern, inhaling through your nose for 2-3 kicks and exhaling through your mouth for the next 2-3 kicks.
- Keep your core tight and shoulders relaxed throughout the movement, avoiding any forward lean or tension in your upper body.
- Gradually increase your speed and height of kicks as you warm up, maintaining control and proper form throughout the exercise.
Important information
- Focus on bringing your heels directly to your glutes rather than kicking outward or to the sides.
- Keep your knees pointing downward throughout the movement, avoiding letting them splay outward.
- Land softly on the balls of your feet with each step to minimize impact and protect your joints.
- If you experience any knee discomfort, reduce the height of your kicks or slow down your pace.
Is Butt Kicks effective for endurance?
Yes. Butt kicks are a useful endurance drill for the hamstrings because they involve repeated, fast heel recovery and mirror the kind of rapid knee-flexion ability that drops with knee flexor fatigue, making them a reasonable fit for warm-ups, conditioning circuits, and running prep (de Ruiter et al., 2025). They are not a top choice for muscle growth, but they do help you practice quick leg turnover and keep the back of the thighs working over time.
- Fast hamstring repeats — Every rep asks your hamstrings to bend the knee quickly, then do it again on the next step. That repeated speed work builds local endurance in the back of the thigh better than slow, heavy lifts.
- Good warm-up choice — Dynamic drills tend to improve performance more than long static holds before training, so butt kicks make more sense before sprints, jumps, or a leg session than sitting in a long hamstring stretch (Behm et al., 2011).
- Low load, low fatigue — Because this is bodyweight-only and easy to recover from, you can slot it in before flutter kicks in a cardio circuit or before harder lower-body work without draining yourself.
- Not ideal for size — Research on hamstring training shows bigger growth comes from harder resistance work, especially exercises that challenge the hamstrings under more tension and at longer lengths, such as Nordic-style work rather than light running drills (Maeo et al., 2024; Maeo et al., 2021).
Programming for endurance
Do 2-4 sets of 20-40 seconds with 20-45 seconds rest, 2-4 times per week. Use the shorter end before lifting as part of a warm-up, and the longer end in cardio circuits. Keep the pace quick but relaxed, and stop the set when your heels stop coming up fast or your posture starts to fold forward.
Alternative Exercises
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FAQ - Butt Kicks
Butt kicks primarily target the hamstrings while also engaging the glutes. They also provide a cardiovascular benefit, making them an effective dual-purpose exercise for both strength endurance and cardio conditioning.
Stand tall with feet hip-width apart and begin jogging in place, focusing on bringing your heels up to touch your glutes with each repetition. Keep your upper body stable, maintain a slight forward lean, and land softly on the balls of your feet to protect your joints.
Beginners can perform the movement at a slower pace or with less height in the kick. As you advance, increase speed, duration, or add resistance bands around your ankles for greater hamstring activation.
Avoid leaning too far forward, letting your knees drift inward, or landing heavily on your heels. Also, don't sacrifice form for speed—focus on the quality of the hamstring contraction rather than how quickly you can move.
Incorporate butt kicks 2-3 times weekly as part of your warm-up routine, high-intensity interval training, or active recovery. They're versatile enough to be used daily if intensity is managed appropriately, making them perfect for both dedicated training sessions and quick activity breaks.
Workouts with Butt Kicks
Scientific References
A simple on-field fast knee-flexion test to assess acute knee flexor fatigue.
de Ruiter CJ, Baak LM, Westerling Y et al. · European journal of applied physiology (2025)
Behm DG, Plewe S, Grage P et al. · Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme (2011)
Maeo S, Balshaw TG, Nin DZ et al. · Medicine and science in sports and exercise (2024)
Maeo S, Huang M, Wu Y et al. · Medicine and science in sports and exercise (2021)
Sources are peer-reviewed academic publications from PubMed.
Butt Kicks
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