The male butt is having a moment, and now straight men want one too. In The Cut‘s men’s style issue, published 5 October, features writer Allison P. Davis looks at glutemaxxing, the push to build the biggest, firmest glutes possible, and the butt anxiety that comes with it.
By Marvin Valdez
Meet Glute Max Guy
Three months ago, a man named Dylan, who posts as Glute Max Guy, set himself a goal: “Glutemaxxing until my butt gets too big for my pants.”
“I didn’t want to have the Hank Hill ass that most men seem to be content with,” he told The Cut.
He posts his workouts six days a week, eats about 200 grams of protein a day and takes 10 to 15 grams of creatine. Thirsty men now fill his comments, and he runs a Patreon-style community called the Glute Max Club.
Davis points to television. Shows as straight-coded as Paradise and Reacher linger on bare male cheeks, and Heated Rivalry turned quiet appreciation into open yearning.
The ideal has shifted, too. New York photographer Azelion describes the target as a high, muscular bubble butt, or a “hard football booty”. Think Jude Bellingham, Frances Tiafoe or Carlos Alcaraz.
Tom, 45, built “a pretty nice booty for a white guy” chasing a Fire Island body, but lost his trainer during covid and has since been on a GLP-1. “I catch myself in the mirror sometimes, and I’m like, Oh my God, I have old-man butt,” he said.
Why Are Straight Men Suddenly Squatting?
“Seeing your fat ass as an asset isn’t particularly new to women or gay men,” Davis writes. What’s new is straight men catching on. At a party, one husband told her he only realised how flat his own butt was after women he knew kept talking about the “butts on the hockey show”.
“You have a group of men who are realizing that women and gay men are responding positively to it, so it’s kind of like, ‘Wait, I have something to offer, too,’” Azelion said.
Jacob, 29, started training his glutes to fix his hips. That turned into the Great Cake Competition, with about 30 friends, official measurements, a custom app, glamour shots and custom thongs. When the final measurements are taken in November, the winners get plaster casts of their own butts.
Is There Such A Thing As Gay Muscle?
In March 2025, Queerty rounded up the debate sparked by X user @booorgan. “It’s very interesting how you can look at a physically fit guy and immediately tell if it’s gay muscle or straight muscle,” the post read.
Queerty argued that gay men tend to train their legs harder, partly because short inseams and Speedos leave nowhere to hide. If straight men are only now catching on to hip thrusts, the gays have a head start.
Source: https://www.dnamagazine.com.au/glutemaxxing-straight-men-butt-trend/
