How to Make Your Hips Wider

Co-authored by Souad Gharib

Stars like Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara have made the hourglass figure increasingly appealing. While a narrow waist is important, increasing your hip size is just as effective in achieving the look. If you'd like to have wider hips, here are some steps to help you look curvaceous.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Altering Your Physique

1
Do exercises that target the hips. Complete lots of lower body workouts such as squats, lunges, curtsy lunges, deadlifts, and glute bridges. Train your lower body 2-3 times a week, doing 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps each. Side leg raises, hip raises, and squat kicks are also good options. The mac-daddy of hip-widening exercises may be the side lunge with dumbbells. This is a beefed-up version of a traditional lunge that allows for more resistance, and therefore, more potential muscle growth and hip width.^{[1]
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- To do the side lunge, plant your feet a little more than two feet apart. Turn your toes out slightly. Bend your right knee and come down into a lunge position. Your left leg will be completely straight and act as a pivot ^{[2]
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- Come down until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Clench the butt muscle. Then using hip power, push yourself back up, straightening your right leg. Do not put your feet back together. You are going to maintain the 2-foot distance between your feet during the entirety of this exercise.^{[3]
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- Now, lunge down to the other side. Come down until your knee is bent at a 90-degree angle and then push back up. Again, straighten your legs and keep both feet in place. This posture protects your knees, lets you keep tension on the muscles better and use heavier resistance.
- Add two dumbbells. Hold one dumbbell in each hand. As you lunge down to the right, the right-hand dumbbell should be on the outside of your right hip. The left-hand dumbbell should be held in front of your body down between your legs. Reverse your hand positions for the other side--left dumbbell on the outside of your left hip as you lunge to the left, right dumbbell down in between your legs.
2
Try yoga. There are many yoga poses designed to open your hips.^{[4]
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Research source} This will build muscle and allow for greater flexibility, which in return will make other hip exercises easier. The Frog, the Pigeon, the Lizard and the Cow Face are all poses you'll want to get familiar with.

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3
Sit on your butt. You can get bigger hips (and a larger derriere) by simply sitting. According to a study published in the journal Cell Physiology^{[5]
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4
Give birth. While you certainly wouldn't get pregnant for this sole purpose, a woman's hips will widen to make it possible for her to give birth. In some cases, hips will return to pre-pregnancy size with time, but in other cases, bigger hips become a permanent part of a woman's physique.^{[7]
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5
Consider surgery. If you're willing to go under the knife to achieve a Kim Kardashian look, there are procedures worth investigating. You can have the fat removed from various areas of your body via liposuction and then transferred to your hips.^{[8]
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Research source} Or you can also get hip implants in which "slices" of silicone are placed under the skin and substructures to give you a more curvaceous appearance.^{[9]
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6
Wait it out. Turns out our hips get wider as we age. Research findings suggest that it's not necessarily added weight that causes hips to look bigger as we grow older, it's pelvic growth. In a study that used participants ranging in age from 20 to 79, researchers found that the width of the pelvis, the distance between the hip bones and the diameter of the hip bones all increased as people got older and that the pelvic width of the oldest people in the study was, on average, about an inch larger than the youngest.^{[10]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using the Art of Illusion

1
Pad your hips. You don't have to actually widen your hips to get the look of a fuller, more feminine hips.
- Purchase hip-enhancing briefs. You can buy an undergarment that comes with removable, foam pads that add inches to your hips.
- Use silicone hip pads to create fuller hips. Plan to hold the pads in place with adhesive or tuck them into an undergarment made from a tightly woven microfiber or a pair of pantyhose or tights.
  - Keep in mind that your new, fuller figure may make it difficult to fit into your favorite jeans, so a shopping trip might be necessary.
2
Revamp your wardrobe. You can use dress in ways that emphasize your hips and give the illusion of greater fullness.
- Make your waist the focal point when dressing. Use belts or sashes to cinch in your waist. This will give you the look of an hourglass figure.
- Pay attention to cut and color. Faded denim and pants in lighter colors accentuate the hips. Choose jeans that have defined waistlines to accentuate your waist or go with a straight cut. Look for styles that feature front pockets and smaller pockets in the back.
- Buy skirts with ruffles or multiple layers of fabric to add width to your hips.
3
Adjust your posture. Stand with your back straight, shoulders dropped and back and your weight on one leg, hips thrust out. This creates an S-shaped curve in the body. Place your hands on your hips with thumbs facing forward and fingers pointed back behind you.
- To create this S-curve when you're sitting, simply cross your legs or put your weight onto one hip.
4
Swing it, sister. Swinging your hips when you walk draws attention to this area and gives out a feminine vibe that can't help but draw a little male attention. Keep your back straight and pull your shoulders down and back. Relax your body. Put one foot in front of the other as you walk and let your arms swing naturally. You can emphasize the swing in your hips a bit as you walk, but don't overdo it. If it's too highly exaggerated, it could come off looking comical.
- To enhance the effect, put on a pair of heels. Heels cause your hips to sway without you having to force the movement.

Community Q&A

Question

What exercise widens hips?

Community Answer

Many exercises work, but squats and lunges have the fastest and largest impact on the hips.
Question

Do these exercises really help widen your hips?

Incredible_Virk

Community Answer

Yes! The most efficient one is doing squats. The whole weight of body gets shifted towards the lower part of body, which helps to strengthen the muscles on and around hips.
Question

Do these exercises mess up a woman's figure?

Community Answer

Not at all! In fact, if you're mainly doing (for instance) squats, the reward is a more toned body and bigger hips and glutes.