When Can You Work Out After a BBL? A Week-by-Week Exercise Guide

You can usually work out again six weeks after a BBL. At Centre for Surgery, walking starts on the day of surgery, light cardio in the form of brisk walking (not cycling) starts from week 3, and full exercise, including weights, squats, running and HIIT, starts from 6 weeks once your surgeon has reviewed you. The gap protects the transferred fat while it develops a new blood supply, and early walking protects you from blood clots.

This guide gives a week-by-week BBL workout plan, explains exactly when you can do squats, glute workouts, running, swimming and HIIT, answers whether working out can shrink your BBL, and shows how to build your glutes safely afterwards. For the wider picture of healing, sitting and garments, read our week-by-week BBL recovery guide, and for details of the operation itself see our Brazilian butt lift page.

How Long After a BBL Can You Work Out?

Six weeks is the answer for most people, with a staged build-up before that. During a Brazilian butt lift, fat is removed by liposuction, purified and injected into the layer of fat above the gluteal muscle. Unlike a skin wound, that fat arrives with no blood supply of its own. It has to survive on nutrients that diffuse in from the surrounding tissue until new blood vessels grow into it.

Laboratory research shows how fragile this early phase is. A 2012 study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that most grafted fat cells began to die from the first day, with only those near the edge of the graft surviving at first; repair began from around day 3 and new fat cells appeared from around day 7^[1]. In the first weeks, pressure on the buttocks, heavy straining and the swelling that intense exercise causes can all reduce how much fat takes.

That is why the timeline is staged rather than a single date. Your surgeon may adjust it if you had a larger volume of fat transferred, 360 liposuction at the same time, or any healing problems, so always follow your personal aftercare plan.

Why Is Walking So Important After a BBL?

Walking is the one exercise you should start straight away. A BBL combines liposuction, often of several areas, with an operation performed lying face down, and both raise the risk of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT, a clot in the leg) that can travel to the lungs as a pulmonary embolism. Getting up and moving keeps blood flowing through the leg veins.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ venous thromboembolism task force recommends that every plastic surgery patient has their clot risk assessed with the Caprini score, with prevention matched to that risk^[2]. A 2026 review of clot prevention in plastic surgery lists large-volume liposuction, gluteal fat grafting and combined procedures among the specialty’s specific risk factors, and recommends mechanical measures for all patients undergoing intermediate and major procedures^[3]. Early walking and a return to your normal level of activity are protective, yet one study using activity trackers found that patients took longer to get back to their usual step count than surgeons expected^[4].

The safety benefit of these measures is visible in large BBL series. In a 2026 review of 7,000 consecutive BBL procedures in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery ↗, surgeons who used a subcutaneous-only injection technique together with combined clot-prevention measures recorded no cases of DVT, pulmonary embolism or fat embolism^[5].

In practice, get up for a few minutes every hour or two while you are awake from the day of surgery, and lengthen your walks gradually over the first two weeks.

Know the warning signs. Breathlessness, chest pain or coughing up blood need a 999 call. Pain, swelling or warmth in one calf, a fever, or a red, hot incision mean you should call us, or NHS 111 out of hours. Our guide to BBL risks explains these complications in more detail.

BBL Workout Plan: Week-by-Week Exercise Timeline

The plan below follows the Centre for Surgery BBL aftercare protocol. Treat each stage as the earliest point, not a target.

Week 1 and 2: Walking and Rest

Swelling usually peaks between days 3 and 5, and you will feel sore and tired. Your only exercise is walking: short trips around your home at first, then short walks outside as you feel able. You must not sit directly on your buttocks for two weeks, so stand or lie on your front or side, and use a BBL cushion if sitting is unavoidable. Our guide on when you can sit after a BBL covers this stage in detail.

Avoid stretching routines, yoga, Pilates and lifting anything heavy.

Weeks 3 to 5: Light Cardio (Brisk Walking)

From week 3 you can start light cardio, and at Centre for Surgery that means walking, not cycling. Brisk walks outdoors or on a flat treadmill at a comfortable pace are ideal. Aim to build up to 30 to 45 minutes a day if you feel well. You should be able to hold a conversation while you walk; if you are out of breath, slow down.

Cycling, spinning and rowing still wait, as they put sustained pressure on the buttocks, and so do running, HIIT, classes and weights of any kind, including upper body work. You can start sitting normally for short spells from week 3, but keep wearing your compression garment day and night until six weeks.

Week 6: Back to the Gym

At about six weeks you see your surgeon for a review. If you are healing well, you can return to full exercise, including weights. Most people’s garment comes off at this point too.

Go back gradually: a sensible approach is to start at roughly half your previous weights, sets and running distance, then build up over the following four to six weeks. Stop if an area becomes newly painful or swollen.

Weeks 6 to 12: Building Up

The skin over your buttocks softens and the shape becomes rounder, a process called fluffing, usually around 6 to 8 weeks. You can progress weights, add running intervals and return to classes. By three months most of your result is visible.

3 to 6 Months and Beyond

Your final shape appears between three and six months, and surviving fat is permanent from around six months. From here, there are no permanent exercise restrictions. Your aim is a stable weight and a training routine you enjoy.

When Can I Do Squats After a BBL?

You can start squats at six weeks, after your surgeon’s review. Start with bodyweight squats or a light goblet squat to a comfortable depth, then add load over the following weeks. Build up to heavy barbell squats over the following weeks rather than attempting them in your first session back, and only progress while you have no pain or swelling.

Squats do not damage the grafted fat once it has established, and they are one of the best exercises for strengthening the glutes. If you are wondering how squats compare with surgery for building a bigger bum in the first place, our article on BBL vs squats explains what each can and cannot achieve.

Lunges, split squats and step-ups follow the same rule: not before six weeks, then bodyweight first.

When Can I Start Glute Workouts After a BBL?

Dedicated glute training also starts from six weeks. Some glute exercises need extra thought, though, because of where the pressure falls:

• Glute bridges and hip thrusts: your buttocks touch the floor or bench at the bottom of each repetition. Wait until six weeks, start without weight, and lower gently rather than dropping into the floor.
• Seated machines (leg press, hip abduction, leg curl): you sit on the buttocks under load. These are fine from six weeks; build up the weight steadily.
• Kneeling or standing hip extensions, cable kickbacks and banded side steps: no direct pressure on the buttocks, so these make a gentle way back into glute work at six weeks.
• Romanian deadlifts: from six weeks with light weights, focusing on technique, as they load the glutes and hamstrings heavily.

When Can I Run, Swim or Do HIIT After a BBL?

All of these count as full exercise, so the earliest point is six weeks, after your review:

• Running: from six weeks. Start with run-walk intervals on flat ground, and wear supportive, high-waisted leggings, which many people find more comfortable while the tissues settle.
• Swimming: from six weeks, as long as every incision has fully healed. Avoid pools, baths, hot tubs and saunas until then, as open or freshly healed incisions are an infection risk.
• HIIT, circuits and CrossFit: from six weeks, starting with lower-impact versions and building up over several weeks.
• Cycling and spin classes: from six weeks. Use a padded saddle or cover, and stand on the pedals for some intervals at first.
• Yoga and Pilates: from six weeks. Poses that put your body weight onto your buttocks, or deep hip stretches, should be eased into.
• Dance and twerking: from six weeks, starting gently. Vigorous dancing and twerking involve repeated, forceful buttock movement and impact.

Why Does Exercising Too Soon Affect BBL Fat Survival?

Around 50 to 70% of the fat transferred in a BBL usually survives, and your surgeon plans for the rest being reabsorbed by slightly over-filling at surgery. Most of that settling happens over the first three months.

The figures in the research are similar. In a 2019 prospective ultrasound study of 50 women in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ↗, fat injected only into the subcutaneous layer increased the thickness of the buttock fat by an average of 56.5% straight after surgery, and that thickness fell by an average of 18.2% over the following 12 months^[6]. In the 7,000-case series, estimated fat survival was around 70%^[5].

Several things can push fat survival towards the lower end in the early weeks:

• Pressure on the buttocks. Sitting, cycling or lying on your back squeezes the fat and the tiny new vessels growing into it. Early cell death in the graft can leave fat necrosis, which feels like firm lumps.
• Swelling and fluid. Hard exercise increases blood flow and inflammation in healing tissue. Seroma, a pocket of fluid under the skin, was the most common minor complication in the large series, affecting 23% of patients^[5].
• Shear and impact. Running, jumping and heavy lifting move the tissues repeatedly before they have knitted together.

Exercise is not the enemy of a BBL. Timing is. Once the fat has its blood supply, at around six weeks, normal training does not reduce graft survival.

Will Working Out Shrink My BBL?

No, working out does not shrink a BBL that has settled, as long as your weight stays stable. What shrinks a BBL is losing body fat. The transferred fat cells keep the behaviour of the area they came from, so if you lose weight they shrink along with fat elsewhere in your body, and if you gain weight they grow.

That is why some people notice their bum getting smaller after taking up a lot of running or long cardio sessions alongside a calorie deficit. The exercise is not destroying the graft; the overall fat loss is reducing it. If you enjoy high-volume cardio, eat enough to keep your weight steady. Our articles on BBL shrinking and what happens if you gain weight after a BBL explain the effect of weight changes in both directions.

It also helps to understand where the fat sits. A 2017 task force report on deaths from gluteal fat grafting found that injecting into the deep muscle was associated with a significantly higher rate of fatal and non-fatal fat embolism^[7]. Safe practice now keeps the fat in the subcutaneous layer, above the muscle. At Centre for Surgery, fat is placed only in that layer under real-time ultrasound guidance on every BBL, as explained in our guide to ultrasound-guided BBL. Training the muscle underneath therefore does not squeeze the fat out or cause it to be absorbed.

Some volume loss in the first three months is expected regardless of exercise, so judge your result at three to six months.

How to Build Your Glutes After a BBL

Once you are cleared at six weeks, glute training is one of the best ways to enhance your result. A BBL adds volume and shape in the fat layer; stronger, larger glute muscles add lift and projection from underneath, especially in the upper buttock.

The research on building the gluteus maximus is encouraging. A 2023 randomised trial using MRI scans found that nine weeks of hip thrusts and nine weeks of back squats produced similar growth in the glute muscles, although squats also built more muscle in the thighs^[8]. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis in Frontiers in Physiology ↗ found that resistance training has a moderate effect on gluteus maximus growth, that the barbell hip thrust is a good choice if you want to focus on the glutes rather than the thighs, and that full or parallel-depth squats, leg press and kneeling hip extensions also work^[9].

A simple approach after a BBL:

• Train glutes two or three times a week once you are back to full exercise, with rest days in between.
• Combine a hip thrust or glute bridge with a squat or leg press and a hinge such as a Romanian deadlift.
• Add side-glute work such as cable or banded hip abduction for width at the upper hip.
• Increase the load gradually. Muscle grows when the work gets progressively harder over weeks and months.
• Eat enough protein and enough calories to keep your weight stable. Crash dieting to show off your new shape is the quickest way to lose volume. Our guide on how to feed the fat after a BBL covers diet in more detail.

Tap to reveal

Real Centre for Surgery patient, photographed at least six months after BBL surgery. See more results in our BBL before and after photos.

Do You Have to Work Out to Maintain a BBL?

No. The result will not disappear if you never set foot in a gym, as the surviving fat is living tissue that stays for the long term. What matters most for keeping your result is a stable weight.

Exercise does help in other ways: it keeps the muscle under the graft firm and makes a stable weight easier to hold.

Can exercise give you the same result as a BBL? Squats and hip thrusts build muscle only. They cannot add fat to the buttocks, slim your waist or reshape the hips as fat transfer can, so the two work best together: surgery for shape and volume, training for lift and tone.

Is Exercise Different After a Mini BBL, Male BBL or Buttock Implants?

Yes, the timings vary with the procedure:

• Mini BBL: less fat is transferred from fewer donor areas, and exercise usually resumes from four weeks. The two-week sitting rule still applies.
• Male BBL: follows the same staged return as a standard BBL unless your surgeon advises otherwise. Men who lift regularly often want to return quickly, but heavy leg and hip work still waits until six weeks.
• Buttock implants: the implant sits within the gluteal muscle, so recovery is longer. Exercise usually resumes at eight weeks, with a cushion needed for eight weeks, and glute training is reintroduced more gradually.

What Exercises Should You Avoid After a BBL?

In the first six weeks, avoid:

• Cycling, spinning, rowing and any seated cardio.
• Running, jumping, HIIT, circuits and dance classes.
• Weight training of any kind, including upper body and core work.
• Floor-based exercise that puts weight on your buttocks or back, such as Pilates, yoga and glute bridges.
• Swimming, hot tubs and saunas until your incisions have fully healed.

After six weeks there are no exercises you need to avoid for good. Stop and contact us if exercise causes a sudden increase in swelling, a fluid-filled or sloshing feeling in a treated area, new pain, bleeding or discharge from an incision, or a fever. These can be signs of a seroma or infection, which are easier to treat when they are found early.

Frequently Asked Questions

Brazilian Butt Lift in London

Brazilian butt lift surgery at Centre for Surgery is performed by GMC-registered surgeons at our Baker Street hospital, rated Good overall by the CQC. Fat is placed only in the subcutaneous layer above the gluteal muscle, never into or beneath it, under real-time ultrasound guidance on every BBL. Surgery is a day case under TIVA (total intravenous anaesthesia), and your aftercare includes your surgeon’s direct number for the first 24 hours, nursing contact over the first two weeks, a wound check, a six-week surgeon review when your return to exercise is confirmed, and reviews at three and six months if you would like them. The consultant who assesses you performs your surgery, and we recommend a two-week cooling-off period before you go ahead. Your initial consultation is £100, redeemable against the cost of surgery if you go ahead. Finance isn’t available for BBL at Centre for Surgery, so the procedure is self-funded; our BBL cost guide explains what is included.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation

References

1. Eto H, Kato H, Suga H, et al. The fate of adipocytes after nonvascularized fat grafting: evidence of early death and replacement of adipocytes. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2012;129(5):1081–1092. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e31824a2b19 ↗
2. Murphy RX Jr, Alderman A, Gutowski K, et al. Evidence-based practices for thromboembolism prevention: summary of the ASPS Venous Thromboembolism Task Force Report. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2012;130(1):168e–175e. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e318254b4ee ↗
3. Sousa Oliveira LA, Helena Mendes L, Cabette Filho NN, da Costa Sacksida Valladão V. Thromboprophylaxis in intermediate and major plastic surgery procedures: a narrative review and proposal of the TROMBO-PLAST integrated decision-making model. Cureus 2026;18(6):e110817. doi:10.7759/cureus.110817 ↗
4. Glassman GE, Makhoul AT, Zhang M, et al. Actigraphy to evaluate changes in physical activity after autologous breast reconstruction. Annals of Plastic Surgery 2021;86(6S Suppl 5):S610–S614. doi:10.1097/SAP.0000000000002698 ↗
5. Güzey S, Ergan Şahin A. Brazilian butt lift: what we learned over 7000 patients? Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2026;50(14):5864–5872. doi:10.1007/s00266-026-05899-9 ↗
6. Cansancao AL, Condé-Green A, David JA, Vidigal RA. Subcutaneous-only gluteal fat grafting: a prospective study of the long-term results with ultrasound analysis. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2019;143(2):447–451. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000005203 ↗
7. Mofid MM, Teitelbaum S, Suissa D, et al. Report on mortality from gluteal fat grafting: recommendations from the ASERF Task Force. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2017;37(7):796–806. doi:10.1093/asj/sjx004 ↗
8. Plotkin DL, Rodas MA, Vigotsky AD, et al. Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift. Frontiers in Physiology 2023;14:1279170. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1279170 ↗
9. Krause Neto W, Krause TLV, Gama EF. The impact of resistance training on gluteus maximus hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology 2025;16:1542334. doi:10.3389/fphys.2025.1542334 ↗

Related Articles

• BBL Recovery and Aftercare: A Week-by-Week Guide
• BBL vs Squats
• BBL Shrinking: Why It Happens and What Is Normal
• When Can I Sit Normally After a Brazilian Butt Lift?