If you want to know whether your 34 inch hips are a normal size, then you’re in the right place. This guide discusses all the ins and outs of having 34 in hips and what they mean for your body.
But to cut to the chase, in most cases, 34″ hips are a below average hip size for men and women. However, depending on your build, this may not be a bad thing at all. More on that in a sec.
How Do Your Hips Compare?
Are 34 inch hips considered small for women?
Are 34 inch hips small for a woman? Yes, based on US anthropometric research, 34 inch hips are small for a woman because they’re 6 inches smaller than average for an adult female.
Of course, since we’re all built differently, there are many good reasons for a woman to have 34″ hips.
For example, you might have a small bone structure. When you have a petite build, your body is physically narrower by default (shorter bones) and thus has less capacity to accumulate muscle mass (on the contrary, longer bones have more space to store muscle and fat). Ultimately, a small build results in smaller circumference measurements.
Additionally, you might not store a lot of fat on your hips. Perhaps you store more fat on your thighs, waist, or upper body instead? There are many different female body types, so not every woman stores the majority of her fat on her legs (although it is fairly typical).
How about for men?
For men, 34 inch hips are on the small side as well—by around 5 inches, to be specific. So if you have 34 in hips as a man, then that’s likely an indication that you have a slim build or, at the very least, have slim legs and hips.
Men are typically much more concerned about their chest and shoulders than their hips, but that doesn’t mean that some guys don’t wish that their hips were larger.
Indeed, the glutes are the biggest muscle in the human body, so developing your glutes can really make your physique look a lot more athletic. [1]
Of course, if you’re a male with a relatively low body fat level, then you might well have muscular glutes while still having a relatively slim hip measurement (although 34 inches is very slim indeed).
As you’re about to learn in the next section, building your 34 inch butt—regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman—is the best way to increase your hip size.
How can you widen your 34 inch hips?
The best way to widen your 34 inch hips is to train your glutes with weights. Exercises like hip thrusts, split squats, and hip abductions are ideal in this regard because they place a ton of tension on the glutes and comparatively less tension on the quadriceps (although any squat variation will still hammer the quads).
Increasing your body weight is another effective way to grow your 34″ hips because gaining weight results in larger circumference measurements and that most definitely includes your hips.
So try to consume more protein and calories if you’re serious about widening your 34 in hips. When implemented alongside a good resistance training routine, a protein-rich diet will enable you to get faster results because you’ll be giving your muscles the fuel they need to grow and develop.
You can also increase the perceived size of your 34 inch hip size by slimming your waist (although, with 34 inch hips, it’s unlikely that your waist is too large). When you slim your waist, you automatically accentuate your hips and make them look bigger.
With that in mind, if you slim (or even just maintain) your waist while simultaneously growing your glutes, then you can end up with a very different body and a much lower waist-to-hip ratio.
What size are 34 inch hips?
The exact sizing for 34 inch hips depends on the brand of clothing and the garment type. However, in many cases, 34 inch hips will work out at a size XS, which is a US size 0-2. In some cases, 34″ hips may work out at a size small.
What causes some people to have a 34 inch hip size?
Having a slim build and a healthy body is the main reason why a person would have 34 inch hips.
Yes, 34 inches is smaller than average, but you need to remember that, statistically, most people are at least somewhat overweight, so there’s no need for you to make your 34 in hips any larger than they already are.
You might have 34 inch hips if you’re tall and slim. On the contrary, you could have 34″ hips due to being short with a small bone structure.
As mentioned, you might not store a great deal of body fat on your hips (or you might not have that much body fat in general), which will definitely result in a slimmer measurement.
Additionally, there are also plenty of growing teenagers who have 34 inch hips.
Also, considering that the hip bones naturally widen as we age, there’s a good chance that your hips will broaden even if you don’t actively try to build your glutes through strength training. [2]
Conclusion: Is it good to have 34″ hips?
In most cases, yes, it’s good to have 34 inch hips because it likely means that you have a healthy body weight. Indeed, many people who have hips that are significantly larger than 34 inches are overweight.
Of course, many people are concerned that their hips are too small. So if you really want to make your hips wider, you can do so by building up the size of your glutes with strength training exercises.
Of course, it’s also completely fine to just embrace your 34″ hips because, for a healthy person, they really are a normal size.
References
- Buckthorpe, M., Stride, M., & Villa, F. D. (2019). ASSESSING AND TREATING GLUTEUS MAXIMUS WEAKNESS – A CLINICAL COMMENTARY. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 14(4), 655–669. https://doi.org/10.26603/ijspt20190655
- Berger, A. A., May, R., Renner, J. B., Viradia, N., & Dahners, L. E. (2011). Surprising evidence of pelvic growth (widening) after skeletal maturity. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 29(11), 1719–1723. https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.21469