How Large Are 42 Inch Hips for Women and Men?

42 inch hips are definitely an above average hip size for women and men of all ages. So does this mean that having a 42 inch butt is a bad thing?

Not necessarily. While we can certainly debate the ideal buttocks size from an aesthetic point of view, from a health perspective, a given hip size doesn’t mean much without knowing the size of your waist and your body composition.

How big are 42 inch hips for women?

A woman showing that she has a 42 inch booty

Are 42 inch hips big for a woman? Yes, 42 inch hips are definitely big for a woman because they’re statistically 2 inches larger than average for an adult female. Most people would consider 42 in hips to be pretty big for just about any woman, regardless of her build and body composition.

So, even though 42 inch hips aren’t significantly bigger than the normal size, they are big in the grand scheme of things. And it’s very likely that many of the 8,000 women from the measurement data were overweight, meaning that normal doesn’t always equal healthy.

What’s more important than the size of your hips, however, is the size difference between your waist and hips. It’s much better to store body fat around your hips than around your waist, seeing as visceral fat, which is more common in men,^[1] is a strong predictor of mortality. ^[2]

So if you have 42″ hips and a narrow waist, that’s much better for your health and appearance than having only a small size difference between your waist and hips.

Are 42 inch hips big for men?

Are 42 inch hips big for a man? Yes, 42 inch hips are around 3 inches bigger than average for a man and are definitely a big size for an adult male.

Again, 3 inches might not sound like a lot, but when you consider the fact that a high proportion of the study participants (on which these values are based) were probably overweight, you begin to realize just how big 42 in hips are for a man.

Of course, some men naturally have wider hips than others, which can definitely cause your circumference measurement to increase.

However, in addition to excess body fat, gluteal muscle mass is the main reason why a man would have 42 inch glutes. After all, if you do squats and hips thrusts for years—especially if you gain weight as well—then your glutes are bound to get bigger.

So, while a 42 inch hip size is definitely big for a man, it’s not necessarily too big if you’re relatively lean (you obviously don’t need to be ripped to be healthy).

What clothing size are 42 inch hips?

A chart showing what size 42 inch hips are in women's clothing

What clothing size are 42 inch hips? The specifics heavily depend on the brand. But in some cases, 42 inch hips are equal to a women’s size medium or large, which works out at a size 8-10 and 12-14, respectively. It really depends on the item of clothing that you’re looking at.

Should you try to build a 42 inch butt?

Whether you currently have a 42 inch butt that you want to make bigger or whether you actually want to grow a 42 inch booty, this glute-building advice will help you reach your goals.

While you can definitely be happy with your body while having hips that measure smaller and larger than 42 inches, many people find that their self-confidence improves when they develop one of the largest and most prominent muscles on their body, namely, the glutes.

You probably know that hip thrusts are number one for gaining glute mass. But what you might not know is that flaring your feet out during hip thrusts—which encourages hip external rotation—can increase your glute activation even more. ^[3]

You can get great results from hip thrusts alone, but if you want to do everything in your power to build your 42 inch booty, then I recommend including an exercise that has the opposite strength curve of a hip thrust (i.e., an exercise that trains the glutes in they’re stretched position).

Good examples of this kind of drill include split squats, reverse lunges, and step-ups—all preferably performed with a forward torso lean to accentuate the glute stretch.

Additionally, you should do some kind of hip abduction exercise at the end of your workout to really burn out your glutes and train the often neglected gluteus medius muscle.

Conclusion: Do many people have 42″ hips?

Statistically, most people have hips that are smaller than 42 inches. But that doesn’t mean that 42 inch hips are a complete rarity. Indeed, there are many overweight individuals who have 42″ hips.

On the contrary, there are a number of fit and healthy women and men who have 42 inch glutes thanks to their workout regime. So there really are a multitude of reasons as to why someone might have 42 in hips.

Of course, you might have heard that there are certain celebrities with 42 inch hips. But many of these numbers are just someone’s best guesses. So you shouldn’t feel like you need to live up to any kind of high standard. Because, to be completely honest, it really is quite difficult to sculpt 42 inch hips purely by building your glutes (especially while maintaining a narrow waist).

References

Nauli, A. M., & Matin, S. (2019). Why Do Men Accumulate Abdominal Visceral Fat? Frontiers in Physiology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01486
Kuk, J. L., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Nichaman, M. Z., Church, T. S., Blair, S. N., & Ross, R. (2006). Visceral fat is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 14(2), 336–341. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2006.43
Collazo García, C. L., Rueda, J., Suárez Luginick, B., & Navarro, E. (2020). Differences in the Electromyographic Activity of Lower-Body Muscles in Hip Thrust Variations. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 34(9), 2449–2455. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002859