Hopping on the elliptical machine at your gym and powering through a 30-minute workout can burn hundreds of calories and strengthen a number of major muscle groups. One of these muscles is your gluteus maximus, which you might refer to as your butt. The ability of an elliptical machine workout to significantly shrink the size of your butt depends on how much fat you carry in this area.
Burn Fat for a Shapely Butt
If you carry a hefty amount of fat on your butt, regular elliptical machine workouts can help you lose this fat. Despite the machine's use of your glutes, it won't selectively burn your butt fat. Instead, provided you also reduce your calorie intake, the machine can help you sustain a caloric deficit to lose weight all over your body. In this sense, the elliptical machine can shrink the size of your butt. If you don't have much butt fat, the machine is unlikely to sculpt a smaller butt.