Glute exercises are beneficial for everyone, as the glutes are one of the largest muscle groups in the body and important for strength and function. By varying exercises, reps, sets and tempo to continually challenge the glutes, you will see progress over time.
The best exercises for building and strengthening the glutes are:
- Squats: Squats are a compound exercise that work the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings. Adopting a wider stance, like the sumo squat targets the glutes even more.
- Hip thrusts: Hip thrusts directly target and isolate the glute muscles – this exercise can be loaded with weights to progressively overload the glutes.
- Deadlifts: Deadlifts, especially Roman deadlifts, work the posterior chain including the glutes, hamstrings and lower back.
- Lunges and step-ups: Unilateral exercises like lunges and step-ups help to build balanced, strong glutes and can help address muscular imbalances.
- Lateral band walks: These target the gluteus medius and minimus muscles, which are important for hip stability and abduction.
A combination of heavy, low-rep exercises and lighter higher-rep isolation exercises are needed to fully develop all of the glute muscle fibres.
Some common mistakes to avoid when doing glute building exercises include:
- Only training the glutes once a week – for optimal glute growth, you should incorporate glute-focused exercises 3-5 times per week.
- Rushing through reps – slowing down the eccentric (lowering) portion of exercises like squats and deadlifts increases time under tension and glute activation.
- Avoiding glute isolation exercises like donkey kicks and fire hydrants – these help target all of the different glute muscle fibres.
- Motion – only moving in one plane of motion (forward/backward) – adding lateral and rotational movements like lateral band walks can help develop the entire glute complex.
- Weight and form – lifting too heavy, with poor form, which can lead to overworking the quads and hamstrings instead of the glutes.
- Activation – not properly activating the glutes before a workout with exercises like band walks and bodyweight hip thrusts.
- Being impatient – not giving the glutes enough time to grow with consistent, proper training over several months.
To build bigger, stronger glutes, it is important to focus on progressive overload by gradually increasing the weight, reps, or volume of these exercises over time, consistency with a glute-focused program is key. Focus on proper form and technique, training frequency and a variety of glute-specific exercises to see optimal results in building stronger, more defined glutes.
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