Key Exercises to Grow Your Glutes

Bridges

Bridges are a great beginner move to begin to learn how to activate your glutes. This move has so many variations and styles so you can target a range of muscle groups. It is also great for those with knee-related injuries. It can be completed with your own body weight, weights, and resistance bands.

The variations are:

• Glute Bridges: Lie on your back with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle from the floor. Feet flat on the ground, clench your glutes and hold.
• Single-Leg Glute Bridges: Like a glue bridge but with single-leg raises.
• Wide-Leg Glute Bridges: A regular glute bridge but with your legs in a wider and further apart stance.

Each of these moves can be completed as a hold, or pulses to increase intensity.

Lunges

Lunges are effective for building rounder glutes. It’s a great go-to if you only have time for a couple of quick exercises before heading out the door! This move primarily targets the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves.

When completing this exercise ensure your knee does not extend over your toes. Also, lean forward slightly to activate your glutes. Always keep your feet only a should-width apart.

There are many variations of lunges for growing a bigger booty. But here are our favourites using only your body weight:

• Reverse lunge: Stepping back into a lunge rather than forward.
• Curtsy lunge: Crossing one leg straight behind the other and lunging
• Regular lunge: Stepping forward with one leg and bending both at a 90-degree angle at the knee.

Squats

Probably the most iconic exercise move used to grow your glutes is a squat. This is used to target your gluteus maximum, core, calves, hip flexors, hip abductor and quadriceps.

Ensure you place your feet shoulder-width apart. Then squat until your needs reach your hip height and thighs are parallel to the ground.

Like lunges, squats can be done in a bunch of different ways:

• Squat Jumps: Complete a regular squat and jump up into the air and land after each squat.
• Squat Pulses: Once you reach the bottom of your squat, pulse here for 3-5 seconds, then return to a resting position. Repeat.
• Regular Squat: Bend your knees and lower yourself down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Donkey Kicks & Fire Hydrants

These moves are great for isolating and targeting the gluteus maximus. Using the different directions of both moves can help to round out your glutes and create more shape.

• Donkey kicks: Start on all fours and then raise one leg upward until it aligns with your straight back. Then lower your leg until it sits just above the floor. Repeat on each leg.
• Fire Hydrant: Begin on all fours, raise your bent leg to the side until it aligns with your body height. Then lower it down to resting position and repeat on each leg.

How to Grow Your Glutes with Your Own Body Weight

If you’re starting out with growing your glutes and don’t want to invest in expensive workout equipment, you can easily use your body weight. The workouts below are great for beginners, and you can easily do them in any space.

Each exercise should be completed 10-15 times, with three rounds (aka reps) and a 30-second break in-between workout moves.

• Regular Lunges, Reverse Lunges or Curtsey Lunges
• Regular Squats, Squat jumps or squat pulses
• Donkey kicks
• Fire hydrants
• Glute budge, single leg glute bridge or wide-leg glute bridge
• Glute rainbows

How to Grow Your Glutes with Resistance Bands

If you’ve mastered the above exercise moves using your own body weight, but you aren’t quite ready for heavier weights, it’s time to add some resistance bands. This is a great way to start adding more intensity to your moves. It is also easy to use at home, doesn’t take up much space and is cheap to invest in!

Each exercise should be completed 10-15 times, with three rounds (aka reps) and a 30-second break in-between workout moves.

• Glute bridge (Hold & Pulses)
• Clam Shell (Hold & Pulses)
• Side Lunges
• Squat Step backs
• Sumo Squat (Hold & Pulses)
• Side-Lying leg raise
• Crab Walks
• Donkey Kick
• Fire Hydrant
• Kneeling leg lift

How to Grow Your Glutes with Weights

Once you are comfortable with the exercises above to grow your glutes with a resistance band, it’s time to level up and add some intensity. Progressively adding weights into your glute workout can help grow your muscles more effectively. All the above moves we’ve talked about above can be completed by adding a small weight.

However, here are some more moves to try out below. Each exercise again should be completed 10-15 times, with three rounds (aka reps) and a 30-second break in-between workout moves.

• Step-Ups
• Sumo Pulse Squats
• Single-Leg Deadlifts

Our Booty Building Top Tips

It’s important to member building your glutes and growing a bigger booty won’t happen overnight, like everything it does take time. But you should expect to see some changes in the first couple of weeks or even months.

The key to long-term booty growth is to stay consistent. Obviously, our lives get busy, and we don’t always have time to work out every day or every second day. But creating and maintaining a routine that’s consistent in the long term will set you up for success. Typically, training 3 to 4 times a week with at least a day rest in between is a great regime to get into.

Finally, while exercising regularly is important, it is also essential you have a healthy and balanced diet. This will help your progress shine through and improve your workout’s effectiveness.

• Step-Ups
• Sumo Pulse Squats
• Single-Leg Deadlifts

The Best Booty Building Workouts to Grow Your Glutes

Set 1

10x Regular Lunges, Reverse Lunges or Curtsey Lunges

10x Regular Squats, Squat jumps or squat pulses

10x Donkey kicks (5 on each side)

10x Fire hydrants (5 on each side)

Set 2

10x Glute budge, single leg glute bridge or wide-leg glute bridge

10x Glute rainbows (5 on each side)

10x Clam Shell holds and pulses

10x Sumo Squats

Set 3

10x Crab walks

10x Side-lying leg raises (5 on each side)

10x Kneeling leg lifts

10x Deadlifts

If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this article and are still searching for more information on how to maximise your glute workouts, our blog is full of helpful content and workout routines. Like our top 5 booty building moves or another killer booty burner workout. Be sure to check them out next!

FAQs

What muscles make up the glutes?

Before jumping into all these awesome exercises, it’s important to understand the muscles that make up your glutes. This way you can target each muscle group and work them most effectively.

Your glutes are made up of three muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus Medius and gluteus minimus. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle of the three and sits and the lower part of your glutes, connecting to your back hamstrings. The gluteus Medius sits on top of the Maximus closer to your lower back. While the gluteus minimus sits on the side closest to your hips.

To grow your glutes, you need to build these muscles. These can be targeted altogether in a workout or in isolation.

How long does it take your glutes to grow?

Growing your glutes won’t happen overnight. It’s important to create a consistent exercise regime alongside a balanced diet. However, if you are doing this already, it should take around 2 to 3 months before you see tangible changes to your body.

How do you grow your glutes, not your legs?

Growing your glutes also means growing your hamstrings and attached leg muscles as this all supports your glutes. However, doing more glue isolation exercise moves can help to grow your glues more than your legs.