What Are the Best Glute Exercises?

There are a ton of articles on the market that go over the most effective glute exercises. In reality, even now we have a couple of of them!

So why is this text different, you ask?

We will eliminate all of the qualifiers, resembling best dumbbell glute exercises or body weight glute exercises. As a substitute, we will lay out the best possible exercises to accumulate essentially the most powerful muscle group in your body.

We have built this list using EMG and the opinion of experts in the sphere. We’ll also break down all of the rhetoric and nuance so what you have to do to construct big and powerful glutes.

Simply put, if you happen to’re not including these exercises in your program, your booty is missing out.

Table of Contents:

• What Are The Glutes? Anatomy Overview
• Functions Of The Glutes
• 5 Best Glutes Exercises, Based on Science
• 3 Best Unilateral Exercise for Gluteus Medius & Minimus
• Additional Aspects to Consider With Glute Exercises
• FAQs

What Are the Glutes? Anatomy Overview

As a gaggle of lower body muscles, this group is collectively often known as glute muscles. It’s made up of three distinct muscles that sit (pun intended) on the posterior of the body slightly below the hips.

They’re easily the strongest muscles in the complete human body and are often known as the powerhouse attributable to their essential role in human motion and performance. Let’s take a better take a look at each.

Gluteus Maximus:

The gluteus maximus, aka glute maximus, is the biggest of the three muscles and the strongest. It’s massive and has multiple attachments across the tailbone, pelvis, and erector spinae.

A few of its origins include the gluteal surface of ilium, lumbar fascia, sacrum, and sacrotuberous ligament. As well as, some insertions include the femur and iliotibial tract.

Gluteus Medius:

That is the second largest of your three muscles and sits on the outer portion of your pelvis. A big portion of the gluteus medius is roofed by other muscles, including the gluteus maximus, which covers 1/3 of the posterior side, and the gluteal aponeurosis, which covers 2/3 on the anterior side.

Its origins include the ilium and gluteus maximus. Unlike the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius primarily has one insertion on the femur (upper leg).

Gluteus Minimus:

The gluteus minimus is the smallest of the three muscles and sits just beneath the gluteus medius. Attributable to its size, its origins are only situated on the ilium’s anterior and inferior gluteal lines. It also has a single insertion on the femur.

Functions of the Glutes

As an entire, the gluteal muscles control the hips in nearly every motion. Perhaps the one movement through which it isn’t the first mover is hip flexion, yet it still plays a pivotal role in stability during this movement.

The function of the glutes include:

• Hip Extension: Straightening the hips as in a deadlift. It also includes pulling your leg, resembling while you walk.
• Hip Hyperextension: Extending the hips past full extension (torso straight).
• Hip Abduction: From any position, lifting your leg farther out laterally.
• Hip External Rotation: Along with your leg straight, rotate your leg outward so your toes point outward. Or, in case your knees are bent, rotate your knee outward so your knee is pointing outward.
• Hip Stability: The glutes also play a major role in the general stability of the hips, including while you’re just sitting, standing, and even running. When walking, the gluteus medius also keeps your hips from sagging laterally in the course of a stride.

All three muscles will play an intricate role in all these movements. Nonetheless, if we were to start out taking a look at the precise movements, we’d find that the three muscles play more of a primary mover or stabilizer role.

The glute max can be the first hip extender, which you’ll be able to see when taking a look at the most effective Gluteus Maximus Exercises. Alternatively, the glute medius and glute minimus work together as the first hip abductors and external rotators, which you’ll be able to see in these round-ups of the most effective Gluteus Medius Exercises and Gluteus Minimus Exercises.

The 5 Best Glute Exercises

Now let’s dig through a number of the studies to see what exercises you have to be doing. To do that, I’ll primarily compare two variables, EMG readings and cargo lifted.

We will sometimes assume the EMG robotically means the most effective exercise, but this is not necessarily true. Remember that EMG simply measures muscle contraction, and the truth is, you’ll be able to generate high EMG readings by simply flexing your muscles!

In point of fact, the EMG shows to what degree a muscle is utilized in a movement. Although very vital, it should be considered together with the load you’ll be able to lift.  

1) Glute Hip Thrust:

The primary, best, and most blatant exercise is glute hip thrusts. 

It’s almost universally agreed upon as the most effective glute exercise since it’s an isolation movement that enables a load to be placed directly on the hips. And by load, I mean loads heavier than you’ll be able to lift with most other exercises. For this reason, you would like strong glutes.

A study published within the Journal of Applied Biomechanics compared muscle activation in the course of the exercise to muscle activation in the course of the back squat. Their measurements showed there’s really no doubt as to which is healthier.

In comparison with the back squat, this exercise had greater upper gluteus maximus mean (69.5% vs 29.4%) and peak (172% vs 84.9%); lower gluteus maximus mean (86.8% vs. 45.4%) and peak (216% vs. 130%); and biceps femoris (hamstrings) mean (40.8% vs. 14.9%) and peak (86.9% vs. 37.5%)¹.

One other meta from 2020 found that out of all exercises, the hip thrust had the second highest EMG activation with a mean of 75.41% (but the best was 94%)². Nonetheless, I put this move in first place attributable to its high muscle activation and heavy loads.

This exercise can also be the favourite exercise of Dr. Bret Contreras for training the butt muscles. For those who do not know Bret Contreras, he’s often known as the Glute Doctor, specializing in constructing powerful glutes.

Methods to do Glute Hip Thrusts:

• Arrange a bench and a loaded barbell. You could need to slide the bench against a wall to maintain it from sliding.
• Sit on the bottom in front of the bench along with your legs straight and back pressed up against the bench. Place the barbell over your body directly over your hips. That is your starting position.
• Pull your legs in so your shins are vertical, your knees bent, and your feet flat. You possibly can gently place your hands on either side of the barbell.
• Brace your core and thrust your hips forward (up). At the identical time, squeeze your glutes and press your feet into the bottom. Think as if you happen to’re attempting to drag the ground toward you.

2) Step Ups:

Keep in mind that exercise with the best EMG from the study above? It is the step up, representing with an insane muscle activation of 120%. Activation is so high for 2 important reasons.

The primary is hip extension, with the leg pulling all the way down to propel the body up. Throughout the step-up, lifting one leg high onto a box creates an enormous range of motion. Due to this fact, pulling the body up and forward to get the opposite leg to the box becomes an enormous challenge.

Second, you would like the step-up since it’s done on one leg, AKA unilaterally. The plain assumption is that this creates more activation as one leg is chargeable for lifting the complete body. That is one a part of it, but all that does is increase the load, which might be completed by adding weight.

The true reason the unilateral aspect spikes activation is the soundness component. When stepping up, your entire body rests on one leg, requiring way more stability to finish the movement without falling over.

Methods to do the Step Up:

• For the step-up, you will need some form of raised platform. A gym box works best as most help you make a choice from three heights. To get essentially the most glute activation, use the tallest platform you’ll be able to step on with good form. This permits a bigger range of motion and more pull.
• To get into the starting position, stand in front of a box, near it. Pick one foot up and place it forward so it’s completely on the box. Trying to not push off with the opposite foot, drive one foot forward down into the box. As a substitute of pushing your body up, you need to concentrate on that pulling-down motion, mimicking hip extension.
• Try to keep up your balance as you lift your body weight until your other leg is up and also you’re standing. Pause for a second after which step backward in reverse order, and have in mind your body weight.
• For instance: Step up along with your right foot forward after which your left foot. Step down along with your left foot after which your right foot. Whenever you step down, achieve this in a controlled manner all the way in which down. Don’t just hop off, but benefit from the eccentric contraction.

3) Conventional Deadlift:

The standard deadlift is one other large compound movement that enables heavy loads with high muscle activation. 

While individual biomechanics will differ on all exercises, the deadlift doesn’t require a certain depth, resembling getting parallel to the bottom, to finish. Consequently, different individuals will flex their hips and knees as needed, altering the quantity of glute activation.  

Studies show you’ll receive anywhere from 35-94% activation. Even those on the lower end place an enormous load on the glutes, which is a primary consider glute growth.

Methods to do the Conventional Deadlift:

• The starting position is crucial, so take time to get it right. Stand in front of a loaded barbell with feet hip-shoulder width apart. Bend down and grab the barbell with an overhand grip just outside your legs. Sit your hips back and pull up on the bar as you straighten and tighten your back.
• Proceed to take a seat back and let your shoulders rise until they sit just in front of the bar along with your arms prolonged straight down. That is your starting position before every rep.
• Begin the movement by driving your feet down and pulling the bar off the bottom. Deal with driving your hips forward and squeezing your glutes. Because the bar rises in a straight line, your back should remain at the identical angle. Once the bar passes your knee, then extend your back as you aim to get into the standing position. Drive out of that knee bent position until you are standing upright.
• To lower the bar, I prefer to do a slow eccentric until the bar lowers on the upper thighs for a couple of inches after which perform a controlled drop.

4) Belt Squat:

I’m going to be honest. I’m a bit biased with the belt squat as I find it irresistible and feel like not nearly enough people do it. Due to this fact, I’m thrilled to place the belt squat on this list because it elicits a crazy mean EMG reading of 71.34. Based on the study I referenced above, the max end of the range is 100.76.

I selected the hip thrust as #1 attributable to its mean EMG being higher, its ability to make use of higher loads, and the promotion of the literal “Glute Doctor,” Dr. Bret Contreras.

Nonetheless, the belt squat is unquestionably up there, so it isn’t value missing out on. The one profit the belt squat has over the hip thrust is the flexibility to make use of a broader range of assorted foot placements.

Methods to do the Belt Squat:

• Ideally, you could have an actual belt squat machine to do that. For those who don’t, you should utilize a dip belt and low boxes to face on.
• Whether the squat belt machine places the belt low in your hips so the chain hangs in the course of your legs, the belt must be catching in your hip bones.
• If using a dip belt, arrange two boxes in order that they’re close enough so that you can use a standard squat stance. Ensure there is a gap in between large enough for weights to drop through. Bring your weights as much as the boxes and hook up the belt in your hips.
• Now that you simply’re arrange, the movement is similar no matter what you employ. Stand along with your feet flat and spread barely wider than hip-width apart and toes identified barely. That is the starting position.
• Begin the movement by pushing your hips back in the identical manner as a squat. Since there is no such thing as a load in your back, you could have more freedom with positioning your upper body. Nonetheless, you continue to need to keep your torso straight and try to keep your shoulders over your ankles.
• Go all the way in which down after which power up by pressing your feet down into the bottom. Proceed until your hips are erect and your torso upright. Because the movement is largely the identical, the incontrovertible fact that the load is on the hips as a substitute of the back alters muscle activation. On this position, the glutes must push the complete load, stopping the erector spinae from getting overly involved from poor movement patterns.

Need to avoid the effort of belt squat set-up and give you the chance to only get right to it? Listed below are our 3 Best Belt Squat Machine Options.

5) Back Squat:

I’m going to change our course of only using EMG a bit here. The entire above movements are significantly higher glute exercises than the squat when taking a look at EMG readings. On the evaluation I have been using, the back squat only has a mean activation of 53.10%

Every huge squatter I do know has an enormous set of glutes. In addition they swear that the squat gave them their powerhouse. With that in mind, I’m putting this on the list attributable to the anecdotal evidence of testimony from people much stronger than us.

Methods to do the Back Squat:

• Arrange a squat rack with a barbell and cargo it. Stand under the bar and situate it in your traps, placing it lower in your back to hit the glutes higher, because it requires more hip flexion and extension. Grab each side with an overhand grip barely wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Unrack the bar and step back and set your feet shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back to lower your body. Bend on the knees and barely lean forward as you come all the way down to keep the bar dropping in a straight line. Go down until you hit parallel, then power back up.
• Keeping your shoulders pulled back and your core and abs tight is important. Also, all the time keep your knee barely bent to forestall joint issues while you come up.

3 Best Unilateral Exercises for Gluteus Medius & Minimus

Remember, the most effective glute exercises will even be the most effective gluteus maximus exercises, because the gluteus maximus is the biggest and strongest muscle of the three.

Nonetheless, the gluteus medius and minimus could use a bit extra attention as they’ve a novel and vital role; hip abduction and stability. Due to this fact, I would like so as to add these as you will need them to have the most effective glutes possible.

To remain on theme, nonetheless, we would like to coach the glutes as an entire slightly than in isolation, so I’ll also list unilateral exercises. As mentioned above with step-ups, a unilateral exercise demands more activation within the gluteus minimus and gluteus medius attributable to the required extra stabilization.

1) Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift:

Single-leg (unilateral) exercises are significantly higher at hitting the gluteus medius because it’s required for stabilization. Studies have verified this, so you need to all the time have some unilateral training in your system. A review of the most effective gluteus medius exercises found the Romanian deadlift to be in the highest tier for the exercises³.

Due to this fact, combined with its high gluteus maximus activation, that is top-of-the-line glute exercises you’ll be able to do this targets massive muscle gain while giving medius and minimus some extra love.

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts seem easier for most individuals than the one-legged squat, so it’s our first pick.

2) Single Leg Squat:

This one is a bit harder to do than the single-leg Romanian deadlift, nevertheless it’s a implausible glute exercise. For those who’re struggling, you should utilize single-leg squat modifications, which’ve also been tested for gluteus medius and maximus activation.

In reality, the single-leg wall squat will be the most suitable option for maximal medius and minimus activation attributable to its ease. Each modified and wall squats produce similar 65-70% EMG readings⁴.

3) Split Squat:

The split squat can be the last unilateral exercise to coach the glutes while working the medius and minimus a bit harder. Studies show they reach 70-75% EMG. Hold two dumbbells as a substitute of a barbell for a loading apparatus, or use a belt squat setup if available.

The Bulgarian split squat is an alternative choice, especially for more advanced athletes. This version is significantly more difficult as you retain your back leg on an elevated surface, increasing each the soundness and cargo in your working leg.

3 Aspects to Consider With Glute Exercises

Aside from knowing the most effective glute exercises, there are a couple of other aspects to think about along with your glute training. 

1) Include Isolation Exercises:

Glute isolation exercises help to essentially get that mind-muscle connection along with your butt muscles. A few of the most effective isolation exercises to make use of as a glute finisher are:

• Back Extensions
• Standing Cable Hip Abductions
• Standing Cable Hip Extensions
• Quadruped Hip Extensions

I prefer to perform 2-3 sets with high reps (12-15+). You could possibly also run these in a circuit after a lower body routine ends.

2) Use Varied Loads:

Your gluteal muscles are unique and consistently activated under high and low loads. For instance, your glutes are chargeable for walking or just maintaining correct posture, in order that they’re working while you’re not even fascinated by it.

At the identical time, they see periods of high intensity, even on a typical day, during activities like walking up the steps swiftly or jumping forward to catch the door. Compared with all other muscles, no other group of muscles consistently sees this much activation in various ways.

Because of this, you need to use a wide selection of loads with all of your exercises. To be clear, I do not mean to make use of heavy loads along with your big compound exercises and smaller loads with accessory work. I mean use heavy and light-weight loads along with your squats, heavy and light-weight loads along with your hip thrusts, heavy and light-weight loads along with your step-ups, etc.

3) Use a Number of Exercises:

Along with consistently being under different loads, the glutes are also consistently worked with different motions and from different angles. Because of this, I like using quite a lot of exercises.

Your programs should all the time feature a number of the biggest and best butt exercises, resembling squats and hip thrusts. After your prime movement, swap across the accessory exercises inside your program to hit the glutes from all angles. For instance, you may persist with the important articles featured here, but then after 12 weeks, consider adding in Bulgarian split squats to maintain your leg growth going.

Consistency within the important lifts gives you a base for the progression, so I prefer to use those the identical. Then, I’ll vary the opposite exercises, training to a selected RPE or failure inside a given rep range.

FAQs

Listed below are the answers to some ceaselessly asked questions on training those glute muscles.

Is the hip thrust the most effective glute exercise?

If I had to select one, the research and anecdotal evidence says yes. But the most effective glute workout doesn’t feature only one exercise, so your best bet is to hit the glutes often and from quite a lot of angles.

What number of glute exercises should I do per workout?

If it is a lower body day, aim to hit one important glute exercise (squat variation, deadlift variation, hip thrust, step up) plus 3-5 accessory exercises, depending in your training experience and total training time.

What’s the most effective strategy to construct glutes fast?

Skip the ankle weights. Just like every other muscle, your glutes will grow quickest by training with moderate loads for at the least 10 sets per muscle group each week.

What are the most effective glute exercises for men?

Glute growth is not gender-specific. That said, the most effective glute exercises are those you’ll do consistently, so pick a squat, deadlift, hip thrust, or step-up variation and get to work!

What are the most effective glute exercises for ladies?

Same as above: Pick from our top 5 (belt and back squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, and step ups), vary your unilateral options, and train them 10+ times/week, no matter gender.

Best Glute Exercises: Final Takeaways

For those who’ve been following any of the SET FOR SET programs, you most likely have already got great buns as we program all of those exercises into our workout routines.

As you head to the gym able to tackle your glutes, we would like you to do not forget that the most effective glute exercises are generally your big, lower-body compound movements, as you’ll be able to lift a big load that demands muscle growth.

At the identical time, the most effective exercises train hip extension, which is the glutes’ primary movement pattern. For those who have not been doing these, it is time to start out. And if you could have, sustain the nice work.

Here’s to glute growth!