Booty. Ass. Buttocks. Cake. Okay, enough of the cheeky banter, and let’s get straight to the underside of this text. In the case of sculpting a rounder, firmer, and overall greater derrière, there’s really no shortage of workout routines promising insane results.
The most important thing to deal with when attempting to work your butt is to deal with the right exercises that deliver the most important impact. As someone who is part of the large butt club, I’ll show you the three glute exercises I do (spoiler: Step-Ups, Deadlifts, and Hip Thrusts) and potentially aid you to realize your goals efficiently and effectively.
Table of Contents
- The Three Best Glute Exercises
- Why Should You Construct Larger & Stronger Glutes?
- Muscle Anatomy of the Glutes
The Three Best Glute Exercises
1. Step-Ups
Now, it’s possible you’ll be shocked to see step-ups within the primary spot, as a substitute of the often lauded squats, but hear me out. Not only is the range of motion on a step-up higher than plenty of people can perform on a standard squat, step-ups actually activate the glutes significantly greater than most exercises. Just try the chart below from a study published in 2020.¹
Just from a straightforward glance, you’ll be able to see step-ups have a muscle activation than all the opposite lower body exercises performed.
Why To Do It:
As if that chart above wasn’t reason enough, unlike other exercises, even those on this list, you do not need any fancy equipment to perform this movement, only a sturdy raised surface. Step-ups may be performed almost anywhere, making these a flexible solution to get booty work in without having to tug yourself to the gym.
Do not get me fallacious, as a trainer, I absolutely love squats and think they must be a component of most individuals’s training regimens. But on the subject of targeting the glutes, these are king. I teach my clients to get probably the most activation out of their glutes by having them deal with engaging them first before even starting the movement.
Those with knee problems may find that this method of pushing together with your glutes slightly than your quads can take some strain off of your knees.
How To Do It
- Start by facing a raised surface, like a weight bench, chair, or plyo box.
- Next, stand together with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart or barely wider.
- Put one foot onto the bench and have interaction your glutes.
- Push through your heel to bring your body right into a standing position on top of the bench.
- In a controlled manner lower yourself back all the way down to the ground.
- Repeat for as many reps as desired and switch to the opposite leg.
Trainer Tip: Get comfortable with the movement before excited about adding weight. You may be surprised how difficult it might probably be to balance while performing this exercise, especially on a weight bench that has some give to it. When you’re comfortable with the motion, experiment with tempo, think explosive speed or a really slow, controlled pace. You may be surprised how difficult pacing could make this exercise. Shoot for no less than 10 reps per leg for 3 sets.
Variations:
Dumbbell Step-Ups: This alternative requires you to grab a pair of dumbbells to extend the issue.
Crossover Step-Ups: Be forewarned, these are absolutely brutal. As an alternative of facing the bench, stand next to it. Use your outside foot to…wait for it… in front of your other foot onto the bench. Push off the leg on the bench to bring yourself to standing on the bench. Lower yourself all the way down to the opposite side of the bench, still on one foot. Reset to each feet on the ground, and down the identical motion for the opposite side. When you get good at these, do not be afraid to grab a set of sunshine dumbbells to jack up the intensity.
Identical to the crossover step-ups, you may be standing next to the bench slightly than facing it. Lift your inside leg onto the bench, push yourself to standing, than lower yourself down. These are principally the identical motion as an everyday step-up, just rotated 90º.
2. Deadlift
Now it was a decent race whether I desired to put the deadlift or Romanian deadlift (RDL) here as they each are hinge movements that primarily goal the hamstrings and glutes while also engaging the lower back, quads, and core muscles. Ultimately, I went with deadlifts since the research is clear on the subject of which certainly one of these exercises reigns supreme.²
I did find it interesting though, after I gave a poll to my clients, the bulk said that Romanian Deadlifts targeted their glutes probably the most.
Why To Do It:
Deadlifts have a somewhat intimidating repute because they’re a staple of a powerlifter’s routine, and it isn’t unusual to see the human equivalent of a water buffalo lifting the burden of a small automobile on a deadlift platform. While this may be off-putting to someone that just desires to put a little bit junk of their trunk, it’s well value giving this exercise a shot.
Not only will it aid you fill out your jeans, deadlifts will help construct up core strength in addition to several other advantages covered in our article on Deadlift Advantages.
How To Do It:
- Stand together with your feet shoulder-width apart behind a barbell.
- Position your hands on the bar just outside of your legs, some people wish to use a mixed grip, with their hands facing opposite ways. I prefer to make use of an overhand or hook grip.
- Brace your core, keep your chest up, and sink your hips all the way down to almost a squat position.
- Keeping the bar near your legs, squeeze your glutes, start pushing your hips forward.
- Keep your back straight because the bar starts rising, aiming on your back and knees to be coming to a standing position at the identical time.
- Hold the highest position for a second, then lower the burden to the ground in a controlled manner.
Trainer Tip: Start with a lighter weight, and really deal with using your glutes to drive the movement. When you’re comfortable with the movement, then you definitely can start adding some weight. To make that booty grow, you are gonna need to be within the 8-10 rep range (lower reps will help make you stronger, but hypertrophy is what we’re aiming for). Because it is a compound exercise, you need to be doing this toward the beginning of your workout.
Variations:
Romanian Deadlifts: It is a implausible variation I do every other leg workout. To do it properly, keep your knees barely bent, the bar tight to your legs, and really squeeze your glutes at the underside of the movement the get probably the most out of it.
Sumo Deadlifts: With the identical idea because the deadlift, the Sumo deadlift involves spreading your feet out right into a wider stance, so your arms are grabbing the bar inside your legs. Once you begin sinking into the stance, you may understand why these are an amazing alternate so as to add to your lower body workouts.
Banded Romanian deadlifts: A fan favorite amongst my clients, add a resistance band around your hips or under your feet to extend tension throughout the movement, especially at the highest, where the glutes will probably be probably the most activated.
3. Hip Thrusters
On Instagram and TikTok, you will note mostly women performing this move, but don’t let that deter you, gentleman. Hip thrusters are probably the greatest ways to isolate and strengthen the posterior chain, especially the gluteus maximus, medius, and hamstrings. Going back to , hip thrusts had the second highest muscle activation, which implies they must be a mainstay in everyone’s butt workouts.
Why To Do It:
In the event you struggle with lower back pain but still need to lift heavy weights, then hip thrusters are a superb exercise for you! Hip thrusters are great at isolating the glutes by placing them in a very good position for optimum muscle activation while also reducing the strain on the lower back muscles.
Lifting the hips against resistance effectively stimulates muscle growth and strength development within the glutes, leading to raised shape and definition.
How To Do It:
- Start by sitting on the bottom together with your upper back against a bench and a barbell positioned across your hips.
- Roll the barbell towards your body to rest just above your hip bones. I like to recommend using a pad on the bar to maintain your hips from being bruised by weight.
- Plant your feet flat on the bottom, shoulder-width apart, and brace your core.
- Drive through your heels, lifting your hips towards the ceiling while squeezing your glutes at the highest of the movement.
- Slowly lower your hips back down under control, maintaining tension on the glutes throughout the movement.
Trainer Tip: I’ll occasionally start out my leg days with three or 4 heavy sets of 6 reps to hit my glutes while they’re fresh. But what I actually like doing is throwing these in at the tip of my leg days, to completely burn out my glutes. I’ll often go for higher reps, around 20, for 3 sets.
Variations:
Single-leg hip thrusters: In the event you’re in search of a fun challenge and wish to work your oblique more, do hip thrusters with one leg elevated. Give attention to driving through the heel of the working leg to have interaction the glutes unilaterally.
Weighted hip thrusters: As an alternative of using a barbell like most individuals do, you can too use a dumbbell, kettlebell, or a weight plate across your hips to extend resistance and challenge the glutes in a rather different way.
Band-resisted hip thrusters: Loop a resistance band around your hips and anchor it to a sturdy object in front of you so as to add extra resistance throughout the movement, particularly at the highest where the glutes are fully contracted.
Why Should You Construct Larger & Stronger Glutes?
Besides the plain advantages of getting a fuller, rounder set of buns, there are several other great reasons to prioritize glute development in your fitness routine:
Improved athletic performance: I do not find out about you guys, but I actually have been really entering into pickleball these days, and I’ve noticed that working on my glutes has played an enormous part in my explosive power. It is because strong glutes play a significant role in athletic movements akin to running, jumping, and lifting by enhancing power, speed, and agility.
Reduced risk of injury: Those of you who think that having good glutes is pointless probably do not understand that having weak glutes can contribute to imbalances and force other muscles to try to compensate in movement patterns, which increases the danger of injuries akin to lower back pain, knee pain, and hip issues.
Enhanced functional strength: Strong glutes are essential for on a regular basis activities like walking, climbing stairs, and lifting objects, improving overall functional capability and quality of life.
Muscle Anatomy of the Glutes
While it might not seem essential, understanding the glutes’ anatomy can provide invaluable insight into their function and one of the best ways to coach them optimally. The gluteal muscles consist of three most important components:
Gluteus maximus: The largest and strongest muscle within the gluteal group. It’s liable for hip extension and supports the prolonged knee through the iliotibial tract and rotation. Mainly, it helps you skip, run, walk, and jump. Additionally it is the muscle that makes up the majority of the shape and shape of the butt and hip area.
Gluteus medius: That is an interesting muscle since it is shaped like a hand fan. It’s situated on the outer surface of the pelvis; this muscle supports hip abduction and stabilization of the pelvis during movement.
Gluteus minimus: Situated beneath the gluteus medius and the smallest of the three muscles, this fan-shaped muscle also aids in hip abduction and stabilization, especially in weight-bearing activities.
Outro
Despite what you see throughout social media, constructing a much bigger, more muscular butt doesn’t require a sophisticated array of exercises and equipment. Understanding just the glutes for hours at a time is not even essential.
As an alternative, by specializing in the three powerhouse moves outlined in this text—step-ups, deadlifts, and hip thrusters—you’ll be able to efficiently and effectively sculpt the ass cheeks of your dreams. So, prioritizing glute development can yield impressive results in case you aim to reinforce your physique, improve athletic performance, or just look caked up when out in public.
Now that you simply’re in your solution to beefing up your backside, it might be time to take into consideration adding some muscle to the remaining of your body, and the right solution to try this is the SFS Hypertrophy Program.
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