Glutes seem to be a big topic in fitness. Although glutes have been coined as “cosmetic”, training them has many benefits, such as improving posture and performance. Most might not know, but the glutes are the biggest muscle in the body!
If that sounds like you, performing compound glute, multi-joint exercises that include the gluteus maximus is most beneficial and optimal for building glute strength and size. In this article, we will discuss a series of compound exercises and how often to train them.
The 12 best glute compound exercises are:
- Back Squat
- Deadlift
- Leg Press
- Bulgarian Split Squat
- Lunges
- Step Ups
- Curtsey Squat
- Barbell Romanian Deadlifts – RDLs
- Cable Pull Throughs
- Barbell Hip Thrusts
- Frog Kicks
- Sled Push
In this article, I’ll review the functions of the gluteal muscles and discuss what makes a good compound glute exercise. I’ll also show you how to perform each compound glute exercise and offer programming recommendations, so you know how to fit them into your routine.
Table of Contents
What Makes A Compound Glute Exercise?
Before we discuss compound exercises for the glutes, it’s important to understand the functions of the various glute muscles.
The glutes consist of the following three muscles:
- The gluteus maximus
- The gluteus medius
- The gluteus minimus
Gluteus Maximus
The gluteus maximus is the largest glute muscle of the three. In fact, it’s the largest muscle in the human body! Its main function is hip extension, but it also supports the pelvis and plays a role in the external rotation of the upper leg.
Gluteus Medius
The gluteus medius is placed outside the pelvis and works in conjunction with the gluteus maximus. With supporting extension and external rotation of the upper leg, it also helps with internal rotation of the upper leg as well.
For athletes looking to enhance their lateral movement, the gluteus medius exercises we've compiled can provide significant benefits.
Gluteus Minimus
The gluteus minimus is the smallest of the three gluteal muscles. It is located beneath the gluteus medius and works to internally rotate the upper leg.
Want to really work your glutes? You can check out the many glute isolation exercises in my other article.
How To Choose Glute Compound Exercises
When choosing a compound glute exercise or compound “booty” exercises, as some call them, it is important to consider a few variables that pertain to your needs within muscular fitness. The three variables that could affect how you choose a glute compound movement are:
- Are you wanting to build size?
- Are you wanting to build strength?
- Do you have knee pain?
Building Size
Choosing compound glute exercises focusing on the hips' complete extension is important if you want to build size. Take, for example, the back squat. The back squat puts the most resistance on the glutes at the bottom of the exercise. Although the squat can grow your glutes, a movement like the barbell hip thrust puts resistance on the glutes the whole movement throughout every rep. So to build size, it’s important to pick compound glute movements that would put more resistance on the hip from start to finish.
Building Strength
If you want to build strength, it’s important to find compound exercises for your legs and glutes. Although this article is focused on compound glute workouts, the minute we begin to focus on exercises that build both leg and glute muscles puts us in a position to improve strength by increasing the amount of muscle mass required.
Earlier, we mentioned the barbell hip thrust as a great exercise for building size. However, using a compound movement like the back squat that works both the glutes and legs means we have more muscle mass to produce more force for bigger gains in strength.
Knee Pain
Knee pain is one of the most common issues with lower body compound movements. We tend to be a front-dominant species, so we favor all the muscles on the front of our body.
If you want to avoid knee pain with compound lifts for the glutes, you need to find exercises that eliminate any “forward” lean that could cause more tension in the knee joint.
A movement like the back squat or lunge could cause the knee to have more tension, but if you were to choose a leg press and place your feet upward on the footboard, this could help put more resistance on your hip joint instead of your knee joint.
Want to strengthen your glutes but struggle with back pain? Here are 8 Back-Friendly Glute Exercises to consider.
12 Best Compound Glute Exercises: Ranked
Based on my 14 years of training clients, I feel these are the best compound exercises for the glutes and their ranking on glute activation. It’s hard to solidify this list. However, the benefits column helps to justify each rank for all 12 compound exercises.
We have also curated a list of the most effective gym machines for glutes, helping you make informed decisions for your workout routine.
Rank | Exercise | Benefits |
1. | Step Up |
|
2. | Barbell Hip Thrusts |
|
3. | Back Squat |
|
4. | Leg Press |
|
5. | Deadlift |
| Barbell Romanian Deadlifts – RDLs |
|
7. | Cable Pull Through |
|
8. | Bulgarian Split Squat |
|
9. | Frog Kicks |
|
10. | Lunges |
|
11. | Curtsey Squat |
|
12. | Sled Push |
|
1. Step Ups
Step Ups are one of the compound movements. Glutes are used predominantly used at the beginning of the movement. The step-up is an exercise that I think could be highly beneficial for gaining size and strength in the glute muscles.
When looking at the performance of a step-up, movement must begin at the bottom position where the hip is fully bent and resting. This would mean the hip joint must be strong and resilient to perform the step-up. And if my calculations are correct, a stronger hip joint would consist of an even bigger hip muscle.
How To Do
- It’s important to ensure and provide the right height of resistance for this exercise to be successful. A higher box is necessary if you want to perform a longer range of motion. I would suggest a box that puts the working leg high enough that the hip joint and knee joint are both at 90 degrees, respectively. If you are looking to load more resistance on this lift and improve strength, it might be necessary to pick a box shorter than this, to allow less range of motion to accommodate a heavier external load.
- Once the height of the box has been decided, make sure to use the working leg to step onto the box.
- When beginning to stand on the box, make sure the whole foot is planted on the box and do not drop the hips to “gain momentum” to get onto the box.
- As you move from the bottom position to stand on the box, ensure you have a tall torso to keep more resistance on the hip joint. Do not lean forward, as this will put more emphasis on the knee joint instead.
- Once you have stood onto the box, keep that working leg planted on the box and bring the trail leg down first.
- My suggestion is to keep the working leg on the box for consecutive reps and to not alternate at any point during the working set.
- Continue to step off the box and onto the box for however many reps are prescribed.
- To work the glute muscles the most, keep the working leg planted on the box throughout the working set. Do not step off the box, as stepping off the box works the hip flexors, and we want to keep the hips in a fatiguing position the whole time.
Learn how the step up compares to the squat by reading this article – Step Ups vs Squats: Differences, Pros, Cons
Benefits
- This movement requires you to have stronger glutes to start the lift from the bottom position. A stronger glute would imply a bigger glute muscle.
- The step-up can be performed in many different ways. There are many variations to support the lifter by either making the movement easier or harder depending on their ability and goals.
- Since this movement is loading a single leg, it can also help improve injury prevention as well.
Cons
- Depending on body weight, this exercise could be easier or harder. As mentioned before, altering the height of the box and providing a variation of this lift could be helpful. But some populations might not benefit from an exercise like this.
- Because this lift starts at the bottom of the movement, you must have strong hip muscles to start each rep. If you are a beginner or perhaps have a specific injury, this movement might not be the best at meeting your needs.
How To Program
For strength, it’s recommended to do 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps per leg. If you want to build size, you should perform as much as 2-3 sets of 10 reps or more per leg.
Since body weight can affect performance, using an external resistance load could benefit some populations. Using a barbell would make sense for the strength population as this variation would reflect better on a barbell squat. Carrying dumbbells might help keep posture better for those who want to improve strength or size.
If you struggle to do this movement, you can also use an external source of balance to help you pull yourself up and provide balance on the way down to continue to promote this movement in programming.
2. Barbell Hip Thrusts
The barbell hip thrust is my number 1 exercise for growing glute muscle mass! The barbell hip thrusts provide tension at the full extension of the hips, which will grow your glute muscles the most. They are great for improving the hip hinge for performance movements and growing the hip muscles for your traditional strength movements.
How To Do
- Setting up the barbell hip thrust is the toughest part of the lift. Some lifters set up the hip thrust elevated on blocks or right off the floor.
- Sit on the floor and have a bench or supportive device behind you to place your shoulders on.
- Roll the barbell over your thighs into the crease of your hip joint.
- Lift your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. For this movement to be successful, you must properly place your feet for ideal hip thrusting mechanics.
- Place the heel of your foot underneath your knee. This helps to hip thrust upward and create a 90-degree angle between your lower leg and the ground.
- Once your feet and the barbell are secure, thrust your hips upward, holding the weight in your hands and with your shoulders secure on the surface behind you.
- Extend the bar until level with the floor and achieve full hip extension.
- Continue to perform reps without touching the floor to help keep tension throughout the lift
Benefits
- Doing the barbell hip thrust provides horizontal resistance, meaning the glutes will benefit the most from this variation.
- This is one of the few movements provided on the list that provides resistance at the top of the lift for the glutes to benefit the most.
- This lift can help improve the hinging motion of the hips for performance-based movements such as a power clean and hang clean, while it also helps improve the strength of the hips to perform traditional strength movements like the squat and deadlift.
Cons
- The barbell hip thrusts could be uncomfortable for lifters to perform. Some lifters use a lifting pad to perform this lift.
- This lift needs to be done with proper setup. If you aren’t centered with the bar, this could cause the weight to shift and not be done properly.
How To Program
This movement can be used for strength and size. For strength, it can be done within 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps. You can also do the reps resting so that every rep is done from a dead position, which would benefit your deadlifting mechanics.
If you want to build size, it can be done within 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps. I would recommend that with building size, do not rest the weight and keep tension throughout each rep.
3. Back Squats
Back squats are one of the best exercises you can do to work a large number of lower body muscles. They primarily work the quads with some assistance from the hamstrings, inner thighs, core, and lower back. But the glutes are primarily responsible for bringing the hips into full extension at the top of the squat.
How To
- Adjust a squat rack, so the barbell is about even with your armpits.
- Load the bar with your desired amount of weight.
- Grip the bar with your hands outside your shoulders, squeeze your shoulder blades, and get under the bar with your feet hip-width apart.
- Place the bar on your traps (for a high bar squat) or between the top of your rear delts and traps (for a low bar squat).
- Stand to unrack the bar and take 2-3 steps back.
- Adjust your feet until they’re in your ideal squat stance width.
- Brace your core, then bend your hips and knees simultaneously, pushing your knees out as you descend.
- Squat down until your hip crease is below your knees.
- Push through the floor to stand back up.
If you struggle to activate your glutes while squatting, check out my other article: Can't Feel glutes While Squatting? Check Out These 9 Tips.
Benefits
- Because squats recruit so many different muscle groups, you can move a much higher amount of weight than you would be able to use in an isolation exercise like a leg extension.
- Squats are a functional movement that can make daily activities such as getting up from a chair easier. Strengthening your lower body with squats also makes things like running, walking, and going up and down stairs easier.
- The lower body strength and power that you can build with squats has a lot of carryover to sports like basketball, football, soccer, track and field, and volleyball.
Cons
- Squats require a lot of hip and ankle mobility, which many people don’t naturally have. In order to squat well, you’ll need to do ankle and hip mobility drills regularly.
- Squats can be difficult for tall lifters or lifters with long femurs because you have a greater distance to travel and do more work with each rep.
How To Program
Squats are often programmed as the main movement of your lower body workout, and there are several different ways you can program them. Below is a chart to show how programming would blend based on your goals.
In this article, we won’t create programming charts for each exercise; only the more dominating movements will require this level of explanation.
| Goals | Sets | Reps | Intensity |
| Strength and Power | 2-3 sets | 1-5 reps | 80-95% based on volume, RPE8-10 |
| Size | 3-5 sets | 6-10 reps | 65-75% based on volume, RPE7-10 |
Percentages are ranged based on the volume and pacing of your training. You shouldn’t max effort each week, but rather every 3 to 4 weeks and slowly build up each session. RPE is a scale used to describe “intensity” based on your feedback on performance. RPE is a great option for those who are more “in-tune” with their performance.
If RPE and percentages are too challenging, another option is RIR which is “reps in reserve,” allowing you to justify the intensity of workouts based on how many “potential’ reps you have left.
If you’re confused about the differences between RPE and RIR training, check out RPE vs RIR: What Are The Differences? How To Use Them?
4. Leg Press
While the leg press is commonly seen as a quadricep dominant exercise, you can target your glutes by placing your feet higher on the footboard. This helps by keeping a bend in the hip joint so you have more leverage on glute muscles and prevents your knees from moving too far forward, which would put a major emphasis on the quadriceps.
How To Do
- Step into the leg press machine and lay down on the backrest.
- Keeping your feet shoulder-width apart, place them at the top of the footboard so your toes are close to the edge.
- Disengage the safety mechanisms.
- Push the platform away from you until your legs are straight but not completely locked out.
- Slowly bend your knees until the platform has returned to the starting position.
- After you’ve completed all of your reps, re-engage the safety locks and step out of the machine.
Pros
- You can train your lower body without overloading your spine, which makes the leg press a suitable exercise for people who can’t squat due to lower back issues.
- The action of pressing against the footboard can help enforce the deadlift cue of pushing the floor away with your feet.
- Many lifters can use more weight on the leg press than they can use for the squat.
Cons
- They require a leg press machine, which you may not have access to if you train at home, at a CrossFit gym, or go to a very small gym with limited equipment.
- Aside from the quadricep and glutes, they don’t target as many other lower body muscle groups as the machine is fixated and doesn’t require stabilization.
How To Program
Leg press is a bit more flexible of an exercise to program based on goals. If you are a strength-based athlete, perhaps you use it in addition to or in replacement of the back squat (especially in the case of an injury). If you are building size, you can use the leg press for multiple reps as a secondary movement to help perform a leg-building exercise without having to stabilize weight on the spine.
For strength athletes, perhaps 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps, while those who are building size can use this for 3-5 sets of 10 or even 20 reps.
For more tips on how to work your glutes more in the leg press, check out How to Leg Press Using Your Glutes (6 Tips).
5. Deadlifts
Just like the squat, the deadlift is a compound movement that helps to grow multiple muscle groups, including the glute muscles. The biggest question is with the deadlift, should you choose conventional or sumo? If you’re looking for the answer, it could very well be, “why not BOTH?”.
Based on programming needs, it could be wise to use both versions of this lift throughout the week.
How To Do
- Place a barbell on the floor and load it with your desired weight.
- Set your feet so that your shins are close enough to the barbell so you aren’t lifting a load away from your center of gravity.
- With your arms hanging straight down, grab the bar with a double overhand grip or a mixed grip with your dominant hand in an overhand position and your non-dominant hand in an underhand position.
- Brace your core, take the slack out of the bar, and think about pushing the floor away with your feet as you lift the bar off the ground.
- Once the bar is above your knees, begin to push your hips forward. Avoid overextending your back at the top.
- Bring the bar back down to the floor in a controlled manner and make sure it comes to a complete stop before moving into your next rep.
Benefits
- Although it could be viewed as a “squatting” motion, the deadlift is performed from a quarter of the distance and also displaces weight in front of your body. Because this weight is in front of your body, that means you are engaging your lower back, hips, and hamstrings more than a squat. This is perfect, as these muscles are the stabilizing muscles mentioned earlier in the squat.
- Since you are not performing a range of motion similar to the squat, people can typically load more on the deadlift and be able to challenge their anatomy even more.
- Changing your stance between conventional and sumo offers various benefits to help engage your glutes more or less, especially based on your body type. Having this option can improve the outcome of your programming and not put you in a position to fail
Cons
- Since the deadlift is displaced in front of you, you are using more of your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings, which might seem beneficial. Still, you could overwhelm the athlete if they are not prepared to work these muscles.
- As mentioned with the squat, the deadlift only challenges the glutes at the bottom of the lift and not towards lockout. Make sure when selecting exercises to find other complimentary movements that help challenge the glutes at the top end of the movement.
- Performing a sumo deadlift is much more technically challenging than a conventional deadlift. Some believe the sumo deadlift is much more glute dominant, and if this is the case for your anatomy, the sumo will be tough to perfect compared to a normal deadlift.
- The barbell on deadlift could be so close to your lower leg you could get bruises or cuts from the barbell. This could very well be a big deciding factor for choosing this movement as a part of your programming as a compound glute exercise.
Check out my other tips for preventing bruising on the shins in the deadlift in How To Fix Bruising Shins During Deadlifts (Technique Tips).
How To Program
Programming deadlifts will follow similar guidelines to the squat. I would recommend, however, that when performing squats and deadlifts in the same workout, to make sure one lift is more intense than the other. So if you squat heavy one day, make sure deadlifts are lighter and have more volume to focus on technique instead of overloading your workout with two heavy dominant compound exercises.
| Goals | Sets | Reps | Intensity |
| Strength and Power | 2-3 sets | 1-5 reps | 80-95% based on volume, RPE8-10 |
| Size | 3-5 sets | 6-10 reps | 65-75% based on volume, RPE7-10 |
Also, it was mentioned earlier that choosing sumo or conventional deadlift could depend on your anatomy. Choosing between sumo and conventional deadlifts is based on your limb proportions, muscular strengths and weaknesses, and hip structure.
Find out which is better for you in Conventional vs Sumo Deadlift: Which One Should You Do?
6. Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
Barbell Romanian deadlifts are another exercise that I do frequently in my training. Like good mornings, they are a good movement for practicing the hip hinge. They not only strengthen the glutes but also strengthen the hamstrings, lower back, and core.
How To Do
- Load a barbell on the floor with your desired weight.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and the bar over midfoot.
- Grip the bar with a double overhand grip, mixed grip, or hook grip.
- Deadlift the bar up to your hips.
- Keeping the bar close to your body, your knees relatively straight, and your back flat, push your hips backward and lower the weight.
- Stop before the weight touches the floor.
- Use your glutes to extend your hips as you pull the weight back up and return to a standing position. Avoid overextending your back at the top.
Benefits
- Doing Romanian deadlifts regularly can help prevent injuries to the lower back, hips, and hamstrings.
- In addition to having carryover to squats and deadlifts for powerlifters, Romanian deadlifts can also help Olympic weightlifters build pulling strength for cleans and snatches. Weightlifters can make them even more specific to the snatch by doing snatch grip Romanian deadlifts.
- If you don’t have access to a barbell and plates, you can do Romanian deadlifts with dumbbells or kettlebells. This makes them a great option for people with small home gyms with limited equipment or if you’re traveling and working out in a hotel gym.
Cons
- Good mornings can be challenging on your grip. You can use lifting straps so you can do more reps without your grip failing, but I’d recommend using them only if you absolutely need to.
Check out my recommendations for the best lifting straps on the market.
How To Program
Romanian deadlifts are commonly used as an accessory movement, but you can also use them to replace traditional deadlifts if you’re a powerlifter who’s not preparing for a competition or you just want a break from regular deadlifts.
I recommend doing 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps depending on whether you’re training for strength or hypertrophy. It’s best to start with a weight that’s 30-40% of your deadlift 1RM and work your way up from there.
7. Cable Pull Throughs
Cable pull throughs are similar to the Romanian deadlifts but provide more tension at the end of the lift with the hips fully extended. Providing tension at the full extension of these hips is what will grow your glute muscles the most. They are a good movement for practicing the hip hinge and help to grow the hamstrings and especially the glutes.
How To Do
- Set the cable pulley to just below hip height. This pulley height helps to provide horizontal resistance to the hip joint at the end of the movement.
- Use a rope attachment for this movement to help grip and lift dynamics.
- Stand facing away from the cable pulley, grab the rope underneath your legs with a neutral grip, and start to walk away from the pulley.
- As you walk away from the pulley, you will put tension into your hands to begin the movement.
- After taking a few steps, stand tall, and once you feel secure, start bending the hips and performing the hinge position.
- While hinging with the hip joint, allow the cable and rope attachment in your hands to pull from underneath your hips to behind your hips. This step requires you to stretch backward with your grip so that the cable pulls toward the pulley.
- After getting a big hinge and letting the cable pull towards the pulley, pause and then start to hinge back into a standing position while pulling the cable forward.
- Pull the cable forward enough so that when standing, the cable returns to the starting position, and you are ready for the next rep.
- At the end of every rep, pull the hips forward from the hinging position and squeeze the glutes to help fatigue the hip muscles even more.
- Repeat this hinging motion for the reps and sets provided.
Benefits
- Doing the cable pull through has all the same benefits as the Romanian deadlift.
- The fact the cable pull through provides horizontal resistance means the glutes are going to benefit the most from this variation.
- This is one of the few movements provided on the list that provides resistance at the top of the lift for the glutes to benefit the most.
Cons
- The cable pull through can be tricky and sometimes confusing to some athletes.
- It requires balance and stability, as well as coordination.
- If you do not have the resources to perform this movement, it's hard to replicate it anywhere else unless you have a resistance band to anchor horizontally.
How To Program
I recommend the cable pull through for mostly building size and complimenting your strength. Because it requires a ton of balance and stability, I do not recommend doing this for heavy weight and as a strength movement.
I recommend using 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps or perhaps changing the tempo so that you work more “time under tension.” This tempo would be perhaps using 5-6 seconds on the downward phase to exaggerate the fatigue of the hamstring and glutes.
8. Bulgarian Split Squats
Bulgarian split squats are an exercise that many lifters (including myself) love to hate. They’re a highly effective single-leg quad exercise that also involves the hamstrings, but you can target your glutes by bringing your working leg further out in front of you.
How To Do
- Find a bench or low box that’s about knee height and stand in front of it.
- Place one foot on the surface behind you, resting your ankle along the edge.
- Take a large step forward with the front foot.
- Bend both of your knees at the same time, keeping your torso as vertical as possible, until your back knee is touching or close to touching the floor.
- Drive through your entire front foot to stand back up.
- Complete all reps on one side, then switch legs and repeat.
Benefits
- They can be used to train the glutes, quads, and other lower body muscles without loading the spine. If an injury or other limitation is preventing you from doing barbell squats, you can still make strength and hypertrophy gains with Bulgarian split squats.
- Because you’re only working one leg at a time, they can be used to address strength or physique imbalances between your right and left legs.
Cons
- You have to balance on one leg for a long time, which can be tough for people who don’t have the coordination to do so.
- They can cause a lot of lower body fatigue and affect your movements later in your workout or on the following day.
How To Program
If you’re using Bulgarian split squats as a lower body accessory movement, you can do 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps per leg using a weight that allows you to leave 2-3 reps in the tank at the end.
If you’re using them for strength to replace traditional squats, you can do 5 sets of 5 or 3-4 sets of 6 reps per leg using a weight that allows you to leave 1-2 reps in the tank after each set.
If you want to make Bulgarian split squats easier or more difficult, check out my article 9 Bulgarian Split Squat Progressions (From Basic To Advanced).
9. Frog Kicks
Frog kicks are a unique movement with the lifter facing downward on a bench and performing extension of the knee and hip joint behind them. This lift's level of coordination and strength could make it tough for some populations to do. If it’s possible to perform them, they are an insanely isolated compound movement to improve your glute strength and size.
How To Do
- Start off by grabbing a bench and placing it in front of a smith machine.
- Lay face down on the bench and put the crease of your hip joint at the end of the bench near the smith machine.
- Place the arch of your feet where the bar is, and make sure your lower leg is vertical and 90 degrees compared to the ground at the beginning of the lift.
- Once you are set up, lift the bar on the smith machine by kicking your legs behind you and extending both your hip and knee joints.
- Lift as high as you can, then bring the bar back down and repeat this motion for the prescribed reps.
Benefits
- If able to perform this movement, you are focusing on the hip joint to perform the movement.
- This type of extension generates the most resistance due to the glute muscles and at times, hamstrings as well.
Cons
- This movement has a setup that requires you to have massive core strength to maintain movement with the knee and hip joints.
- This movement requires specific machinery that might not be easy to access.
How To Program
I recommend this movement to build size and complement your strength. Because it requires a ton of balance, stability, and core strength, I do not recommend doing this for heavy weight and as a strength movement.
I recommend using 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps or perhaps changing the tempo so that you work more “time under tension.” This tempo would be perhaps using 5-6 seconds on the downward phase to exaggerate the fatigue of the hamstring and glutes.
10. Lunges
Lunges seem to be one of the mainstream staples of any leg program. The nice thing about the lunge is that it happens to be more of a “natural” movement that does not require an extensive setup, just the use of body weight or perhaps a couple of forms of external resistance such as a dumbbell or barbell. Exercises don’t have to always be complicated!
How To Do
- While doing this exercise, keep the torso tall and do not lean forward.
- Start off by taking a bigger step than you normally would.
- During this step, start dropping your hips downward. As you drop your hips while stepping forward, this will place your hips in the proper position for the lunge.
- To know if this step was successful, the front lower leg must hit 90 degrees in relation to the ground.
- With the front lower leg at 90 degrees, the movement doesn’t emphasize the knee and hip joints.
- After dropping the hips and meeting these standards, ensure that this movement ends before the trailing leg touches the ground.
- From the bottom of this movement, bring the hips upward, and while doing so, allow your body to move forward to bring your body back to standing.
- At the top of the lift, alternate working legs and repeat this process until reps have been met for the working set.
Benefits
- This movement is physically similar to the motion of running or jogging, meaning it can transfer to all the same muscles used for performance training.
- The lunge can be used to address strength or physique imbalances between your right and left legs.
- This single-leg movement can also help improve injury prevention as well.
Cons
- Depending on body weight, this exercise could be easier or harder. If you have a bigger anatomy and can’t support body weight, it’s possible to eliminate lunges from your routine and to try other single-leg supported movements.
- While balancing on one leg, the non-working leg has to have good mobility and flexibility to maintain the split stance through each rep.
How To Program
For strength, it’s recommended to do 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps per leg. If you want to build size, you should perform as much as 2-3 sets of 10 reps or more per leg.
Since body weight can affect performance, using an external resistance load could benefit some populations. Using a barbell would make sense for the strength population as this variation would reflect better on a barbell squat.
Carrying dumbbells might help keep posture better for those who want to improve strength or size. Even wearing a vest could be a reasonable source of resistance as this weight is dispersed evenly throughout the upper body.
Can’t Feel Your Glutes In Lunges? Try These 6 Tips for better glute activation!
11. The Curtsey Squat
The curtsey squat is an exercise I learned during my internship as a collegiate strength coach. When first seeing this movement, I didn’t believe it would be promoted in a sports performance facility.
Still, the reasoning had to do with its ability to promote a single-leg variation of a standing squat. When explaining the curtsey squat, you will notice how resistance requires the upper leg to tilt diagonally inside, which seems like it would affect the abductors and adductors of the lower body. It’s not an exercise built for everyone.
However, the amount of lateral resistance applied could help train the glutes from different positions and planes of movement.
How To Do
- The curtsey squat can seem difficult. However, it is just like an “in-place lunge,” except the legs cross during the setup, so it puts more lateral resistance on the working hip joint during movement.
- To start, ensure the working leg is in front of your body. It must be just about a foot ahead of the body, so nothing drastic.
- Take the non-working leg behind and around it. You want to take that non-working leg and place it outside and behind the working leg’s hip joint. This causes both legs to cross, making both legs diagonal and creating an “x” pattern with the lower body.
- Take the nonworking leg and plant the balls of the feet on the ground for balance.
- Drop your hips and squat with the leading leg.
- Continue to perform the squatting motion, up and down, until reps have been completed.
Benefits
- This movement gives lateral resistance to the hip joint to work the glute in a different plane of movement.
- Since this movement is loading a single leg, it can also help improve injury prevention as well.
Cons
- Set up for this exercise can seem difficult, and the movement setup can also put lateral resistance on the glute muscle, which could be tougher for some populations.
- This lift requires balance and stability, which could also cause issues for people who lack those characteristics with lifting.
How To Program
As stated with all the other single leg movements, it’s recommended to do 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps per leg for strength. If you want to build size, you should perform as much as 2-3 sets of 10 reps or more per leg.
If you struggle with balance and stability, it's not a bad idea to use external resistance to help counterbalance the movement. Holding a dumbbell in front of you like a “goblet” would help to improve balance and stability if needed to perform this exercise.
12. Sled Push
The sled push might not be viewed as a glute builder. Still, if you are wanting a movement that is resistance based could help improve the characteristics of traditional sports. This movement would be a great compound glute exercise for specificity.
How To Do
- Start by picking a sled that allows you to have a higher handle or two vertical poles for grip.
- The higher you are placed on the sled, the more you can be glute focused. Being too low would put the knees at a disadvantage and put more emphasis on the quadriceps and hamstrings.
- Once you are set up, push the sled a specific distance based on goals. Perhaps push the sled a shorter distance for short bursts and explosive needs and a longer distance to work endurance and improve the glute muscles.
- Every step you take, make sure to plant your feet into the ground using the balls of your feet and not perform the movement flat-footed.
- Another part of this movement is making sure to use shoes with grip, and if on grass or turf, do the movement with cleats that allow grip into the ground.
Benefits
- This movement has a ton of specificity to help those needing to improve glute strength for their sport.
- Transfers more to characteristics of traditional sports that require running or sprinting.
Cons
- There is only a limited number of people who would benefit from this.
- The access to this equipment and how to program it would only benefit specific populations.
How To Program
With how dynamic this movement is, I wouldn’t say it’s built for size or strength but more so for speed. It could be performed to “fatigue” the anatomy to help with components of hypertrophy, but that would be better suited using other movements on this list. I bring this movement up as a unique way to build not just glute strength and size but speed and execution of glute-dominant movements as well.
How Often Should You Train With Glute Exercises?
Ideally, you should train your glutes 2 times a week. You may be able to train your glutes 3 times a week, but for many of us who are planning to utilize compound movements such as squats and deadlifts, a recovery time of 48 to 72 hours is needed.
Other Glute Training Resources
- Don’t Feel Your Glutes Hip Thrusting? Try These 9 Tips
- How To Leg Press Using Your Glutes (6 Tips)
- 3 Cable Glute Workouts For Mass (Complete Guide)
- Can’t Feel Your Glutes While Squatting? Try These 9 Tips
- Blood Flow Restriction Training for Glutes (Complete Guide)
About The Author
Amandais a writer and editor in the fitness and nutrition industries. Growing up in a family that loved sports, she learned the importance of staying active from a young age. She started CrossFit in 2015, which led to her interest in powerlifting and weightlifting. She's passionate about helping women overcome their fear of lifting weights and teaching them how to fuel their bodies properly. When she's not training in her garage gym or working, you can find her drinking coffee, walking her dog, or indulging in one too many pieces of chocolate.
