If you’ve been around The Relatable Red for any period of time, you’ll know I have been working on growing my glutes for awhile. My jeans have never fit well and truthfully, I just prefer larger/stronger glutes when it comes to my personal physique. I have been strength training consistently for 2 years. However, it wasn’t until this most recent year that I felt like I have really honed in on specific exercises and “tricks” to make noticeable progress in growing my glutes.
I attribute my progress to my personal trainer, Tyler Fox, of AlphaFoxFitness and the glute guy himself, Bret Contreras. I have extremely stubborn glutes. *Rolls eyes.* And while I have seen more progress than ever before, I still have tons of room for growth. Like many others, I always thought the only way to grow your glutes was to squat. But in reality, squatting is probably one of the least effective lower body exercises to target your glute muscles. For people like me who are extremely quad dominant, my glutes never even “felt” the exercise. I wanted to share the things that changed the game for my booty progress, in case you are struggling like I was!
Related post: Workout Plan Review: AlphaFoxFitness
Why should you work on growing your glutes?
Aside from aesthetics or the way your jeans may fit, having strong glute muscles can benefit your overall athletic performance and lower body strength. Not to mention, having weaker or under active glutes can lead to low back and knee pain. Like any type of exercise, you never want to ignore any specific muscle group, booty included.
After a year of strength training, I had leaned out and my quads had grown but not my glutes.
My 6 Tips for Growing Your Booty
1. Glute focused warm-up
Wake up those muscles and get them primed to be worked. Just like you’d stretch or do some cardio, your glutes need some extra attention if you want them to get fired up for your workout. My personal trainer added in this Bret Contreras glute warmup before all of my leg/glute workouts. It takes me 10 minutes or less and it has made a world of difference in making really “feel” it during my following glute focused exercises. Also, if you don’t have access to a gym (i.e if you’re at a hotel) you can do repeat this warmup a couple times for a little booty burn circuit.
2. Resistance band
Even with a glute focused warm up and glute dominant lower body days, adding in a resistance band really made a difference for me. I use my resistance band during the entire warmup listed above as well as in almost all of my leg/glute exercises. The constant tension forces you to push against the band and target the glutes over other leg muscles. For example, I feel banded bodyweight squats only in my glutes, whereas in the past, any form of squat would be taken over by my quads.
I use a resistance band by Katy Kearn. I chose it because it is one size fits all, one level of resistance, and I like to support an influencer that I enjoy following. The exact one I have is no longer sold on their website but it appears the new ones are the same. The elastic in mine is stretched and the rubber logo has popped off. So although it doesn’t appear like it has held up well, it still works the same. I would like to buy a glute loop through Bret Contreras but they’re in all different sizes and resistances and I have yet to decide which one would be best for me.
3. Hip Thrusts & Glute Bridges
Incorporating either or both of these exercises into your lower body days will allow you to perform a compound movement (works multiple muscles at once) with a glute focus. The general rule is that glute bridges use less of your quads. However, I prefer hip thrusts as I feel like I can really get the correct form more consistently. My biggest tip for hip thrusts is make sure you are keeping your face forward and not moving your upper body too much. Also, I have had more success with using slightly lower benches if they’re available. Some people have more success with a narrower stance, some prefer slightly wider. Play around with your foot position, bench height, etc to see what works best for you!
Other exercises:
I am a huge proponent of split squats, deadlifts, and single leg body weight hip thrusts as well. But hip thrusts and/or glute bridges are in every one of my lower body workouts because they are so effective for growing your glutes.
If barbells are not available to you or you do not yet feel comfortable using them, check out this blog post “Dumbbell Only Leg Exercises” for tips and a video on performing a dumbbell hip thrust instead!
4. Booty burn out finisher
Two of my three lower body days end in a glute burn out. These usually include some kind of high rep, banded bodyweight exercise. This adds more volume to your glute workouts without adding in anymore heavy weights/lifts.
Glute finishers can be 1-2 of the following exercises tacked on the end of your workout:
- Frog pumps
- Feet elevated glute bridges
- Glute focused back extensions
- Single leg glute bridges
- Reverse hypers
Posts you may like: Cable Only Leg Exercises ; Upper Body Exercises For Beginners
5. Stick with a program
And more specifically, picking a program personalized to your goals. I reached out to my personal trainer and explained that after a year of lifting, I still hadn’t seen the glute progress I had hoped for while my quads were continuing to grow. He customized a very glute dominant program for me that minimized quad focused exercises and overloaded glutes. That plan included 3 lower body days, 2 glute focused leg days and one entirely glute day.
Once you have chosen a program, even if its not quite as glute focused as mine was, stick to it for at least 8 weeks. This particular program was for 12 weeks but I continued it for months after. Program hopping and going in and doing random booty workouts every day will not optimize your gains. Let me also say, you do not need to pay a trainer for a program. Do I love having a personal trainer? ABSOLUTELY. But, you can create your own “plan” with free resources online and stick with it to see results.
6. Patience
My last two programs have been heavily glute focused and I have done them consistently over the course of a year. I am proud of my progress but there is still so much to be made. Be patient. If you’re new to lifting, you may be able to add on muscle rather quickly but eventually that will slow down. Don’t get discouraged, just be patient and consistent. And consider that genetics play a role in muscle gains too. You may be able to make quicker glute gains where I am able to make quicker upper body gains.
Bonus: Caloric surplus
Caloric surplus means eating more calories than you burn. This also means actively trying to gain weight. That weight will contain muscle and fat. This tip is a bonus because I do not believe “bulking” phases are for everyone. Many of us will have a hard time mentally putting on weight. We are so often “trained” to want to be smaller and thinner our whole lives.
My first glute focused program was in a caloric surplus. This means that I was able to add on muscle quicker and more efficiently because you must eat to grow. It was a hard adjustment and even after months, I still didn’t want to see the scale go up, despite that being the goal. You can eat at maintenance calories, meaning not losing or gaining weight, and work on growing your glutes. It just takes a little longer. Speak to a personal trainer and decide what is best for you and your goals.
If you want to grow your glutes and you’re not instituting these tips, I cannot recommend them enough. Booty gains was the goal, but the strength gains I’ve acquired for glute and leg workouts has made me feel way more accomplished than my pants fitting better. And please remember, it’s always great to have a goal but never forget to love yourself the way you are right now. Having a big butt won’t make your life any better sis.
-The Relatable Red
2 Comments
Md Abusufian Badsha
wow, just a very informative post. Thanks for sharing this post. Just Highly recommend it.
admin
Thanks for reading!