Struggling to grow your glutes and don’t know where to start? These tips show you How To Grow Glutes At Home, and break down exactly what to focus on, from training basics to what actually drives growth, because building stronger glutes and truly growing them aren’t always the same thing.
"Oh my gosh, thank you! Even just after three weeks, my glutes are more shapely and rounded. I realized that I wasn't fully engaging them in each movement, and your picture showing what to do vs what not to do made all the difference. I can now focus on activating them during hinges and band-work." -Michelle
Like any other fitness goal, growing the glutes takes consistency, patience, and a plan of action.
I can tell you that just stumbling into the gym to do some donkey kicks won’t do the trick.
But before you begin to implement the steps, you need to know what muscles the “glutes” really are. The gluteal muscles consist of:
- The gluteus maximus (the largest part of your bum)
- The gluteus minimus (on your outer hip)
- Gluteus medius (just above the hip and over top of the minimus)
Though you can target one of the other slightly (check out these gluteus maximus exercises), they all work together to bring you movements like:
- Hip extension (think glute bridges or a barbell hip thrust)
- Hip abduction (taking your leg away from your body to the side)
- Hip external rotation (turning your leg outwards)
How To Grow Your Glutes
Growing your glutes can be broken down into 6 steps:
- Glute exercise selection
- Activating the glutes
- Variety of repetitions
- Weights versus cardio
- Eat for gains
- Progress, progress, progress
Each step is an important key in growing the glutes.
Step 1: Glute Exercise Selection
While smaller moves like abductions and kickbacks help round out your glutes, your main focus should be the bigger lifts.
Your glutes respond best to variety, so include a mix of compound exercises that target the glute max and accessory work for the glute medius and minimus.
The top glute exercises to include are:
- Hip thrusts
- Glute bridges
- Deficit lunges
- Bulgarian split squat
- Extended range abductions (extended range means performed on a bench so you get a bigger drop)
- Sumo walks
- Resistance band kickbacks
- Reverse hyperextensions
Build your workouts around hip thrusts (check out tips for the best hip thrust), bridges, lunges, and split squats, then layer in the rest as accessory work.
Hot tip: Hip thrusts and glute bridges have tons of variations, so don’t be afraid to mix things up, like with these glute bridge variations).
Step 2: How To Activate The Glutes
Before you can really gain muscle mass on your glutes you need to know how to engage them properly (as well as how to strengthen weak glutes).
The fun thing about glutes is that, when activated, they actually change shape! You can both feel and see the contraction.
To activate your glutes:
- Come into the starting position for a glute bridge: lay on the floor with the knees bent and feet hip-width or slightly more apart and close to the bum.
- Relax, inhale, and squeeze your glutes as you lift your hips opening up the hip flexors. This is called hip extension. You should feel the engagement.
- Place your hands on your buttocks and you should physically feel and see the contraction. The glutes should feel tight. Keep your hands there and release your hips back down towards the floor. The glutes will feel relaxed and squishy.
Learn more about how to engage glutes in greater detail.
Step 3: Variety Of Repetitions
The glute muscles actually respond really well to variety in repetitions (this is why glute finishers are so amazing).
This means that for some of your bigger glute exercises (like hip thrusts that target the gluteus Maximus primarily) you can aim for lower repetitions like 5-8 reps. But for exercises like abductions, kickbacks, and hyperextensions, strive for higher reps. Think 15 to 30 repetitions.
Much of your repetition choice will revolve around the load (weight) you choose. The lighter the load the higher the reps.
You want a good variety of lower reps for tension and higher reps for metabolic stress (feeling that BURN!).
Step 4: Weights Over Cardio
For maximum glute gains you’re going to need to add some tension!
If you’re not into loading up a barbell for barbell hip thrusts, definitely invest in some dumbbells and resistance bands (and check out these glute exercises with dumbbells at home).
The glute muscles respond best to weight training (which means rest days too). Overdoing it on the cardio front will actually stall your muscle growth.
Aim to have a few of your bigger exercises, like the hip thrusts, bridges, and lunges at heavier weights.
And remember it’s all relative. What’s heavy for me may not be heavy for you. Even on low reps, you want that last repetition to be hard.
Not into dumbbells? Resistance bands are a good way to get started with resistance training and glute training.
Step 5: Eat To Gain
The number one mistake people make when trying to grow their glutes is that they eat too little! Your muscles need fuel to grow. They need building blocks.
If you want a shapely peach, you can’t be living off 1200kcals a day. Especially if you’re lifting weights.
If your glute growth has stalled, check your calorie intake.
Step 6: Progress, Progress, Progress
To see continuous results you need to keep stimulating the muscles! This means that you always want to be challenging them (this glute HIIT workout or a glute hypertrophy workout is a great start!).
You can learn more about how to increase the intensity of your glute exercises without adding weights.
This can be done by loading up more, adding pauses, changing reps etc. But know that every few weeks you want to make your workouts challenging in a new way.
Need more guidance? Check out the Glute Training E-book. A no-nonsense home workout plan to help moms build stronger, perkier glutes, reduce pain, and feel amazing in just a few minutes each day.
More Resources For Training Your Glutes
How to Grow Glutes FAQs
Growing your glutes is different for everyone and requires consistent effort. If you stay dedicated to your plan, your glutes will become stronger in six weeks, start changing shape in ten weeks, and keep growing from there. Optimal glute growth can take anywhere from eight months to sixteen months of solid effort.
Growing glutes is a combination of a strategic training program with the best glute exercises, making sure to train the glutes through a variety of repetitions and loads, and eating enough food to stimulate growth.
It could be a combination of things but the number one mistake females make when growing their glutes is that they’re not eating enough. That and that they focus too much on the gluteus Maximus and not enough on the other glutes. Likewise, to build glutes you need to us a progressive overload approach to your glute training.
Jhicel says
Finally, a clear guide for growing glutes at home! I'm working at home and sitting at a desk all day has left my glutes neglected. Started doing these steps every 4 hours, and it's making a difference!
fitasamamabear says
Way to go stepping up your glute game!
Michelle says
Oh my gosh, thank you! Even just after three weeks my glutes are more shapely and rounded. I realized that I wasn't fully engaging them in each movement, and your picture showing what to do vs what not to do made all the difference. I can now focus on activating them during hinges and band-work.
I purchased your ebook and I'm really excited to get started!!! I'll check back in after the 4 weeks 🙂
fitasamamabear says
Super happy that you're seeing growth!! Engagement is key! reach out if you have questions.