Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Do you know what the largest and strongest muscle in your body is? Drum roll, please: the gluteus maximus!
Because it's your largest muscle, the glutes are involved in almost all compound exercises involving your quads or hamstrings, and the stronger they are, the more powerfully you can perform lower-body lifts.
This applies to athletics too, as your glutes power movements like sprints, jumping, shuffling, acceleration, and deceleration, all while helping you with good posture, staying injury-free, and keeping your lower back healthy.
To summarize, if you want to be powerful and explosive while looking and feeling your best, you need strong glutes, which is why this article focuses on the 8 best gluteus maximus exercises to build muscle and strength.
In addition to the best exercises, we'll discuss great at home glute moves, techniques for maximizing glute activation, some great workouts, and more.
Table of Contents:
- 8 Best Gluteus Maximus Exercises for Mass, Definition & Strength
- 10 Best Gluteus Maximus Exercises At Home
- Glute Max Anatomy & Functions
- Best Glute Workouts (Gym & Home Versions)
- Tips For How To Grow Your Gluteus Maximus
- FAQs
8 Best Gluteus Maximus Exercises for Muscle Growth & Strength
The best way to build the size and strength of your gluteus maximus is with free weights and the right gluteus maximus exercises. And for those of you who like bodyweight moves or work out at home with minimal equipment, keep scrolling, as we also list the 10 best bodyweight exercises for the gluteus maximus.
The 8 best exercises for the gluteus maximus are:
- Back Squat
- Hip Thrust
- Sumo Deadlift
- Stiff-Legged Deadlift
- Weighted Step Ups
- Bulgarian Split Squats
- Single Leg Press
- Kneeling Squats
You can get even more great exercises and workout tips in our article: The Ultimate Guide To How To Grow Glutes.
1. Back Squats:
Back squats are one of the best glute exercises because they place a lot more emphasis on your posterior chain than front squats, which is great for targeting your glutes.
To get even more specific, low bar back squats place the most emphasis on your glutes. A low bar back squat has the bar sitting lower on your back than high bar back squats, as the name suggests.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from low bar back squats:
- Go as deep as you can. It’s better to go with a lighter load if it allows you to get deeper into the squat. By getting deeper into the squat (even lower than parallel), you will be creating much greater stretching tension in your gluteus maximus, which is a very important aspect of building muscle.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top. You want to move through the greatest range of motion possible, so just as you want to go deep, you want to come up and full contract your glutes at the top. To do this, drive your hips forward to a neutral position and squeeze, just be sure not to push your hips past natural as that will put pressure on your low back. This is not a hip thrust kind of squeeze, it is a contraction done like you would if you were just standing normally.
- Use a slow tempo, especially on the eccentric phase. Control the weight load as you go into your squat, moving deliberately slow. Eccentric contraction is considerably more effective for building strength and mass than the concentric phase. So, treat it as such.
If you are having troubles getting good glute activation, which you will surely know the day after your workout as the glutes should be sore, you can try box squats as well. This is a helpful variation for people who are quad dominant.
2. Barbell Hip Thrusts:
The hip thrust is about as glute-centric as a compound movement gets and is probably the best exercise for the gluteus maximus (if I had to pick a favorite). Yes, your hamstrings are powering the movement too, but you can really hone in on your glutes with this one.
If you use an appropriate weight load, it is one of the best gluteus maximus exercises for gaining strength and mass. It's easiest to do with a barbell or smith machine, but dumbbell or weight plates can work well for beginners too.
A cornerstone exercise in the best booty building workout plan, this glute builder allows for incredible contraction tension. In fact, hip thrusts provide significantly greater glute activation through contraction than any other exercise, which makes up for the lack of stretching tension.
We've got some great Barbell Hip Thrust Alternatives as well for those looking for variation!
Tips for getting the most glute activation from hip thrusts:
- You may have to play around with your stance to move the tension more from your hamstrings to your gluteus maximus, but generally speaking a wider stance with your feet rotated slightly outward will place greater emphasis on your glutes.
- Complete full reps by achieving a posterior pelvic tilt and driving your hips forward to the top and up as high as you can (while maintaining a stiff torso).
- Once you reach peak contraction, really squeeze your glutes and hold it for a second or two.
- Drive the force from your heels, not the balls of your feet.
3. Sumo Deadlifts:
While conventional deadlifts are good for your glutes, sumo deadlifts are the best variation to include in your gluteus maximus workouts as they target this muscle group to a greater extent.
This is because your foot placement and hip and knee angle causes a hip external rotation in addition to hip extension, both of which your gluteus maximus act on.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from sumo deadlifts:
- Get your butt down as low as you can while maintain a straight spine. This will require a good understanding of how to perform hip hinges.
- Drive the force from your heels, not your toes, and use your glutes and legs to lift the bar up from the start, not your arms and back.
- Fully contract your glutes at the top once your hips are in a neutral position.
- Move as slowly as you can on the eccentric phase and remember to use a hip hinge to lower it down. If you are dropping the weight down because it is too heavy to bring it down slowly, you are really missing out on glute activation, and you should lower the weight.
4. Stiff-Leg Deadlifts:
A lot of people confuse stiff-legged deadlifts with Romanian deadlifts (RDL), but the two are different. Stiff-legged deadlifts (aka straight leg deadlifts) bring the weight down further, where RDLs bring it down to about shin level. So, with a barbell, you’d be touching the plates to the ground with a stiff-legged deadlift.
While RDLs are also good for your glutes, I chose a stiff-legged deadlift because it has a greater range of motion, and thus you get more of a stretch in your glutes. If you have trouble maintaining good form due to poor hip mobility (inability to do a deep hip hinge) then stick with RDLs until your hip hinge improves.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from stiff-legged deadlifts:
- Begin with each leg straight. Do not bend down at the knees to bring the weight to the floor, but rather perform a deep hip hinge with your knees bent slightly. Your low back should not arch if you have a good hip hinge pattern. The deep hip hinge will allow you to get incredible stretching tension in your glutes.
- As you come up to the starting position, drive your hips forward by squeezing your glutes and once you reach the standing position, really squeeze the heck out of your glutes. A lot of people don’t remember to really squeeze at the top. Also, there is no need to push your hips past neutral to get good gluteus maximus contraction.
5. Weighted Step Ups:
Steps ups are great for your legs and glutes, but they can be turned into one of our favorite gluteus maximus exercises if you use an even high platform to step up on. So, to make this exercise more effective for your glutes, step higher! With the higher step up, you get a greater range of motion for your gluteus max.
Note: You don’t have to start with a very high step up, but try to do higher steps as you progress. Even with a lower step up your glutes will be working.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from weighted step ups:
- Make sure you are pushing yourself up by the heels of your feet, not the balls of your feet.
- Move slowly on both the eccentric and concentric phase so you can focus your mind on your glutes.
- Again, use a higher step up for more glute activation.
6. Bulgarian Split Squats:
Both Bulgarian split squats and standard split squats are great for your glutes and two of our favorite dumbbell glute exercises. However, Bulgarian split squats will help you get greater glute activation because they are harder.
One thing that can make split squats better than Bulgarian split squats is that you can use a heavier weight load. With Bulgarian split squats, you generally won’t go too heavy and you will use dumbbells, but with split squats, you can perform them in a squat rack with a barbell.
You should be able to split squat around 50% or so of your normal back squat working weight, which is usually more than what you will do with a Bulgarian split squat. So, we do recommend that you do both split squats and Bulgarian split squats.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from Bulgarian Split Squats:
- Use a more narrow and slighter wider stance to get more glute activation. The more forward your front foot goes, the more quad focused the exercise becomes.
- A lot of people don’t use a full range of motion with split squats. While pulse like split squats will keep tension on your glutes, using a full range is better overall.
- You can do split squats with a single dumbbell or a kettlebell by holding it at your front near your chest, but it’s better to have two dumbbells held at your sides or a barbell on your back, as this load position is better for your posterior side.
- Keep your back straight, don’t lean forward.
7. Single Leg Press:
Two-leg leg presses won’t give you considerable glute activation unless you go very low, using the fullest range of motion. But, with a single-leg leg press, your glutes will be activated in a significant way due to hip stability, making it one of the top gluteus maximus exercises.
We talk about the importance of foot placement in our article: 7 Leg Press Foot Placements & Muscles Worked.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from single-leg leg presses:
- Place your foot slightly higher than you would with a two-legged leg press. Also, try turning your toes slightly outward.
- Press through the heels of your feet until your leg is nearly straight (knee bent just slightly, don't fully lock out).
- Use higher rep ranges than you would for free weight exercises, 12-15 reps is best.
- Move slowly on the eccentric phase.
8. Kneeling Squats:
The kneeling squat is two-fold in its benefits. First, it is a great way to focus on your glutes. Like hip thrusts, it’s almost what one could consider a glute isolation exercise as it takes the quads out of the squatting equation. Second, it will help you get better glute activation during your back squats as it teaches you how to use your gluteus maximus for hip extension during a regular squat.
This is a great exercise for people who have trouble activating their glutes during squats. After doing this exercise for some time, you will surely get better glute activation when performing back squats.
Tips for getting the most glute activation from kneeling squats:
- Sit back until your butt touches your calves. Then squeeze your glutes to extend your hips forward, driving your body upright.
- Squeeze the heck out of your glutes at the top. There’s no need to push your hips past neutral to get a good squeeze.
- Use a smith machine so you don’t have to worry much about stability and you can really just focus on your glutes.
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10 Best At Home Gluteus Maximus Exercises
If you train at home without weights or you simply prefer to just do bodyweight exercises, you can still train your gluteus maximus effectively. But, you need the right approach when performing at-home gluteus maximus exercises.
Just because you are training with bodyweight exercises doesn’t mean progressive overload gets thrown out of the window. You just have to focus on the methods that apply to bodyweight training, which includes adding more volume to your workouts, increasing time under tension, and decreasing rest time (i.e. use 30 seconds of rest time rather than the standard 60-90 seconds for hypertrophy with free weights).
It should also be noted that just because you don’t have free weights at home doesn’t mean you can't increase the load. Anything can be used to add resistance to your bodyweight. For example, you could fill a backpack up with books, you could hold onto 1 gallon jugs of water, you could grab a rock from your yard, etc. It’s not as easy to gradually increase the weight this way, but if you have a scale, it can be done.
The point is, just because you don’t have conventional free weights doesn’t mean you can’t build a stellar butt or utilize this list of gluteus maximus exercises.
The 10 best bodyweight gluteus maximus exercises are:
- Single Leg Glute Bridge
- Hip Thrusts
- Curtsy Lunge
- Lateral Lunge
- Bodyweight Squats, Jumping Squats & Pulse Squats
- Jumping Lunge
- Kneeling Squat Jump
- Step Up
- Reverse Plank
- Sprints
Remember to focus on full range of motion, creating maximum tension in your gluteus maximus, and performing sets with an adequate amount of time under tension (minimum of 30 seconds but ideally around 45-60 seconds for bodyweight exercises).
1) Single Leg Glute Bridges:
Turning the glute bridge exercise into a single leg glute bridge is a great way to make your glutes work harder. You can make this move even more challenging by lowering all the way down, raising halfway up, lowering down again, and raising all the way back up for every repetition.
2) Hip Thrusts:
This is a great progression to the glute bridge as it increases your range of motion, meaning your glutes need to work even harder.
3) Curtsy Lunges:
You can perform all of your reps on one side for the curtsy lunge, before switching to the opposite leg, or you can alternate legs as you move through this exercise.
4) Lateral Lunges:
Similar to the curtsy lunge, you can perform all reps on one side or alternate sides, completing the designated number of reps. If you have weak glutes, really focus on your mind muscle connection when performing this move.
5) Bodyweight Squats, Jumping Squats & Pulse Squats:
The jump squat is a great plyometric move that will build your gluteus maximus while increasing your overall athletic abilities. If you're a beginner, start with bodyweight squats, working your way up to jumping and pulse squats.
6) Jumping Lunges:
Similar to the jump squat, I am a huge fan of jumping lunges as they work the glutes, increase your athletic ability, improve your jump height, and burn some serious calories. Make this move harder by working to jump higher every rep.
7) Kneeling Squat Jumps:
You don't need a barbell, like what's shown in the picture, as this move is hard enough on its own. And, you can make it even harder by adding a vertical jump to the exercise after jumping from your knees to a low squat. But, if you do have any implements, like a dumbbell or barbell, it's an incredible way to progress this move.
8) Step Ups:
No equipment required for this glute max move. If you don't have a bench to step onto, use a sturdy kitchen chair, or anything else semi-high that you have at your house. An easy way to progress this move, while keeping it bodyweight, is to find higher and higher objects to step onto. Either perform all of the reps with your left leg and then switch to your right, or you can alternate legs.
9) Reverse Plank:
Contract your glutes the entire time you're holding your reverse plank for some serious backside sculpting.
10) Sprints:
Always make sure you warm up the glutes properly before working out, and particularly for high-intensity moves like sprints. If you try to sprint when you're muscles are cold, you're significantly increasing your injury risk.
To make your at home gluteus maximus exercises more challenging, we highly recommend getting one of these 11 Best Resistance Bands. They are inexpensive yet very effective and they can be used in so many ways. You can replicate any exercise you do with barbells or dumbbells, plus you can use them for warming up, stretching, and assistance exercises!
GLUTEUS MAXIMUS ANATOMY & FUNCTION
You have three gluteal muscles, the gluteus maximus muscle, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. Your glute max is the largest and outermost muscle of the three gluteal muscles, making up most of your butts shape and appearance.
Out of the three glute muscles, the gluteus maximus has the most potential to increase in size and strength, considerably. In fact, it’s one of the easiest muscles in your entire body to develop (although genetics do factor into this as well) if you have the right exercises.
The main functions of the gluteus maximus are:
- Stability: The gluteus maximus balances your upper leg bones to allow for an upright posture. It also assists in stabilizing the hips and knees when lifting one leg off the ground, like when you walk or run.
- Hip Extension: The gluteus maximus, along with the hamstrings, is a primary mover during any movement that involves hip extension, which occurs when you walk, run, stand up from a seated position, and climb stairs. All in all, any movement that lengthens or opens the front of your hip is hip extension.
- Hip External Rotation: The gluteus maximus helps to move your leg laterally (outward, away from the body), which is hip external rotation.
- Hip Adduction/Abduction: The upper fibers of your gluteus maximus help abduct the hip (move your legs away from your body) and the lower fibers help to adduct the hip (bring your legs toward your body).
The gluteus maximus plays an important role in core stability, balance, bracing impact, and transferring force from the lower to upper body as well.
LOWER BODY & GLUTEUS MAXIMUS WORKOUTS
There are so many ways to structure a workout, but just to give you an idea of what a good glute-focused workout looks like, here are two routines, one for people who train with free weights and one for people who want to do bodyweight-only exercises.
The gluteus maximus exercises in these workouts ensure you're hitting your gluteus maximus from all angles (remember, it’s a big muscle so one type of exercise is not enough for full development).
Before you start any workout, be sure to do a dynamic warm-up that focuses on glute activation exercises (we'll talk about glute activation more after the workouts).
Gluteus Maximus Workout with Weights
There are two weighted sessions listed below. For optimal glute growth, research shows that training your muscles twice weekly is best for muscle hypertrophy1. Use one of these workouts earlier in the week and the other later on in the week (allowing 1-3 days of recovery in between them).
Session A:
- Back Squats: 4 sets x 6-12 reps
- Stiff Leg Deadlifts: 4 sets x 6-12 reps
- Split Squats: 3 sets x 8-12 reps/side
- Step Ups: 3 sets x 10 reps
- Reverse Plank: 3 sets x 30-60 second holds
Session B:
- Sumo Deadlift: 3 set x 6-12 reps
- Hip Thrusts: 3 sets x 6-12 reps
- Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets x 6-12 reps/side
- Kneeling Squats: 3 sets x 10-12 reps
- Planks: 3 sets x 30-60 second holds
Rest 30-90 seconds between sets and exercises.
Lower Body Bodyweight Glute Workout:
For this routine, you'll start with a superset, move to a single exercise, jump to another superset, and end with a descending ladder. I focused on supersets in this program because they allow you to maximize time under tension, increase the intensity, and bring your muscles to full exhaustion while using bodyweight.
Descending Ladder Explanation: Perform kneeling squat jumps for 10 reps, then hip thrusts for 1 rep, then kneeling squat jumps for 9 reps, then hip thrusts for 2 reps, and continue like this, only resting when needed, until you finish with kneeling squat jumps for 1 rep and hip thrusts for 10 reps.
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Superset 1 (rest 45-seconds between supersets):
- Jumping Squats: 3 sets x 12 reps
- Glute Bridge: 3 sets x 30 seconds - Jumping Lunges: 3 sets x 30 reps (rest 30 seconds between sets)
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Superset 2 (rest 45 seconds between supersets):
- Curtsy Lunge: 3 sets x 10 reps/side
- High Step Ups: 3 sets x 10 reps/side -
Descending Ladder (no rest):
- Kneeling Squat Jumps x 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
- Hip Thrusts x 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, 10
After every workout, take 5-10 minutes to stretch. In those 5-10 minutes, aim to do a couple of stretches that target the glutes. Here are some more of the best glute stretches for before and after glute training!
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TIPS FOR HOW TO GROW GLUTEUS MAXIMUS
Make the most out of your glute workouts and exercises by applying the best strategies for growth.
To grow your gluteus maximus, 4 key tips to follow are:
- Perform the right muscle-building and strengthening gluteus maximus exercises and make sure you have good glute activation.
- Have the correct rep scheme, weight load, and time under tension when performing gluteus exercises. In other words, you must overload your gluteus maximus enough to stress it more than it's used to.
- Employ the progressive overload principle when doing gluteus maximus exercises so that you can continually overload your gluteus maximus as time goes on.
- Eat right, sleep right, and stay consistent.
Let’s run through each of these glute training tips.
1) Gluteus Maximus Exercises & Glute Activation:
Performing lower body exercises like squats, hip thrusts, and deadlifts is key if you want to build your gluteus max. And to get the most out of your glute workout, you must ensure your glutes are properly activated by starting your routine with a glute-focused warm-up. Squat pulses and frog pumps are great warm-up ideas.
Be slow and controlled and really hone in on your glutes when warming up.
You can also do simple things like squeeze your glutes in a standing position for 10 seconds, then release. Keep doing this for sets of 10-20 seconds. Do it in-between sets of your glute activation exercises and your main workout.
When you are performing gluteus maximus exercises like squats or hip thrusts during your main workout, get better glute activation by slowing things down. Use a slow tempo and a lighter weight, concentrating on your glutes. Squeeze your gluteus maximus at peak contraction and feel the stretch by working in a full range of motion (if you are unable to use a full range of motion on any given exercise, you may need to work on your mobility or consider an alternative).
2) Variety & Training Variables:
In regards to gluteus maximus exercises, it’s important that you have a good variety and you employ different training variables. Your gluteus maximus is a big muscle, so it needs to be hit from different angles to work it in its entirety.
To hit it from different angles, you need to do a variety of exercises, i.e. squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, cable pull throughs, lunges, leg presses, and so on. Each of these movements works the gluteus maximus differently and together will be the variety you need to work all of its muscle fibers.
Gluteus maximus training variables include load placement, body positioning, hand position, rep schemes, weight load, and volume. Load placement has to do with where the load is placed in relation to your body. For example, a front squat, back squat, and zercher squat are all barbell squats but they have different load placement.
Body positioning has to do with your stance. For example, a split stance, staggered stance, and bilateral stance are different body positioning. Thus, staggered stance squats, split squats, Bulgarian split squats (back leg up on a bench), wide stance, toes pointed outward, and regular bi-lateral squats are all examples of the body positioning variable.
Hand positioning is how you grip the weight, for example an underhand grip, overhand grip, neutral grip, as well as grip width. This training variable is more applicable for upper body movements, but there are ways to play around with it for lower body movements too.
By altering training variables like load placement and body positioning, or adding a level of instability to your lifts, you can overload your muscles and stress them in different ways.
3) Reps/Time Under Tension, Sets, & Volume During A Workout For Gluteus Maximus:
The glutes respond best to performing gluteus maximus exercises within a rep range of 6-12 reps and with heavy resistance, relative to your strength level, which should be about 70-80% of your 1RM.
Don’t rush through the reps. You’ll see the best growth with time under tension being anywhere from 20-60%. For strength, it is considerably lower, with about 4-20 seconds of time under tension using a load of 80-90% of your 1RM.
The goal for each workout should be to hit your glutes for at least 10-12 sets, so that can be 2 big lifts done for 5 sets each or 3-4 exercises done for 3-4 sets.
If you want to see the greatest possible gains in your gluteus maximus, you should aim to work them twice a week, spread out evenly through the week. Studies show that targeting muscle groups twice a week is significantly better for hypertrophy.
With that, you’d get a total of 20-24 sets per week for your glutes, with 6-12 reps of each gluteus maximus exercise for each set. That’s a considerable amount of volume, and volume is what it takes to build muscle.
If you are doing gluteus max exercises without weights, slow down the tempo and increase the reps. 15-20 reps using a slow tempo or 10-15 reps explosively would be ideal.
Note: The 6-12 rep range with weights has a considerable crossover between strength and hypertrophy, so you will see improvements on both fronts. Ideally, you could increase the weight load each set (after warming up to the working weight) and build both hypertrophy and strength during your workouts. We recommend doing this for the big compound exercises like squats, hip thrusts and deadlifts (and the variations), and for more isolated exercises, work in a higher rep range of 10-12 (and even as many as 15 reps), really focusing on time under tension.
4) Progressive Overload:
Building your dream glutes is not going to happen overnight. It’s a long process that involves consistency. But it’s not just about staying consistent, you have to also continually progress.
Your muscles are incredible at adapting to the stress you place on them. The process of muscle adaption happens quickly. To continue placing enough stress on them so that they have to keep adapting, you need to use the progressive overload principle.
The progressive overload principle involves various techniques to ensure your muscles are getting enough stress as you gradually get stronger and bigger. Methods include increasing the weight load, increasing reps, increasing the overall volume of your workout, increasing intensity, decreasing rest time, and doing exercises that are more difficult.
All in all, it’s very important that you use progressive overload in your training if you want to see considerable results, especially if you are not a beginner to fitness. Focus on one or two methods for 4-12 weeks. The improvements should be gradual, although some weeks may be better or worse than others.
After a training cycle, take a rest period of a week or so, then start a new plan, focusing on a new set of progressive overload methods. By taking a rest period every cycle, you will ensure that you are not overtraining and you can avoid plateaus.
5) Eat Right & Sleep Right:
It should go without saying that if you want to build your glutes, you need to eat for muscle growth and sleep right. Without enough protein and sleep, you will never grow your gluteus maximus no matter how effective your workouts are.
GLUTEUS MAXIMUS WORKOUT FAQs
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about gluteus maximus exercises and workouts.
What exercises target the gluteus maximus best?
The best gluteus maximus exercises are ones that bring the muscle through a wide range of motion to maximize stretching tension and/or contraction. If we had to choose the top 3 gluteus maximus exercises, they would be low bar back squats, hip thrusts, and step-ups. And, make sure you emphasize a strong mind-muscle connection when doing them.
Can you isolate the gluteus maximus with gluteus maximus exercises?
You can’t 100% isolate the gluteus maximus because the muscle feeds into the hamstrings. That said, certain exercises do well to really hone in on just the gluteus maximus, and there are ways to make big compound lifts more glute-focused by altering load placement, body positioning, range of motion, and tempo.
How to make my butt tighter and toner?
Follow the recommendations and exercises we just discussed. The stronger and healthier your butt muscles are, the more of a fat-burning machine your body will become. The only extra thing to note about specifically losing fat is to up the reps and decrease the rest time. This will ensure you are burning a lot of calories each workout. Also, do more cardio.
How often should I train my glutes?
You should do gluteus maximus exercises at least once a week, but ideally, you should hit them twice a week if you want to see quicker results. Studies show that working out muscle groups twice a week is significantly more effective for hypertrophy.
Can I train glutes everyday?
If you are doing a full body plan where you do one or two gluteus maximus exercises per workout, you are in great shape, and basically in maintenance mode, it is ok to train your glutes every day, as you are not going to be overloading them to the point where they need time to recover. If you're trying to lose weight, following a full-body routine is a great idea, but you should still take 1-3 days off from training per week to avoid overtraining and fatigue.
But if you are looking to make gains, you need to overload your gluteus maximus each workout. By doing that, you need to give it time to rest just like you would any other muscle group. If you are doing a workout split, then you should be able to do enough exercises in one workout to overload your glutes.
This will require a period of recovery, which can take anywhere from 2-5 days. We recommend upper lower splits and push pull leg splits for those who want to focus on building their glutes. This will allow you to train your glutes every 2, 3, or 4 days. With this kind of plan, you can streamline hypertrophy.
Will 100 squats a day do anything?
100 bodyweight squats a day will do something for you when first starting out, but remember, your muscles adapt quickly. So if you plan to continue doing just 100 squats a day, you need to progressive overload with decreasing rest time and increasing intensity (i.e. using a slower tempo).
Now, if you are talking about barbell squats, then 100 squats a day is a recipe for disaster. 100 squats a workout, twice a week is a good amount of volume and you can improve by increasing weight, decreasing rest time, altering reps per set, and so on, but doing this every day is too much. It would be way too taxing on your body and would likely cause knee pain.
How to reduce the size of my gluteus maximus?
First, is the size of your glute max too big or is it the fat surrounding it? If it’s fat, then you need to focus on burning more calories during your workout by decreasing rest time and increasing volume. Also, mix in cardio and hiit with your gluteus maximus exercises.
If it’s the actual size of the muscle, and you want to make it smaller (and assumably tighter), then you need to adjust your diet by eating at a deficit. As for your training, use lighter weights and higher reps when doing an exercise for gluteus maximus, targeting the muscle once a week rather than twice a week. And, do a lot of cardio.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SEE RESULTS WHEN BUILDING THE GLUTEUS MAXIMUS?
Beginners will see changes to the size and shape of their butt quickly. Newbie gains are rapid because the body is hyperresponsive to the stimulus provided by strength training. So, if you are just starting out with gluteus maximus exercises or just getting back into fitness, you should see significant results in a matter of 3 months.
Unfortunately, after your newbie gains, it will take a lot more work and time to see improvements. But if you employ progressive overload correctly, you can continue to make progress in the development of your gluteus maximus. If you stick with training for 3 years, we guarantee you can achieve a strong, powerful, and muscular butt.
Exercises For Gluteus Maximus: Final Takeaways
You've now got the best gluteus maximus exercises, workouts, and training tips to build some serious backside muscles. Don't neglect your gluteus medius exercises and gluteus minimus either, because if you want a good butt, you need to train all your gluteal muscles, with the gluteus maximus, of course, taking precedence.
And remember, for best results, it also takes a strong mind-muscle connection and an emphasis on progressive overload. Train hard, focus on glute max exercises, eat well, and take time for your muscles to recover.
Follow all of this, and all that'll be left to do is watch those glutes grow!
Looking for a great glute routine packed with awesome gluteus maximus exercises that you can perform anytime, anywhere? Check out the Best Glutes Workouts At Home! And for more great gluteus muscles training tips, head to our Ultimate Guide To How To Grow Glutes.
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
- Bartolomei S, Nigro F, Malagoli Lanzoni I, Masina F, Di Michele R, Hoffman JR. A Comparison Between Total Body and Split Routine Resistance Training Programs in Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2020. doi:https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000003573
Garett Reid
Author