Top 11 Exercises for Strong Glutes

It’s no secret that strong glutes are on trend for both men and women. We tend to focus on the aesthetic appeal of a shapely posterior, and we often forget that strong glutes serve an important function. Glute muscles—predominantly the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus—help support the pelvis in our daily activities, such as walking and standing, and improve our posture and alignment. On top of the three main actions of the glutes are to pull the leg back in running and sprinting (hip extension), rotate the legs (external rotation) and work laterally when we move from side to side (hip abduction). All these actions are big patterns that we use to be more athletic and powerful.

In other words, good-looking glutes should really be the side benefit of having a strong core and pelvis (lumbar-pelvic-hip complex) that supports your body and prevents future injuries and creates a foundation to become stronger, faster and my dynamic. Fortunately, there are plenty of exercises that you can do to maximize your glute strength.

To get the most out of your workout, it’s important to incorporate a variety of exercises that work the three main hip actions mentioned above (hip extension, abduction and external rotation). There are essentially four primary types of exercises you should be doing to ensure a well balanced program.

1. Bridges
2. Abductions
3. Hinges
4. Squats/lunges

Bridge Exercises

#1: Glute Bridge

Equipment: Exercise mat, can be progressed to a barbell

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee extension

Method: Lie down in a supine position with your knees bent and your feet about hip-width apart facing forward. Bring your feet close to your hips so that your knees are stacked over your heels and your calves are perpendicular to the floor. It helps to have your arms stretched out on the mat on either side of your torso.

Next, squeeze your glute muscles and lift up from your hips, making sure not to sag or arch your lower back. When you reach the top, don’t allow your knees to touch. Hold this position for one count then lower down to the floor until your hips are just hovering above the mat. Repeat.

Check out this glute bridge exercise video for more help or to progress try a barbell glute bridge.

#2: Single Leg Hip Thrust

Equipment: Bench or elevated platform and exercise mat

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee extension, stabilising rotation                                                     

Method: Sit on the floor with your straight back pressed against the bench then lean back until your shoulder blades are flat against the mat. Make sure your neck, spine, lower back and hips are in a flat, neutral position and that your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle and hip-width apart. Your neck should be slightly elevated and facing forward. Next, lift your left leg up at a 45-degree angle and hold your shin for support then lower down while hinging at the hip, making sure to keep your upper body straight. Lift back up at the 90-degree position and repeat and switch legs.

Here’s a helpful video for a one-legged hip thrust.

#3: Barbell Hip Thrust

Equipment: Bench, barbell, mat (optional)

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee extension

Method: Get into the same starting position as the single-leg hip thrust, ensuring your shoulder blades are resting on the bench and your back is straight. Keep your gaze forward, and place a padded barbell across your hips. With a hinging motion, press up until your legs are at a 90-degree angle, and when you get to the top of press, tuck your tailbone in. Lower with a hinging motion, and repeat.

Here’s a video on how to do a weighted hip thrust.

Abduction Focussed Movements

#4: Sumo Deadlift

Equipment:  Barbell & bumper plates

Targeted movement : Hip extension, hip abduction, knee extension

Method: Set up a barbell with the large bumper plates, note the large plates create ground clearance but if you are learning the lift you dont want heavy plates, so a 5 or 10kg bumper plate is ideal. Deadlifts are very technical so are a few videos to help you, sumo deadlifts & deadlift masterclass 

#5: Seated Hip Abduction 

Equipment: Exercise band or gym equipment (hip abduction machine)

Target movement: Hip abduction

Method: Sit at the edge of your bench or chair. Wrap a band around your knees and push your knees out with your glute muscles. Bring your knees back to the original position and repeat.

Here is a video of band hip abductions

Note: mini bands have grown in popularity recently, don’t get too focussed on these smaller movements. They burn because it’s a tiny movement. Bigger movements with greater ranges of motion and more load place create more mechanical load on the muscles and that’s much more important than localised burning. 

Hinges 

#6: Deadlift (top down)

Equipment: Barbell and bumper plates

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee flexion

Method: I’m choosing the top down variation of the deadlift (over the conventional deadlift) because the bar does not touch the floor so the load stays more focussed on the muscles. This will of course make the exercise harder and will not be loaded as heavy. What is useful is to use wrist straps to manage more load.  Check out this video to see how to perform the lift, top down deadlift.

#7: Back Extension

Equipment: Back extension machine

Targeted movement : Hip extension

Method: For a more glute-focused exercise, round out your upper back to deactivate the lower back muscles. Fold your arms into your chest and lower your torso from your hip crease. Raise your torso back up, making sure to keep your upper back rounded.

Watch this back extension machine video for more details.

#8: RDL’s

Equipment: Barbell

Targeted movement : Hip extension

Method: For a tall surface like a countertop, keep your legs straight. Lie face down on the countertop with your hips on the edge of the surface. To target your glute muscles, lift your legs from a narrow position and widen them as you lift, holding the countertop for stability.

Here are two of my favourite RDL variations, single leg rdl and the american rdl

Squats/Lunges

#9: Split Squat

Equipment: Elevated platform, dumbbells

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee extension, ankle plantar flexion

Method: With legs hip-width apart and feet facing forward, step your front foot on top of the bench. Holding the dumbbells on either side of you, tilt your torso slightly forward and using your front leg, bend your knees, ensuring your front heel stays down. Push back up with your front leg and repeat. Switch sides.

For more help, check out this video about the front-foot elevated split squat video.

#10: Reverse Lunge

Equipment: Dumbbells (optional)

Targeted movement : Hip extension, knee extension, ankle plantar flexion

Method: Start by standing with feet hip-width apart and upper body engaged. With your right foot, step back onto the ball of your foot keeping your heel off the ground. Bend your knees and sink down to a 90-degree angle with your hands on your hips and your tailbone tucked in. Return to your neutral position by pushing back up with your left heel. Repeat and switch sides.

Watch this video to find out how to do a proper weighted reverse lunge.

Note: I have not put the barbell squat in here, it’s a good exercise, but in my opinion it’s overused in training so I wanted to highlight alternatives.

Hip Rotation

#11: Stork Stance Rotations

Equipment: None required

Targeted movement : External rotation

Method: Balance is always a challenge on this exercise so it is worth holding onto a wall or bench to stay balanced. Hinge over as shown in the RDL videos and hold your trunk position parallel to the ground. Stabilise and then rotate away from the stance leg.

Watch this video to find out how to do with correct form stork stance rotations

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