The Best Glute Workout Routine: Everything You Need To Know

In this article I’m going to provide you with a complete guide to the best glute workout routine.

I’ll discuss the best exercises to grow and tone your glutes, how to perform those exercises along with common form mistakes to beware of, how to set up your workout program, and much more.

Look, I get it.

Every time you go on social media you’re inundated with tons of booty workouts from every fitness influencer under the sun.

And you’re wondering what actually works and what just looks cool on Instagram.

All while trying to figure out how to set up your workouts when it comes to exercises, sets, reps, how often to train your glutes, etc.

Not to mention how to approach your nutrition to get the best results.

It can be overwhelming.

That’s exactly why I created this guide for you.

By the end of this article, you’re going to know not only what to do, but also how to actually implement everything into your own routine.

You ready?

Let’s dive in!

Glute Workout Routine

A Common Myth

Before we go over all the ins and outs of how to build the best glute workout routine, I want to go over a common myth.

One of the biggest misconceptions around glute workouts is that “light weight, high rep” exercises are the best for “toning” the glutes.

First of all, you need to understand something.

“Toning” a muscle simply means building that muscle.

So, if you want more defined glutes, it’s going to come down to you building some muscle to create more shape to them.

If you’re brand new to lifting weights, will you build some muscle doing light weight, high rep sets?

Yeah, you probably will.

Mainly because if you’re new to weight training, you could literally just look at a dumbbell and build some muscle.

Kidding. Well, kind of.

It is without a doubt easier to build muscle when you’re new to weight lifting.

But as you get a bit more experienced, you’ll need to lift heavier to keep making progress.

And when I say lift heavy, I mean lift heavy relative to your strength.

This is a concept that we’ll touch on later in the guide, but for right now here is the most important thing to understand.

Lift as heavy as you can with good form in whatever rep range you’re in.

So, if you’re doing a set of 6-8 reps, pick a weight that is challenging for that rep range.

If you’re doing a set of 12-15 reps, pick a weight that is challenging relative to that rep range.

I think you get the idea.

This approach will give you the best results.

Glute Workout Routine: 3 Essential Exercises

You Need To Understand This

Before we go any further, there’s something really important that you should know.

With all of the exercises we’re about to go over, you need to be getting progressively stronger on them over time to grow your glutes.

If you stick with the same weight forever, you won’t be giving your muscles a reason to adapt and grow.

Keep track of the weight you’re using on each exercise along with how many reps you’re doing, and aim to do more over time.

This involves both increasing the weight and/or doing more reps with the same weight.

So, if you used 30lb dumbbells last week for 8 reps on dumbbell RDL’s, try to get 9 reps this week or go up in weight.

This is called progressive overload and it’s a key pillar of building muscle and seeing the best physical changes with your body.

This is exactly what my online coaching client Evee focused on to grow her glutes in just 12 weeks.

Even though she was doing at home workouts, she still made a conscious effort to lift a little bit heavier each week.

And that emphasis on progressive overload is what led her to developing her glutes.

The Best Exercises For Your Glute Workout Routine

Now let’s cover the top three kinds of exercises to include in your glute workout routine to get the best results.

I want you to think of these three movement patterns as the bread and butter exercises of your glute workouts.

You don’t need to do all of the specific exercises covered in this section.

You just want to make sure you’re picking at least one exercise from each movement pattern (ex: one exercise from the hip thrust/glute bridge section, one exercise from the Romanian deadlift section, etc).

Watch each form video, because I go in depth on how to perform each exercise!

Hip Thrust/Glute Bridge Variations

Barbell Hip Thrust

The barbell hip thrust, along with other variations like the smith machine hip thrust, is essentially the king of all glute exercises. Getting progressively stronger at this exercise over time will undoubtedly grow your glutes!

Exercise Notes: Keep your core braced and your chin tucked. Make sure your heels are directly beneath your knees to maximize the output of your glutes. Dig your upper back into the bench.

Barbell Glute Bridge

While this looks very similar to the barbell hip thrust, there is one key difference. The barbell glute bridge emphasizes the top portion of the range of motion more to isolate the glutes. Doing both hip thrust and glute bridge variations over time will yield great results in your glute workout routine.

Exercise Notes: Hold the squeeze at the top of the movement for one second on each rep.

Dumbbell Glute Bridge

This glute bridge variation is perfect if you’re doing at home workouts and only have access to dumbbells. Of course, it can be done at the gym as well.

Exercise Notes: Make sure the dumbbell is placed on your hips. Hold the squeeze at the top of the movement for one second on each rep.

Single Leg Dumbbell Hip Thrust

This is an underrated exercise that I think way more people should be doing. It’s great to do either at home or at the gym. It’s also one of the best exercises for targeting one glute at a time and establishing a great mind-muscle connection.

Exercise Notes: Drive through the heel of your planted foot. Hold the dumbbell on the hip of the same leg that’s being worked.

Other Exercises For This Movement Pattern: Smith Machine hip thrust, Smith Machine glute bridge, dumbbell hip thrust, Hip Thruster machine, etc.

Romanian Deadlift Variations

Dumbbell RDL

Whereas the hip thrust and glute bridge variations train the glutes in their shortened position (when the glutes are fully squeezed and contracted), the dumbbell RDL and other Romanian deadlift variations train the glutes in their lengthened position (when the glutes are fully stretched). Ideally, you want to include both types of exercises in your glute workout routine. This will allow you to train your glutes throughout their entire range of motion.

Exercise Notes: Keep your core braced as if somewhere were to punch you in the stomach. Make sure your chin stays tucked. Initiate the movement by pushing your hips back as far as they can go while maintaining a slight bend in your knees.

Supported Dumbbell Single Leg RDL

This is similar to the dumbbell RDL, except with this variation you are using one leg at a time. You are also placing one hand on a bench for support and to maintain your balance. This is hands down one of the best single leg RDL variations.

Exercise Notes: Hold a dumbbell in one hand and hold onto the top of the bench with the opposing hand. This will increase stability and allow you to lift a bit heavier.

Other Exercises For This Movement Pattern: Barbell RDL’s, single leg dumbbell RDL’s, landmine RDL’s, etc.

Split Squat Variations

Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat

This is one of my favorite split squat variations to grow your glutes. Hold the dumbbells by your side and elevate the back foot just a bit.

Exercise Notes: Maintain a slight forward lean at your torso to get more out of your glutes.

Bulgarian Split Squat

This exercise takes things up a notch and is a great progression to the rear foot elevated split squat. Despite how challenging they are, these are so good to have in your glute workout routine!

Exercise Notes: The same form tips that I discussed with the rear foot elevated split squat apply here as well. As hard as it is, make sure to take your time with this exercise and don’t rush through it! Your glutes will thank you later.

Other Exercises For This Movement Pattern: Front foot elevated split squats, 1 1/2 rep Bulgarian split squats (these are more advanced and very challenging, so think of these as something to progress to in the long run).

You may have noticed that I didn’t include barbell back squats or any squat variations similar to it.

Don’t get me wrong, traditional squat variations like that are great and they can definitely help you grow your glutes.

With that being said, for many people barbell back squats target the quads a bit more than the glutes.

Again, they are a great exercise. But don’t think that they’re essential for growing your glutes.

If you do the movement patterns outline above, you will be doing more than enough to effectively grow your glutes.

Glute Workout Routine: How To Set Up Your Workouts

Now that you know what exercises you should be prioritizing to develop your glutes, it’s time to briefly discuss how to actually implement these exercises.

It goes without saying, but if you want to grow your glutes, you shouldn’t only be doing glute/leg workouts.

That would cause muscle imbalances, and you’d be leaving a lot on the table in terms of other muscle groups.

So, that leads us into the next section: how often should you train your glutes?

How Often To Train Your Glutes

To keep things simple and straight forward, it’s best to train your glutes 2x/week for the best results.

If you only train them 1x/week, you could be missing out on some progress.

If you train them 3x/week or more, you will most likely run into recovery issues which can hinder muscle growth.

So, train them 2x/week to maximize progress from a frequency perspective.

Setting Up Your Workouts

For most people, it makes sense to include glute exercises either in dedicated leg workouts or full body workouts.

Or even a combination of the two.

Let me explain.

I’m going to show you how to include glute exercises in your routine if you’re lifting weights either three or four days a week.

In my opinion, it makes sense for most people to fall into that range to maximize results while minimizing recovery issues.

3x/Week Workouts

Let’s say you want to lift weights 3x/week and you really want to prioritize your glutes.

Here’s how I’d set that up.

I’d do one leg workout, one upper body workout, and one full body workout.

Within those workouts, I’d include glute exercises in both the leg workout and the full body workout.

4x/Week Workouts

Now let’s say you’d rather lift weights 4x/week while still prioritizing your glutes.

Here’s how I program workouts for my online coaching clients in that situation.

It makes sense to do two upper body workouts and two leg workouts.

In that situation, you’d want to include glute exercises in both of the leg days.

Glute Biased Leg & Ab Workout Example

Exercise	Sets x Reps	Rest
1. Barbell Hip Thrust	3×6-8	3 min
2. DB Goblet Squat	3×8-10	2 min
3. Supported DB Single Leg RDL	3×10-12/side	2 min
4. Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl	2×8-12	90 sec
5. Pallof Press	3×8-10/side	90 sec

Here are a few things that I want you to take away from this example glute focused leg workout.

Balancing Out The Workouts

First, not every exercise is a glute exercise.

Just because you want to grow your glutes doesn’t mean you should only be training your glutes.

The workout emphasizes glutes in exercises one and three, but it also includes a quad and hamstring focused exercise along with an ab movement to finish things off.

The emphasis on glutes comes from the fact that there are two glute focused movements, whereas there is only one for quads and one for hamstrings.

Also, the first exercise of the workout (where you have the most energy) is glute dominant.

This allows you to pour most of your focus and energy into the muscle group that you care the most about growing.

More Isn’t Always Better

Here’s the other big takeaway.

Notice how there are only five total exercises?

Most people make the mistake of thinking more is better in terms of the number of exercises and sets.

By only having five exercises, you’re able to lift heavier and with more intensity on each movement, which is what matters most for growth.

It doesn’t mean that every single workout should have exactly five exercises, but this is just an example to lead you in the right direction.

By the time you finish each set, you should only feel like you could’ve gotten at most 1-3 more reps on that set.

This is called training close to failure, and it’s a crucial aspect of growing your glutes or any other muscle group.

This is where quality matters much more than quantity.

Glute Workout Routine: An Important Note About Nutrition

Since this entire guide has been centered around workouts, I want to finish off by addressing a common question that I get about balancing building your glutes with losing weight.

Many people will ask something to the effect of “Can I grow my glutes and lose weight at the same time?”.

It really depends.

If you’re brand new to lifting weights and you follow a structured plan (by the way, if you want 1-on-1 individualized help with that, you can apply to my online coaching program HERE), you will be able to build start building your glutes while in a calorie deficit for weight loss.

Notice how I said you can START to grow your glutes.

You’ll be able to make some muscle building progress while in a deficit, but if you want to get even better results, you’ll eventually need to bring your calories up to maintenance or a slight calorie surplus.

And, while we’re on the topic of nutrition, I want you to remember that getting enough protein in your diet is super important for building your glutes, or any other muscle.

To keep things simple, aim to eat about 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

So, for example, if you currently weigh 150 pounds, you’ll want to aim for between 105-150 grams of protein each day.

If you combine a structured training program, an adequate amount of calories and protein, and consistently getting at least seven hours of sleep, you’ll be setting yourself up for success for growing your glutes!