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Ask anybody their opinion on how to grow glutes, and youโll get a hundred different answers. Some influencer will tell you itโs all bands, kickbacks, and hip thrusts. Some will tell you itโs all RDLs, Bulgarians, and Kas Glute Bridges. The gym bros will tell you itโs all squats and deadlifts. The truth is none of them are wrong. The best way to get well-rounded glute development is to do it all and not be so narrow in your training.
We call it a shotgun approach! So spread your net wide and try a bit of everything.
๐My Strategy for Growing Glutes
When it comes to exercise selection, there are more exercises that train your glutes than any other body part I can think of. But many of them are, in my opinion, unnecessary or less effective than focusing on the big compound exercises. Donโt get bogged down in the weird and wonderful moves you see on Instagram.
The Glute Max is the largest muscle on the human body and is the muscle that gives your butt its shape. When we talk about building booties this is the main muscle people want to train. Nothing will ever beat these exercises for your glute max and overall glute growth:
๐Hip Thrusts & Single Leg Thrusts
๐Glute Bridges & Kas Bridges
๐Romanian Deadlifts & Good Mornings
๐Bulgarian Split Squats & Split Squats
๐Step Ups
๐Squats & Leg Press
๐Deadlifts (all variations)
๐Lunges - Reverse, Deficit, Walking, Curtsy
๐Back Extensions
๐Cable Kickback variations
In order to put together a great leg and glute workout, I would pick 4-5 of these exercises (or a variation of one) and do them 1-3 times a week. Simply focus on getting stronger on these 3-5 exercises, and youโll see glute growth.
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๐Donโt Neglect the Glute Medius
The gluteus medius is a fan-shaped muscle that lies above and partially beneath the gluteus maximus. This is the muscle that helps build the coveted booty shelf as it provides some shape to the upper bum region. To target the glute med, we want to add in some of the following exercises (there are of course, many, many, many more):
๐Glute Medius Kickbacks
๐Cable Abductions
๐Side Lying Leg Raises
๐Hip Raises
๐Abduction Machine
๐Fire-hydrants
๐Clamshells
๐Banded Abductions
Now, take 1-2 of these exercises and put them at the end of your workouts. These are like the icing on the cake; they provide some shape, lift, and refining but wonโt build the mass as the compound exercises will.
๐Example Workout
๐Day 1:
โ Hip Thrust 5x8
โ RDL 3x8
โ Back Extension 4x12
โ Glute Medius Kickbacks 3x12
โ Cable Abductions 3x10
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๐Exercise Selection By Glute Goal
There are usually 3 goals when it comes to glute growth that may affect what exercises you choose for your workouts:
โ Bigger lower glutes
โ Bigger upper glutes aka the booty shelf
โ More side glutes aka wider hips, working on hip dips, etc.
This is where we need to discuss Lengthened Range
exercises and Shortened Range exercises.
๐For more lower glutes, focus more on Lengthened Range exercises. These are movements that hit your glutes hardest when they are stretched out and are particularly good for the lower segment of the glute max. You need to focus heavily on:
๐Romanian Deadlifts & Good Mornings
๐Bulgarian Split Squats & Split Squats
๐Step Ups
๐Squats & Leg Press
๐Deadlifts
๐Lunges - Reverse, Deficit, Walking, Curtsy
๐Example Workout:
๐Day 2:
โ RDL 4x10 (Lengthened)
โ Squat 3x8 (Lengthened)
โ Step Up 3x12 (Lengthened)
โ Hip Thrust 4x20 (Shortened)
โ Side Lying Leg Raises 3x12
For more upper glute shelf, focus heavily on Shortened Range exercises as they are great for hitting the upper segments of the glute max. You need to focus heavily on:
๐Hip Thrusts & Single Leg Thrusts
๐Glute Bridges & Kas Bridge
๐Back Extensions
๐Cable Kickback variations.
๐Glute Medius Kickbacks
๐Cable Abductions and all the other abduction exercises.
๐Example Workout:
๐Day 3:
โ Kas Glute Bridge 4x8 (Shortened)
โ Hip Thrust 3x8 (Shortened)
โ Back Extension 3x15 (Shortened)
โ Bulgarian Split Squat 4x8 (Lengthened)
โ Cable Kickback 3x12 (Shortened)
โ Sets & Reps For Optimal Glute Growth
This one is a tricky area. Again every fit chick and her dog will have a different opinion on this, Iโm no different. But Iโll refer back to the shotgun approach. The glutes can handle a lot of punishment, they are, after all, the largest and strongest muscle group. So we can hit them with heavy sets, lighter high rep sets, and everything in between.
๐In my opinion, a well-rounded glute program should work on 3 main aspects:
โ Building a strong foundation (Heavy weight, 1-6 reps)
โ Building glute muscle size (Moderate-Heavy weights, 6-12 reps)
โ Building glute muscle endurance (Moderate-Light Weights 12+ reps)
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Again it comes down to your goals, do you want a strong butt, a big butt, or do you like chasing the pump? If you are training legs and glutes 2-3 times a week, then I would recommend a range of sets and reps across the week. Do some exercises heavy and hard, others lighter and high rep.
๐Example for a week:
โ Leg Day 1 - Hip Thrusts 5x6
โ Leg Day 2 - Hip Thrusts 4x10
โ Leg Day 3 - Hip Thrusts 3x20
Another example:
๐Leg Day 1:
โ Deadlift 3x4 (heavy)
โ Hip Thrust 3x8 (moderate)
โ RDL 3x12 (moderate)
โ Back Extension 4x20 (light)
โ Frog Pumps 1x100 (band or bodyweight)
This is very much a personal choice. Play around and find what works best for you. Maybe your body responds well to heavy weights; maybe it responds better to lots of volume (high rep). Just make sure to apply progressive overload.
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๐How Often Should You Train Glutes?
This one is a little simpler. Ideally, 2 times a week minimum. This will give your muscles regular stimuli to grow and lots of time to recover. If you can handle it then 3 times a week could be for you, itโs more intense, and recovery time is shortened, but I find newbies do well on 3 times a week.
Now, 3 times a week doesnโt mean you do lots more work, it means you spread your training out over more days. We are increasing frequency, not necessarily volume, across the week. In my experience with clients, starting at 3 times a week is fine, but eventually, they get better results dropping down to 2 times a week and upping the intensity. But you can train glutes up to 5-6 times a week; they can handle it, just not as big leg workouts. Instead, it would be as part of a full body workout, accessory workout, or cardio day.
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๐Should You Train To Failure?
Yes, absolutely, โจbut not all the time.โจTraining to fail is a great method to assure youโre pushing your limits. But it also creates systemic fatigue, and that will cause you to suffer after a while. A simple method is to train within 2-3 reps of failure on most exercises, especially any exercises where serious injury could occur if you fail hard without a safe setup or due to bad form. Again, donโt push to failure all the time. Itโs good to leave some gas in the tank. Your performance in subsequent sets doesnโt suffer nearly as much if you arenโt constantly failing. Youโre able to perform more reps during those latter sets because youโre not as fatigued. In the end, youโll get the same results with a lot less effort.
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๐Key Aspects for Achieving Amazing Glute Growth
Stick to 3-5 compound exercises and get strong at them.
Pick 1-2 Isolation exercises to end your workouts.
๐Train all rep and weight ranges.
๐Train glutes 2-3 times a week.
๐Apply progressive overload.
๐Be smart about training to fail.
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๐Nutrition
Now there is one BIG elephant in the room: nutrition. You can do everything we just talked about to absolute perfection, but if your diet sucks, your results will suffer. Nutrition is ALWAYS your first stop on the glute-building journey. No one ever built an ๐ if they didnโt eat properly.
Xo,
Cha
๐
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