Being consistent with leg workouts and building arguably our most important muscles–the glutes–helps to stave off muscle dysfunction and tightness that can lead to injury.
Whether you're hammering out some time in the gym, or you opt for some at-home leg workouts, skipping glute day is not an option. Here are 20 of the best moves to build you butt the right way.
How to Warm Up Your Glutes
For a proper lower-body warmup, you want to release and mobilize muscles, as well as wake them up. Your glutes can become inactive if you sit most of the day. These are among the best glute exercises to do before a butt workout to activate glutes, as well as increase range of motion for heavier weighted lifts like sumo squats. Some require a mobility ball, resistance band, and light dumbbells.
Best At-Home Glute Exercises
1. Side-Lying Clamshell
How to do it:
- Lie on your side on the floor and bend your knees 90 degrees.
- Your knees and feet should be stacked.
- Place one hand on your glutes and push through your heel as you rotate your hip open, raising your knee until it points to the ceiling. The movement should look like a clamshell opening.
- Reverse the motion to return to the start. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Hold at the top of the raise for 1-2 seconds while squeezing your glutes.
Variation:
This move can be done while using a resistance band around the knees to increase the challenge.
2. Single-Leg Suspension Trainer Glute Bridge
Beth Bischoff
How to do it:
- Attach the suspension trainer to a sturdy overhead object and lengthen one handle so it’s at about knee height.
- Lie on your back on the floor and place the heel of your left foot in the foot cradle.
- Bend your left knee 90 degrees and extend your right leg on the floor.
- Brace your abs and contract your glutes to bridge your hips off the floor while simultaneously lifting your right leg in the air until it’s in line with your left thigh. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Let your hinge stop at your upper-back with each bridge and not your neck.
Variation:
There is a floor version of this move where you keep the foot of your bent leg on the floor instead of suspended.
3. Swiss Ball Wall Squat
How to do it:
- Place the ball against a wall and stand with your back against it, holding it in place.
- Place your feet shoulder width and turn your toes out about 15 degrees.
- Squat down as low as you can, rolling the ball down the wall as you descend.
- Push through your heels to stand. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Press your back against the ball so that it's stable, but not so hard that you're feeling undo pressure on your back.
Variation:
You can perform this move while holding dumbbells for an extra challenge.
4. Single-Leg Glute Bridge
James Michelfelder
How to do it:
- Lie faceup on the floor and place your right heel on the floor and extend the left leg.
- Brace your abs and contract your glutes to bridge your hips off the floor while simultaneously raising your left leg in the air until it’s in line with your right thigh.
- Lower until your glutes are hovering above the ground. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Let your hinge end at your shoulders and not the neck to avoid strain.
Variation:
This is a variation of the suspended single-leg glue bridge move, where your bent leg is in a suspension harness.
5. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
How to do it:
- Stand on your right leg and push your hips back as far as you can while reaching in front of you with both hands.
- Keeping your lower back arched, let your knee bend as needed while you allow your torso to move toward the floor.
- Go as low as you can and hold for one second.
- Squeeze your glutes to come back up. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Keep your head aligned with your shoulders as you lower your torso. This will help to maintain form in your back.
Variation:
This move can be done with weights–dumbbells or a kettlebell–or without weights.
6. Reverse Table-Up
How to do it:
- Sit on the floor and place your hands on the floor under your shoulders, fingers pointing in front of you.
- Place your feet shoulder width and squeeze your glutes.
- Push through your heels as you bridge your hips up.
- Your body should form a table, with your torso and hips parallel to the floor.
- Hold for two seconds, then lower back down. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
If you're feeling strain in your wrists or shoulders, turn your fingers outward for better support.
Variation:
There is another version of this move where you let your head fall back behind the shoulders at the top of the move, instead of keeping a neutral neck.
7. Jump Squat
Justin Steele
How to do it:
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at knees and hinge at hips to descend into a squat, bringing hands in front of you.
- Once thighs are parallel to floor, pause, then engage quads, glutes, and hamstrings to explode upward.
- Land with soft knees. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Engage your arms for full explosion and balance on landing.
Variation:
There is a 180-degree version of this move where you add a turn to the jump and land facing the opposite direction.
8. Swiss Ball Leg Curl
How to do it:
- Lie on the floor with legs straight and heels on top of a Swiss ball.
- Lift your hips until your body is in a straight line.
- Keeping your toes pulled toward your shins, pull the ball toward your butt with your heels.
- Then, extend your legs to push the ball away. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Keep your core engaged throughout this move so that your hips don't dip. Also, be sure to perform this move on a surface that allows the stability ball to move easily but not slip.
Variation:
This move targets similar muscles as the standard glute bridge and banded glute bridge exercises.
Best Gym Glute Exercises
1. Barbell Glute Bridge
How to do it:
- Lie on your back on the floor with legs extended.
- Roll the bar up your thighs until the bar sits on your lap (you may want to place a towel on your hips or attach a pad to the bar for comfort).
- Brace your abs and drive your heels into the floor to extend your hips, raising them until they’re in line with your torso.
- Simply slide your body under the bar after you’ve rested, and begin the glute bridges.
Pro tip
Resist going up onto the balls of your feet as you raise your hips.
Variation:
You can also do a one-leg variation. If you find it difficult to use a barbell, use your bodyweight or free weights (weight plate or dumbbells).
To make a one-leg variation harder, inch yourself close to a wall or bench so your trunk is about a foot away. Bring your planted leg flat onto the surface. From here, raise your "non-working leg" up into the air, keeping your knee bent. As you raise up into the glute bridge, drive your heel against the surface, raising your hips.
2. Dumbbell Deficit Reverse Lunge
How to do it:
- Grasp a dumbbell in your right hand and stand on a step or block that raises you a few inches above the floor.
- Step back with your right foot and lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor and your rear knee nearly touches the floor.
- Keep your torso upright. Step forward to return to the starting position. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Your step back should cause you to feel the stretch in your calf and hamstring, but it shouldn't be so wide that it pulls your hips backward.
Variation:
This move can be done without using a step or block as your starting point.
3. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
How to do it:
- Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand, arms to your sides. Put some slack in your knees so they're in a neutral position, slightly bent.
- Step one leg back; this non-weight-bearing leg should extend straight back until it's parallel to the floor, while your planted leg remains engaged and planted firmly to the floor.
- As you draw your elevated leg back, bend at the hips as far as you can without losing the arch in your lower back. Your weight-bearing knee should be neutral to just slightly bent to avoid hyperextension.
- Sink your arms toward the floor. Use your glutes to pull yourself back to the upright position. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Contract your glutes as you return to starting position. This should keep the strain off of your lower back.
Variation:
There is the traditional Romanian deadlift involving a barbell. You hold a barbell with a shoulder-width grip and stand with feet hip-width apart. Then bend your knees slightly as you lower the bar along your shins until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
4. Bulgarian Split Squat
How to do it:
- Hold a bar on the backs of your shoulders as if to squat.
- Rest the top of your one foot on a bench or box behind you so that your back knee is bent 90 degrees.
- Bend your hips and right knee to lower your body until your rear knee nearly touches the floor. Drive through your planted leg to rise. That's one rep.
- Keep your torso upright. If you don't want to use a barbell, you can hold dumbbells at your sides.
Pro Tip
Keep your upper body posture strong and aligned throughout the movement. Keep your dip shallow for more emphasis on the quads, and deepen it for more emphasis on working the glutes.
Variation:
This move can be done with or without weights. For beginners, try starting by interlocking your fingers behind your head. Then transition to holding a medicine ball before moving to dumbbells or kettlebells.
5. Sumo Romanian Deadlift
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet outside shoulder-width and toes turned out about 15 degrees.
- Bend your hips back and let your knees bend as needed until you can grasp the bar at shoulder-width.
- Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, push your hips forward to raise the bar to lockout. That's one rep.
- To begin each subsequent rep, push your hips back and lower the bar to mid-shin level.
Pro tip:
Do not bend your knees more and make it a deadlift—the movement must come almost entirely from your hips.
Variation:
There's also a dumbbell single-leg variation of this move, where you hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides and lean forward while lifting one leg straight behind you. As your chest comes forward, the dumbbells should shift from your sides to directly over your planted foot.
Return to starting position by lowering your back leg as you come up and returning the dumbbells to your sides.
6. Barbell Squat
How to do it:
- Set up in a squat rack or cage and grasp the bar as far apart as is comfortable and step under it.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together and nudge the bar out of the rack.
- Step back and stand with your feet shoulder-width and your toes turned slightly outward.
- Take a deep breath and bend your hips, then knees to lower your body as far as you can without losing the arch in your lower back.
- Push your knees outward as you descend.
- Extend your hips to come back up, continuing to push your knees outward. That's one rep.
Pro Tip:
"Optimum form and range of motion for the squat is very dependent on your physicality, structure, joint integrity, limb length, strength, flexibility, and current condition," Reames says. Your range of motion is 90 degrees max at the knee. Some people are able to go lower than this, but not everyone will squat to parallel, he says. And that's totally okay. "Stick to form and the appropriate resistance levels for you; the squat is still one of the best and simplest moves for overall strength, building lower-body muscle, core strength, and athletic performance.
Variation:
There are numerous variations to this move. Two of them are the overhead squat–where you perform the move while holding the bar over your head, and goblet squat–where you hold the weight in front of you.
7. Trap Bar Deadlift
How to do it:
- Stand with feet hip-width apart.
- Hinge at your hips, bend your knees, and lower your hands to grip the bar's handles in the middle.
- Inhale and brace your abs as you retract your neck so you feel like you’re making a double chin, looking at the floor several feet in front of you.
- Keep a flat back as you drive your heels into the floor and lift the bar up, pushing your knees out so they don't collapse in.
- Stand upright, squeezing your glutes as you lock out your hips (without leaning back). Bend your hips back and lower the bar. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
The big knuckle of your middle finger should line up with the center of the bar.
Variation:
There are numerous variations to the deadlift with different weight. This move can also be done using resistance bands.
8. Dumbbell Stepup
How to do it:
- Stand perpendicular to a bench or other elevated surface that’ll put your thigh parallel to the floor when you step on it.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand and step up onto the bench, leaving your trailing leg hanging of.
- Drive through your front heel to stand.
- Pause briefly, then slowly lower to starting position. That's one rep.
- You can also stand parallel to the bench and perform lateral dumbbell stepups, and even add a jump to either variation driving through your planted foot and landing softly on the trail leg.
Pro Tip
"You can work one side first then the other, and/or alternate legs," Reames says. Keep your upper body leaned forward to incorporate as much weight bearing on each repetition, he adds.
Variation:
This move could include a reverse lunge, where you drive your trailing knee up toward your chest as you step up, and then step back into a reverse lunge once your back on the floor.
9. Goblet Squat
How to do it:
- Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell with two hands.
- Squat by sitting the hips back and down, keeping your weight in the heels of the feet, without lifting toes.
- Your elbows should touch your knees at the bottom of the squat. Rise and extend powerfully through hips to rise. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Hold for a beat at the bottom of the move to ensure you don't bounce or rock your hips.
Variation:
For a fuller range of motion, let your elbows drop slightly below your knees, but not so much that the weight dips below your chest.
10. Landmine Squat
How to do it:
- Stand facing landmine, holding barbell fist-over-fist so thumbs are on top. Step back so body leans forward, placing some bodyweight into barbell, to start.
- Drop down into a squat so barbell is just under chin, then reverse. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Widen your stance to deepen your squat and engage more muscle groups.
Variation:
There are numerous variations to this move, including the sidekick squat, the pistol squat, and the prisoner squat.
11. Thrusters
How to do it:
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart with dumbbells in the front-rack position, to start.
- Keeping weights near shoulders, lower into a squat, then explosively stand to rise, activating glutes, pressing hips forward, and locking out knees; use the momentum to help drive the weights overhead, palms facing each other. That's one rep.
- Immediately reverse the motion, lowering weights to front-rack position and transitioning into a squat.
Pro tip:
Foot position is key for this move. You want to place your feet slightly wider that shoulder-width with toes slightly pointed outward.
Variation:
This move can be considered a variation of a jump squat or a kettlebell press-out with a squat.
12. Alternating Lateral Lunge
How to do it:
- Stand holding dumbbells in each hand at your sides (you can also do this with just your bodyweight).
- Step to one side and lower your hips to the ground by squatting with the stepping leg, keeping the other leg straight.
- The arms should remain still with one dumbbell on the outside of the squatting leg, the other between your legs—or put both arms between legs.
- Push up with your bent leg to return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. That's one rep.
Pro tip:
Keep your shoulders square throughout the move.
Variation:
There is an unweighted version of this move where you bring your left arm across your body to touch right toes, while keeping your back straight and shoulders square. Reverse the movement and return to standing.
Why it's Important to Train Glutes
Combined with the hamstrings, calves, and back, the glutes are the most powerful muscles in the human body.
This muscle group—collectively called the "posterior chain"—generates more force than any other human movement, whether that means power cleans, deadlifts, box jumps, or simply lifting a heavy suitcase off the floor and into the overhead compartment.
Will glute exercises make your butt bigger? Yes, and that’s a good thing. You want the glutes to be firmer and more muscular, though, as with any transition from flab to muscle, the result is a bit of an optical illusion since you’ll be leaner and perhaps lighter.
How to Program Butt Workouts
Don't expect to head to the gym and do every single glute exercise we've highlighted below in one-off glute workouts. The glutes may be strong, but they're not invincible.
Instead, break up this list of moves into four or five different groups of exercises to hit your gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus (this is the biggest muscle in the body). Piece together a few moves that require the same piece of equipment—like, say, the suspension trainer, Swiss ball, or barbell. Workout equipment needed for glute exercises can run the gamut from machines to free weights to no equipment at all (think sprints, bodyweight squats, and lunges)
You can combine them as a circuit: Do as many reps as possible of each exercise in 45 seconds, rest for 15 seconds, then move on to the next exercise; rest for 2 minutes after each round.
Alternatively, do these glute exercises in traditional straight sets—say, 2 to 5 sets of 8-15 reps, with 60 seconds of rest in between. Vary your rest, sets, reps, and exercise selection to ensure you make the most of these glutes exercises.
How Can You Get the Most Out of Your Glute Workouts?
The glutes, perhaps more than any other body part, benefit from bodyweight training, though dumbbells, barbells, and cables can play a role, too. Since most of us spend little time thinking about glute activation, be conscious of firing (squeezing) those glutes during butt workouts. Go slow, maximizing time under tension during the eccentric part of the lift, holding, then finishing with a fast concentric movement.
By varying the workload, training your muscles from multiple angles, and incorporating instability into your workout routines, you can strengthen your glutes (and sculpt your butt while you're at it).
In addition to your effort in the gym, think of life as one daily glute workout. For instance, simply squeeze each cheek one at a time. This can be done while sitting in a meeting, on a conference call, or while stuck in traffic. Look for opportunities throughout your day to train your glutes, whether taking the stairs instead of the elevator or squatting to pick something up rather than bending over at the waist.
