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How To Activate And Grow Glutes | 25 Exercises For A Bigger Butt
Social media is a great thing. It connects folks around the world, of course it has its downsides like slowly eliminating the uniqueness of a particular region.. We’re all becoming more and more alike with popular trends being readily available. There’s less mystery in how another section of the country does things, but overall it has created the ability to easily communicate and birthed bounteous business opportunities.
Another downside is how of ease it is to spread false information. Across the board the issue lives, but today it’s about your built-in seat cushion: the Instagram feed has lied to you. Those complex 14-step 1700 rep booty exercises do not build the glutes you want - there’s a better way.
SECTIONS:
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What Are Glutes
Before we get into how you transform from less to more in your back pocket let’s create a foundation.
The glutes are a large collection of muscles posteriorly located above the hamstrings and below the lumbar spine. They consist mainly of the gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus, and gluteus medius. Yes, I too enjoy when science keeps it simple.. I can get with max, min, and med.
Glutes are tasked with extending, abducting, adducting, internally rotating, and externally rotating the hips. This opens the door for runs, jumps, lateral steps, standing upright, using your foot to close the fridge from across the kitchen, and even the moonwalk when Billie Jean hits the airwaves.
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What Is Glute Activation
That’s the what, now we start leaning toward putting those glutes to use for results. In doing so you’re required to maximize utilization. The way your body is designed glutes have to kick-in, to some degree, or another without regard, but to what extent is the question. Our goal is to intentionally involve them during the glute-targeting exercises that’ll be mentioned soon.
Intentionally involved glutes means “active” glutes. Glute activation is a term I’m not too fond of. It basically means to practice a little bit and get some feeling/blood flow back there in the rear to make it easier for you to violently contract the gluteal muscles throughout each lift.
The term glute activation gives the implication that glutes lie dormant, they don’t.
You just are or aren’t adept at using them appropriately, or you just have or do not have overactive supporting muscles/underdeveloped glutes.
When your derrière is underdeveloped other muscles step in to keep the human train on track. In the picking up of this slack the gap of development between your glutes and its supportive compadres widens even further. This is why you want a certain amount of skill and to retain a favorable strength ratio between glutes and surrounding muscles i.e. hamstrings and quadriceps. When you don’t an asterisk becomes a problem, then an accident waiting to happen. Underdevelopment leads to tightness and eventually injury to the diminished muscles or to the overactive muscles, especially hamstrings.
Glutes have a tendency to be stunted due to our lifestyles. They are effortless to ignore, even when exercising.
For one, out of sight out of mind. You can never skip a leg day and still develop poor glute utilization.
Secondly we sit for hours per day. Not much “glute activation” going on if they’re under you from sun up to sun down.
Bottom line: glute activation is simply warming up the glutes specifically. You should be warming up all muscles you’re preparing to work anyway, but the muscles you have trouble contracting are to always get a little extra attention, so you can improve that mind muscle connection.
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How To Grow Bigger Glutes
The bone chilling truth is glutes are as simple or as complicated, however you look at it, as any other muscle. All that differs is the movement; same rules apply for growth.
You lift in order to tear muscle tissue.
You provide nutrients to repair damage done.
You allow requisite time for the repairs to take place.
Once the tissue repairs it’ll be better equipped to handle a similar stress if you were to repeat what caused damage in the first place aka growth.
Since your body gets better each time, if you follow the steps, you’ll have to adapt.
To continue this process of progress you’ll need to progressively overload. This means up the ante i.e. add more resistance, but there are other ways too.
This glute growing process works best with moderate to heavy lifting, not light resistance with marathon reps. In fact going with exclusively high reps i.e. more than 15 per set is great for a pump, which can be a benefit and works when coupled with heavier lifts, but alone will lead to atrophy.
Want to get big, or get a big butt, you have to lift big.
Best results are in the 6-12 rep range. With this range you are to choose a resistance that is challenging to where you’d reach muscle failure if you went for 13 when the goal is 12.. Failure at 7 if the goal was 6, and so on.
Once that resistance becomes too easy for the prescribed range of reps.. Up the resistance my friend. Keep track of the resistance you use with an exercise journal and you’ll waste little time giving your body the needed stimulants.
When it comes to how often you hit glutes.. The more seasoned you are the more load you can handle, but you have to walk the fine line of maximizing the challenge to your muscles, yet falling short of overtraining syndrome.
Target your glutes, which would likely be part of a leg day, 1-3 times weekly with at least 1 day between sessions.
Recap:
1-3 sessions per week
Always warm up
6-12 intentional reps per set - strong contractions❗️
3-8 sets per exercise
40-65 seconds of rest between sets
Lift for 75 minutes or less for the total resistance training session no matter what other muscle groups you’re including, however pre workout warm up time is exempt
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How To Eat For A Bigger Butt
Everything is made in the kitchen: abs, deltoids, broccoli, chicken, tuna fish sandwiches, and of course your second pair of cheeks.
For the kitchen to lend its hand in glute production one must dip their hand in the protein well. You have many sources to choose from, but regardless of route you need at least 0.7 grams, but I suggest 1-1.8 grams of protein per day to adequately maintain and build muscle.
That’s the precursor. Without protein there may be ifs or ands, but no butts.
For the bigger picture if your goal isn’t just building a butt; it’s to pack on overall weight you’ll start a bulk. This means to throw on muscle weight while minimizing body fat accumulation.
If your goal is shaping your hind parts while losing weight you’ll go on a cut aka drop body fat while maintaining and hopefully building more muscle.
Note: the higher the percentage of body fat you carry, the less laborious it is to build bigger glutes while cutting weight. Inversely the less body fat you have the more difficult it’ll be to grow glutes while losing pounds.. Possible, but harder.
If you’re unsure what direction to take your body overall, here’s how to decide if you should gain or lose weight.
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Exercises To Build Glutes
The rear muscles can be targeted in innumerable ways, but some commonalities exist.
Utilize your full range of motion, especially with hinge-like movements.. Namely squats and deadlifts. The more dynamically you move, the more glute stimulation you will experience.
Note: a lot of these moves can be done unilaterally, as well to focus all attention on one side at a time and/or elevated to increase range of motion. I love elevated deadlifts because they increase range of motion.
Another note: once you have a level of proficiency with a particular exercise increase your rep speed concentrically. This is the best for hypertrophy BKA muscle growth.
25 Glute Exercises:
Glute Bridge
Hip Thrust
Step Up
Glute Blaster
Glute Pushdown
Leg Press
Sprinter’s Pose
Lateral Band Walk
Reverse Band Walk
Kb Swing
Hip Abduction
Clam
Donkey Kick
Squat:
Traditional
Bulgarian Split
Jump
Sumo
Side
Kneeling
Deadlift:
Traditional
Romanian
Stiff Legged
Sumo
Lunge:
Reverse
Forward
Side
Walking
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My Thoughts
To reiterate - super high reps don’t work and neither does that little kickback I see folks do on the stairmaster, for the record. I comprehend the logic “I feel a burn every time so it must be working.” Yet muscle growth doesn’t quite work that way.. If so every boxer would have an upper body like Arnold Schwarzenegger and every runner would have legs like Serena Williams. You need to convince your body to grow.. Mad reps just tell your physiological systems it needs more stamina.
You don’t have to pound your butt to smithereens for results. 2-4 exercises where you focus on glutes is more than enough per session. The list is 25 exercises long so you have more to choose from, but that doesn’t mean you need to change exercises all of the time. At the top of each lift you should do bilateral deadlifts or squats while you have the most energy, they allow you to use the most resistance. Other than that pick a couple-few and stick with those moves for a 1-3 month period before changing. It’s hard to progressively overload if you’re always starting with a new exercise.
I know it’s mostly the ladies looking to add junk to the trunk, but fellas the ladies don’t want you out here with floor tile butt, work your lower body.
Unfortunately the barrier to entry for giving yourself the title of fitness trainer is low, so you will come across misinformation. All you have to do is be moderately fit and some will trust your words. On that note I have a nuanced thought.
Just because someone looks a way and is doing something fitness-related doesn’t mean that's how they got to that point. I do a lot of ab challenges on social media, but they certainly aren’t how I developed abs.
Still it doesn't mean it's not how they reached their current status either, do some digging.. Ask questions. I hate to see people led down a false trail. This is especially true with those that obtained muscular physiques while omnivorous. Then they convert to vegan and give false hope that it’s simple to obtain such a physique without animal protein.. I’m rambling, but in summation be transparent or ask for transparency.
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So, It’s About That Time
Want a butt get a butt. It‘s more about patience and consistency than anything else. Stick around for the process, you’ll be proud you did. Fellas work your legs and remember the man rules, don’t go around gawking at the ladies while they work on faaanny development - be a gentleman. The world is your oyster.. Open it up for the feast, but while you do that put those muscles to use and Be Great.
Sources:
[1] Nesta Personal Fitness Training Manual