No matter if it is your first or fifth time training, finding an effective glute workout is key for shaping and strengthening the butt. These 7 best exercises for lower glutes can help create an efficient routine to bring about results you desire.
Focusing on unilateral movements such as single-leg deadlifts and lying glute bridges will better target your glutes than performing exercises using larger, lower body muscles.
7 Best Exercises For Lower Glute Muscles
1. Glute Bridges
Glute bridges are an essential exercise to perform. They’re a fantastic, low-impact way of activating and strengthening glute muscles. A basic version involves lying on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the ground before lifting your hips upward toward the ceiling while simultaneously contracting glutes and activating core to avoid arching your back.
Making sure this movement is performed properly to avoid injuries and achieve optimal effectiveness is of utmost importance. A common error when performing this movement is arching the lower back during a bridge movement which may result in discomfort, improper muscle activation and even injury.
Common errors during glute bridge include allowing knees to turn inward during exercise, which can cause discomfort and poor glute activation. Finally, some individuals “rush” through this bridge by lowering hips too quickly.
Add weight or use a resistance band for added difficulty when performing basic glute bridge exercises, and also try switching it up by switching up movement patterns – creating more challenge! For an even greater challenge, progress to single leg bridge exercises for even greater challenge!
2. Side Lunges
Side lunges are an essential exercise to strengthen and stretch your hips. To do so, stand with feet hip-width apart and shift weight onto one leg until its knee reaches 90-degrees before pushing back with your front foot until back up into standing, squeezing your glutes as you return.
Once you’ve mastered the basic lunge, add variations for extra muscle-building benefits. Try walking lunges (stepping out into a wide stance with your back leg) or adding pulses at the bottom of side lunges (pulsing upward before returning back down).
Exercise that specifically target the lower glutes can help round and lift your buttocks to achieve fuller, thicker looking buttocks. Genetics also play an integral part of this equation; so finding strength training exercises suited for your body and goals is essential. Try following this workout routine twice weekly for best results.
3. Hip Thrusts
Glute bridges and lunges are excellent exercises to develop glute and leg strength, but adding hip thrust variations into your exercise regime can take your results even further. Requiring no equipment, these simple movements challenge the core in different ways while relieving lower back strain while improving muscle balance while helping prevent plateaus during training sessions.
Strength athletes should use barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells – with safety squat bars or cambered bars as the ideal equipment – in their hip crease to increase resistance while simultaneously increasing challenge. If weights don’t appeal, progress into single-leg hip thrusts by straddling on books or benches for added resistance while isolating one side of your body.
These simple yet effective hip thrust variations can easily be added into a lower-body or glute-focused workout, particularly after heavier compound movements such as squats and deadlifts. Additionally, they may serve as an extension from bodyweight bridge exercises or supplement other gait cycle-based movement patterns like inchworms or standing split jumps.
4. Glute Bridge Hamstring Curls
This exercise’s hamstring curl component positions your hips in an abducted and externally rotated position to increase glute activation while strengthening hamstrings and improving hip stability and balance.
Proper bridge form involves keeping one’s core tight and their low back flat to avoid arching their spine and potentially leading to lower-back pain or injury.
Common errors when performing glute bridges include performing them too quickly or with poor form, prioritizing repetition over quality of movement and prioritizing reps over quality of movement. Doing too many bridges too quickly or with poor form could result in injury and reduce its effectiveness as an exercise tool.
An alternative glute bridge variation involves placing your feet up on a bench or box to increase range of motion and tension on your glute muscles. This variation can provide some much-needed resistance after performing heavy barbell lifts such as deadlift or squat exercises.
Here is a sample workout routine incorporating glute-focused exercises. Begin with just a few sets for each exercise and gradually add additional sets and weight as your strength improves.
5. Kickbacks
Glute isolation exercises should be seen as “the icing on the cake” of an excellent lower-body strength program, according to Myers. While they’re not necessary for reaching glute and leg strength goals when combined with compound movements, such exercises can add variety to workouts while leaving muscles quivering–in an encouraging manner!
The cable glute kickback exercises all three major gluteal muscles–gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus–at once while also offering you flexibility when performing this movement. A 90 degree angle at the knee will target more heavily on gluteus medius while doing it straight leg will better target gluteus maximus.
Kneel on the floor while holding one end of a loop resistance band around your left knee near the center of your foot. Maintain a tight core as you drive your right leg back up with control while keeping your hips squared to avoid body swinging. Pause at full extension and squeeze your glutes for one second before gradually returning your leg back down towards starting position and repeat on other side.
6. Squats
Squats are one of the best exercises for targeting your lower glutes. When performed properly, squats utilize your quads and gluteus medius muscles to move your hips backwards as you descend to a deep position before the gluteus maximus muscles help push you back up again. To add variety, try including jumps or box squats into the mix – these variations will each challenge your glutes differently!
Squats are an effective way to build muscle mass while simultaneously decreasing body fat. As more muscle mass is added, your body will become leaner and more toned.
While glute isolation exercises may help enhance your glute shape, compound exercises like single-leg deadlifts, sumo squats and lateral lunges are more suitable if your goal is to increase their size overall. This is because glute isolation exercises usually cannot load as heavily on their legs to build muscle effectively compared to their compound counterparts and therefore provide less of a stimulus for creating mass.
7. Leg Lifts
Gluteus maximus muscles serve two roles in stabilization and mobilization for your lower body, making a strong set of lower glutes an invaluable asset in running faster and jumping higher as well as offering stability during complex lifts such as squats and deadlifts.
Glute bridges are an effective way to target your glutes without overstraining your back, and can be performed in various forms to suit any fitness level. Beginning exercises on a flat bench may provide sufficient intensity while increasing resistance by adding ankle weights or resistance bands can make the exercise even more demanding.
Cable pull throughs offer an assisted version of this exercise. Start with feet hip-width apart, raising right leg until it nearly touches hip height, creating a straight line from ankle, knee, and hip – before slowly and carefully returning it to starting position. Repeat ten repetitions then switch sides.
Tips for Maximizing Results From Lower Glute Exercises
For maximum effectiveness, take it slowly and focus on muscle contraction. Start with your feet hip-width apart, chest lifted and core engaged, and step your right foot out slowly while lowering your torso until hips reach 90-degree angle with floor.
Squeeze your glutes to complete this repetition.
1. Keep Your Big Toes on the Ground
Many exercises that target the gluteus medius – like the clamshell or single-leg bridge – can be improved by changing your foot positioning. Spreading out your toes and digging your big toe into the ground increases muscle stimulation, and makes the exercise more challenging. When combined with resistance bands, doing this may force knees to bend in an effort to soften, further activating gluteus medius muscle fibers.
This same principle can also apply to other lower body exercises like leg presses, machine squats, hack squats and Smith-machine squats – placing your feet further forward on a platform or sled will reduce knee flexion/extension and help isolate glutes more effectively.
Add weight or a spotter to an existing glute exercise to increase its difficulty and perform higher reps and build strength, but make sure that this progression occurs gradually, beginning with bodyweight movements to ensure proper form and progression.
Glute bridges are an effective way to strengthen and engage the glutes, and can be done both with and without an instructor present. For an additional challenge, add weighted bridges or hip lifts – just be careful that any added weight doesn’t compromise posture or cause back injuries!
2. Place Your Feet Higher on a Platform or Sled
Enhancing a basic wall sit with an elevated front foot by placing it on a bench or plyo box can add extra difficulty, shifting emphasis from glutes to hamstrings. Before performing each move, stop briefly at the top and squeeze your glutes to build continuous tension that stimulates muscle growth.
Add dumbbells or kettlebells to your workout, or if you don’t have access to a gym, try the deficit reverse lunge as a simple yet effective glute exercise. Stand with feet hip-width apart and place an elevated object such as a step, bench or box in front of you; lean against this object as you raise one leg as high as possible behind you without arching your back; once at its highest point pause briefly then slowly lower back down for one rep alternating legs with each repetition until all reps have been completed successfully completed successfully!
Strong glutes can help you run, cycle and jump higher while relieving back, knee, and hip pain. Furthermore, stronger glutes may assist with improving balance and coordination so climbing stairs or walking from chair becomes simpler over time. Furthermore, stronger glutes may reduce injury risks during sports or daily physical activities such as taking the stairs instead of an escalator.
3. Keep Your Knees Straight
Exercise (such as clamshells or single-leg squats ) that have the ability to produce an underbutt crease are only two of many effective movements used to stimulate glute muscles. Another way of increasing the results of these exercises is keeping knees straight throughout movement by performing them on platforms or sleds to decrease knee flexion/extension and focus more of your workout on glutes than quads.
If you want to perform a single-leg step-up, consider placing a sled or bench in one corner of the room as a means of reducing knee flexion/extension. Once on it, place both feet on it and move your entire body together with focus on moving hips forward and back while driving through your heels and squeezing glutes at the end of each movement.
One great exercise that targets both gluteus medius and minimus is seated banded hip abduction. Begin with feet hip-width apart and chest up. Engage abs as you balance on one leg by bending knee, pushing out front foot over midline while sitting hips down into half squat position for 10-15 reps on each leg.
If you’re new to gym workouts, these lower butt exercises should form part of your warm-up or be left until after doing heavy lifts. Experienced veterans may perform them throughout their sessions to increase rep quality and strengthen overall strength.
4. Keep Your Core Engaged
Many people make the mistake of neglecting their core while performing lower glute exercises, focusing solely on their legs. It is vitally important that you engage your core in order to perform these movements with proper form; doing so will reduce injury risk while improving effectiveness of exercises.
Start by standing sideways against a wall with feet hip-width apart and holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand. While keeping your back flat against the wall and core tight, squeeze glutes to move hips upward into an upright position as left leg extends horizontally parallel with floor. Shoulder should stay tight against wall as hips rise into upright position as right leg slowly extends and returns slowly back into starting position for repetitions as desired before reverse motion with another leg.
Alternately, you can perform a glute kickback using only bodyweight or with added difficulty by attaching a barbell cuff cuff for added difficulty. Begin with low weights and make each repetition slowly with control; swinging back the leg removes tension from your muscles and makes these exercises less effective.
When training to develop glutes, it is crucial that a variety of exercises and repetitions be included in your workouts. Alternating periods of low frequency Stretchers/Activators with high frequency Pumpers will ensure your muscles receive adequate conditioning from each form of exercise and maximize its benefits.