Tips for Glute Growth

Before I started lifting, I did not have the glute muscle that I have today. I started to notice a significant change heading into my sophomore year of college, which makes sense since thats when I started to shift my focus from cardio to strength training. It’s actually kind of funny, back then I never did exercises that targeted my glutes and really only worked them on leg days. Just goes to show how much leg and glute strength go hand in hand.

Over the years I started to figure out what works for me when it comes to targeting and gaining muscle in my glutes. I also will say that I do tend to be more glute/hamstring dominant so a lot of leg muscle I put on ends up there…I’ve always had trouble bulking up my quads! Anyway, I’ve come up with a few tips that I still continuously follow and apply to my life to help grow and maintain those glutes!

1. Consistency is Key ALWAYS!

This is probably the most important thing in general with working out. You can’t just stop once you’ve reached a goal and expect the results to last on their own. You always have to keep putting in work to see and maintain results! Building a booty definitely takes time, but hey Rome wasn’t built in a day!

2. Incorporate Strength & Resistance Training

This might be incorrect, but in my opinion, you’re just not going to get a “bigger butt” by only doing intense cardio and not incorporating any strength training. To get a booty (without cosmetic procedures of course) you have to build up the glute muscles. This can be done by doing strength exercises such as bodyweight movements, lifting weights, or using resistance bands.

So many people come to me asking how to get a “bigger butt” and get worried that lifting weights is going to make them too bulky or like a bodybuilder. I promise you will never look like a bodybuilder just from lifting weights or using bands a few times a week. Bodybuilders dedicate SO MUCH time and work to bulk on muscle (which I respect the hell out of) and unless you’re following exactly what they do, you will never get as muscular as them! So, don’t worry about using a 20lb dumbbell for a leg/glute workout, you’ll be just fine.

3. Gradually Increase Weight/Resistance

In order to build muscle, you are going to have to lift more weight or apply heavier resistance as you go. Gradually adding more weight/resistance to your workouts is going to make it harder but will pay off in terms of muscle growth and strength. A good rule of thumb that I use is that once something starts to feel too easy, it’s safe to say you can add a little more weight. I usually increase my weights by lowering the number of reps of an exercise I do. For example, this is usually what I do for dumbbell goblet squats:

Set 1: 10 reps at 20lbs

Set 2: 8 reps at 25lbs

Set 3: 6 reps at 30lbs

Set 4: 6 reps at 30lbs

As for resistance bands, once something feels too easy with say a medium band, try going up to a heavy band and doing less reps.

Another General Tip for Working Out:

***If you are looking to tone muscle rather than bulk muscle, use light to medium weights and complete higher reps of your exercises! Low weight & higher reps burns fat while heavier weight & lower reps increases muscle mass!***

4. Do Not Neglect your Legs

Personally, I train lower body 2-3x per week and always make sure I dedicate the workout to be either more leg focused (quads/hamstrings/calves) or more glute focused (glutes/hamstrings). I think that its super important to specifically target the glutes in order to grow them, however having a strong foundation in your legs is only going to benefit you as well. Strong legs make for stronger glutes and vice versa. In fact, some glute growth will actually come from strengthening the upper hamstrings or the “under butt” area.

5. You Have to Eat to Grow…another very important tip in general!

I think this one speaks for itself. In order to grow and gain muscle, you are going to need to eat. The body will not function properly if you’re not nourishing it well enough, and especially if you’re active, you need to replenish what was lost during activity. After taking a few nutrition courses, I do believe that keeping a balanced diet consisting of carbs, proteins, and fats is perfectly healthy and will keep you nourished throughout the day. Ideally, protein is what’s going to help you pack on the muscle, so even just having a protein shake or a peanut butter sandwich with chocolate milk after a workout can help increase your protein intake.

I think that’s just about all I have for glute growth tips. I plan on pairing this post with a future one about my favorite glute exercises so stay tuned for that as well! Hopefully this was helpful and can help you towards some goals in the future! As always if anyone has any questions feel free to reach out!