>Want those firm, round glutes? If so it is time to start picking up the iron. You won’t fill out those jeans in interesting ways by running all day. In order to shape those bombshell curves you need to pack on some lean muscle. Building your glutes requires you to grow the glute muscles, which are among the largest muscles in your body. Go heavy. Go hard.
Success tip: throw the scale away. When you put on muscle, your weight will go up. If you are mainly concerned about your weight, you will never build those high, round glutes that you have been fantasizing about since the age of 15. Cut the chain that is holding you back by not caring about what the scale says. Focus on being healthy and gaining muscle.
The Exercises
1 Barbell Hip Thrust
The hip thrust is on it’s own a killer glute exercise. However, when you add a barbell the whole game changes. This is a compound exercise that will leave you feeling like superwoman. Just be warned that walking up the stairs for the next two days might not be an option.
The Movement
1. Position yourself with your back leaning up against the side of a flat bench and position a loaded barbell over your hips.
2. With the bar across your hips, position yourself in a position where your shoulders and upper back are resting on the bench and your feet are pointing forward a comfortable distance away from your butt.
3. Lift the bar up with your hips. The starting position is with the bar hovering above the ground.
4. Fully extend your hips until your shoulders, hips, and knees are in a line parallel to the floor. Lower back to the starting position.
Tips
1. Pad the bar with a foam wrap or a towel.
2. Contract your glutes to raise the bar.
3. Put your weight in your heels instead of your entire foot to really target the glutes.
4. Keep your core tight.
5. Start with light weight and work your way up. This is an exercises that you can go extremely heavy on once you have the technique down.
2 Cable Glute Kickbacks
Kickbacks might just become your best friend. One of my favorite parts about this exercise is that you can cultivate an excellent mind-muscle connection. Focus on contracting your glutes at the top and feel that burn!
The Movement
1. Attach an ankle strap to the lower pulley of a cable machine.
2. Position yourself so that you are facing the weight stack.
3. Place one ankle in the ankle strap.
4. Place all your weight in the opposite foot.
5. Hold onto the machine with your hands.
6. Kick your leg back with a slight bend in your knee until your glute is fully contracted.
7. Slowly lower back to starting position.
Tips
1. Keep your core tight.
2. Focus on mind-muscle connection. This is not an exercise that you move through quickly.
3. Keep a slight bend in your knee that you are kicking back so that the focus remains on your glutes.
4. This is an excellent exercise to utilize dropsets on for added intensity!
3 Kettlebell Plie Squat
I absolutely love this exercise. This is hands down one of my favorite exercises for that hip dip trouble zone that so many women deal with. The kettlebell plie squat can also be done with a dumbbell. This exercise will not only help you build those gorgeous round glutes but will test your flexibility. Finding your weakness in fitness will help you get that body you want!
The Movement
1. Stand with feet wider than hip width with your toes pointing out.
2. Hold the handle of the kettlebell with your arms relaxed and extended.
3. Descend down into the squat, ensuring that your knees are tracking out over your toes.
4. One the kettlebell touches the floor, contract your glutes and return to the start.
Tips
1. Keep you core tight.
2. Don’t point your toes out so far that your knees track in. Make sure that your toes are tracking out over you knees. If they are not, adjust until they are.
3. Contract your glutes to return to the starting position so that the focus remains on the glutes.
4. Don’t completely extend your legs at the top. Keep a micro bend so that the tension remains on the glutes.
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4 One Legged Leg Press
The leg press is an excellent piece of equipment for shaping your legs. However, it is also an excellent piece of equipment to build your glutes. One-legged leg presses are hard. Do not use your typical leg press weight for this exercise. Go nice and light at first, then build yourself up. This exercise will sneak up on you. The day you do this exercise you might not feel much. The next day you will be too sore to pee.
The Movement
1. Load up a leg press machine with chosen weight.
2. Settle yourself on the seat on your side instead of on your back.
3. Place one foot on the platform with you toes pointing towards the side of the platform instead of the top.
4. Unhook the guards and slowly lower the weight.
5. Once your knee reaches the ninety degree angle, extend your leg back to the start.
Tips
1. Keep your core tight.
2. Focus on slowly lowering the weight.
3. Do not fully extend your leg at the top, keep tension on the glute for maximum results!
5 Glute-Ham Developer
The glute-ham developer may just be one of the most brutal, yet most effective, exercises for building your glutes. There is zero weight required to make this exercise work. When performing, focus on contracting your glutes to pull your upper body up rather than just arching your lower back.
The Movement
1. Set-up a Glute-Ham Developer so that your feet rest against the platform and your knees are behind the pad. Your quads should be resting on the pad.
2. Slowly lower yourself down as far as you can.
3. Once you reach the bottom of your range of motion (everyone’s will be different), slowly bring yourself back up to the starting position.
Tips
1. Keep the core tight.
2. Do not come all the way back up to the top, keep a contraction in your glutes.
3. Go down only so far as you feel you can come back up.
4. It will take a few times to find the perfect positioning for this move. Don’t get frustrated and don’t continue in a certain position if it hurts. Keep adjusting until you feel it in your glutes and are able to maintain the correct position.
Once you utilize these 5 glute building exercises, you won’t worry about a flat butt anymore. Put in the work and you will start to see results. Lift heavy and push hard. Nothing worth having comes easy. Building your glutes is going to take time because they are a large muscle group. Keep pushing and keeping track with progress photos. Happy building!
