The Bodyweight Glute Exercises That YOU Should Do

As the largest muscle of the human body, the glutes are pretty much the giant within your body. Still, there are plenty of people going to the gym & doing  on a regular basis, that don't do glute dedicated exercises.

Although many people think they are targeting their glutes in their workouts, it appears to be the case that they often target only a minor section of the muscles.

There are quite a few misconceptions around growing your glutes, especially regarding exercises.

This guide is going to provide you with some of the most efficient glute exercises, that you should start integrating into your workout.

Besides the exercises, you will find a section about common myths & misconceptions and the explanation, why some common approaches are not very effective.

Common Myths

• Squats Alone Build Your Glutes Enough

Therefore it makes sense, that by only doing squats and lunges you are going to miss out on a big part of your glutes, which is why you should do more glut specific movements.

• You need weights

Another misconception that people have with their glutes is that the muscle requires weight to be trained. I can see the point myself as it seems to make sense that your largest muscle needs weights. Similar to your legs, it makes more sense to perform weighted squats because your legs are comparably strong

On the other hand, you can get big arms just by doing bodyweight exercises, as your arms a not as strong in relation to your bodyweight.

But since the glutes have different functionalities such as rotation vertical & horizontal movement, you do not necessarily have to work with weighted exercises.

In fact, some of the exercises on this list can be very challenging without adding any weights at all!

How To Warm-up

Another important aspect is to warm-up. The obvious reason for a warm-up is to avoid injury such as muscle tears or causing damage to your joints.

But in fact, a proper warm-up has more benefits than that.

• Enhanced physical performance & Improved Muscle Activation

With the right warm-up, you can increase your physical performance by up to 15% which will then lead to a better stimulation of your muscles. Therefore you are more likely to see results if you warm-up properly.

Since you probably are sitting on your glutes all day, the muscle is kind of like a sleeping giant most of the time.

Therefore the risk of injury is even higher than with other muscles if you forget to activate it with warm-up exercises.

Now that we've covered why you should warm-up it is time to give you a sample warm-up routine.

Activate The Cardiovascular System:

Before starting with specific exercise you should get your blood flow started, to warm-up the entire body. Steady-state cardio is usually the best choice

• 5 Min of running

Activate Your Glutes:

• 10 Bodyweight Glute Bridge Extensions
• 10 Kickbacks - each side (Start on all fours and slowly extend one leg backward)
• 10 Step-Ups - each side

Glute Exercises

After your warm-up, you should start with the harder glute specific exercises. In the section below I have written further recommendations on how to integrate the exercises below into a workout.

Variations:

• Single-leg hip thrusts

An excellent variation to develop more power is to do the exact same exercise with one leg. It is also going to work on stability similar to a glute bridge.

• Barbell hip thrust

In case you want to make the exercise even more challenging, you have the option to use a barbell. Place the barbell right above your hips while starting with your knees bent. Now you are going to perform the exact same exercise but with increased resistance!

• Resistance Band Hip Thrust

Another way to add in resistance is by using an elastic band. There are several options to attach the band to the floor.

1. Use your arms to lock it onto the floor
2. Use two dumbells for each site to lock it onto the floor.

Once you've found a way to attach the band to the floor you are going to perform the same exercise.

Side-Lying Hip Extension

Besides hip thrusts, you can perform a less well-known exercise called the Side-lying hip extension. As the name itself says you are going to start in a side-lying position. Support yourself with your elbows, while the lower leg is going to be bent at a 90 degrees angle. Now you are going to lift the upper leg as far up as possible while lowering down with control.

The exercise also becomes more effective when doing it on a bench, as you have more room for your legs. Also, remember to switch legs when doing one-sided exercises.

Watch the video below to gain a better understanding of the movement if in doubt.

High Step Up

Another excellent glute exercise is the high step up. The execution is very similar to a low step up, with the primary difference, that the step up is going to be a lot higher.

You will bend your knees more in the start which is going to activate your glutes additionally. Also for this exercise, it is important to squeeze your glutes at the top as an additional stimulation.

How high should the step up be?

The step-up should be just as high as you can step upstanding without twisting your hips in any direction. If you start in a position that almost feels awkward it is likely that you will get injured or work on another muscle group.

Cable Kicks