The complete guide to increasing your glutes
Buttocks, the muscle group that the vast majority of women who walk in the gym are looking to develop in particular.
And few things stand out so much with good glutes.
In addition, the glutes are one of the biggest muscle groups in our body, and they participate in a lot of exercises like squats or even running.
If what you're looking for is to develop good buttocks, you're in the right place, as we're going to address the essential issues to achieve this, for example.
- You best exercises for the glutes.
- Excellent workout plans for glutes.
- Tips to develop them quickly.
If you have trained and trained…and trained, and nothing changes, that is about to change after reading this article, and of course putting it into practice.
How to increase the glutes
We can summarize in three points the basis for getting the glutes you are looking for.
- Use the right exercises to develop them.
- Get progressively stronger over time.
- Eat enough for muscle development.
Let's then go into more detail on each of the three points.
1. Use the right exercises to develop your glutes
Most glute augmentation guides recommend too many isolating exercises and machines, and too few compound exercises.
This is wrong.
The secret to getting good glutes is getting as strong as possible in compound exercises that train glutes, not walking around on machines.
This means that you should spend most of your time in the gym doing exercises like squats, dead weights, hip thrusts or lunges and leave the exercises alone for the end of your workout.
A good rule of thumb is that 80% of your time in the gym should go to compound exercises that work your glutes, and the remaining 20% you can use in isolation exercises and machines.
2. It gains strength over time
If you stop getting stronger, your glutes will stop growing (this applies to all muscle groups).
That's why you should try to add weight or repetitions in all exercises and in all workouts.
Sometimes you will succeed, other times not really. It's normal.
This is called progressive overload and is the way in which the muscle grows.
By using more load your muscles will need to adapt to that stimulus, and therefore grow.
And what is the best way to gain strength?
Leave high rep training aside and train with serious weight.
What is real weight?
Use weights around 75%-85% of your rep max, or simply put, between 8-10 reps (~75% of your rep max) to 4-6 reps (~85%).
If you've never calculated your rep max, or simply don't want to, the 8-10 reps and 4-6 should be done so that you don't get any more over this limit, or maybe one more.
Attention, we are not talking about going to failure.
3. Eat enough to support muscle development.
In order to maximize the growth of your glutes you will need a small caloric surplus.
Start by ingesting more 10% of calories than would be your maintenance value.
See the results and, if necessary, adapt.
The reason for the caloric surplus is simple.
A hypercaloric regimen optimizes your body's muscle growth capacity, greatly improving your ability to recover and adapt to training.
The only exception to this rule is if you are completely new to the gym and have never seen a dumbbell in front of you.
In that case you can maintain a calorie diet for maintenance and still increase your glutes.
Eventually, usually after a year or less of regular training, you will also need the excess calories to continue to gain muscle.
Don't forget that you need to eat enough protein for your muscle mass to recover and grow effectively.
Exercises to Develop Glutes Quickly
Now you know that when it comes to working the glutes, most people focus on the wrong exercises.
Furthermore, they spend a lot of time training with high reps instead of using higher loads and thus getting stronger.
That's why the exercises on this list are compound exercises that allow you to lift higher loads and safely add weight over time.
Exactly what brings the best and fastest results.
Squat with barbell
Because?
The barbell squat is the most effective exercise for building overall strength and muscle, and it trains the glutes more effectively than most so-called glute exercises.
Second this study, the further down you go in the movement, the greater is the activation of the glutes.
Dead weight with bar
Because?
Deadweight is without doubt the best exercise to work the back of your body, including your glutes.
It also allows you to use high loads, which is ideal for gaining strength and muscle.
If you can't, for some reason, do conventional deadweight, try the dead weight juice or the dead weight with trap bar.
Both train the glutes quite effectively and some people feel better doing these variations.
Hip Thrust
Because?
Due to the way the bar is placed during this move, your glutes are forced to work hard for the full range of the move.
Lunges with bar
Because?
According to this study, lunges are one of the best exercises to train all your lower limbs, including your glutes.
Another advantage of this exercise is the balance and coordination work it takes to exercise the stabilizing muscles.
Bulgarian Dumbbell Squat
Because?
Second this study, the Bulgarian dumbbell squat is an excellent exercise for training the glutes.
As the Bulgarian squat only trains one leg at a time, it is very helpful in identifying and resolving any muscle imbalances you may have.
Romanian deadweight with barbell
Because?
Romanian deadweight trains the back of the body in a very similar way to conventional deadweight, however the movement difference places greater emphasis on the hamstrings and glutes and less on the back compared to the common variation.
It's also less tiring than conventional deadweight, which means you can do it more often in your workout.
5 workouts to increase your glutes
So far we've talked about how you should train and eat to increase your glutes, as well as the best exercises for that.
It's time to talk about training plans.
Training plan 1 - Bars
- Squat with barbell - 3 sets x 4-6 repetitions
- Romanian deadweight - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Lunges with bar - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Hip Thrust with Bar - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
If you prefer bars, or are limited to training with bars, this is one of the best workouts you can do to increase your glutes.
Barbell exercises are great for lifting higher loads and gaining strength.
Workout Plan 2 – Dumbbells
- Bulgarian Squat - 3 sets x 4-6 repetitions
- Romanian deadweight with dumbbells - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Dumbbells with dumbbells - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
If you only have access to dumbbells, here's a training plan that will help you significantly develop your glutes.
Workout Plan 3 – Barbells and Dumbbells
- Squat with barbell - 3 sets x 4-6 repetitions
- Hip Thrust with Bar - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Romanian deadweight with dumbbells - 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Bulgarian Squat – 3 sets x 8 sets x 8-10 reps
A complete workout with barbell exercises at the start for the use of higher loads, followed by dumbbell movements to complement the workout.
This is basically the ideal workout to develop your glutes.
Workout Plan 4 - No Weights
- Bulgarian Squat – 3 sets x 10-20 reps
- One leg squat – 3 sets x 10-20 reps
- bridge – 3 sets x 10-20 reps
A simple, efficient training plan that can be done anywhere.
It doesn't compare to training plan 3, for example, but in situations where we don't have access to a gym, it's great.
4 tips to increase your glutes quickly
1 – Patience
This may seem counterintuitive as the title of the article is how to get your glutes up…fast, but the reality is that there is a limit to how quickly you can build muscle in your glutes (or any other muscle).
It takes 8 to 12 weeks of consistent effort before you see any obvious changes in the appearance of your glutes.
It's a long-term project, and even after you get the glutes you wanted, you have to keep training properly if you want to keep them.
2 – Try to increase the load in every workout
For the muscle to grow it needs a stimulus.
That stimulus is the weight. Weight gain. New loads.
This will cause the muscle to adapt and grow to be able to handle the new loads.
And then you keep trying to raise the loads.
The process repeats itself and the pants start to look too tight.
You're on the right track.
3 – Don't overdo your training
Again, a little counterintuitive, but necessary.
Not over-training means not doing infinite sets or failing all of them.
It means following the plan and trusting the process.
As long as you adjust the loads correctly, have a good diet, get enough rest and are consistent in training, you will get results.
Now, if you camp in the gym every day because you think you're going to get results faster, you're going to be disappointed.
4 – Supplements
The least important for the end.
There are no mandatory supplements and you can do very well without them.
However, some can help.
Whey Protein – The most known and used supplement by those who walk in the gym.
It is useful to meet your daily protein needs in a simple and practical way.
Creatine – One of the few proven supplements that actually work.
Increased strength, muscle mass and performance.
It will help speed up the glutes project.
Pre workout – If you feel like you need something to give you a boost to train, a pre-workout can help.
For those who train in the morning, early in the morning, for example, it can help to wake up and achieve greater performance on the sled.
Article adapted from the article of Legion Athletics.
