Glute workout: six exercises, the weekly volume and a plan that progresses

What the glutes do

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle of the hip. It drives the hip from bent to straight, which is the work of standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, sprinting and lifting something off the floor. The gluteus medius and minimus, on the side of the hip, keep the pelvis level every time you stand on one leg, which you do with every step.

That is why a glute workout needs two kinds of exercise. Hip-extension movements, such as the bridge, the hip thrust and the Romanian deadlift, load the glutes when the hip is close to straight. Deep knee-bending movements, such as the squat, the lunge and the step-up, load them when the hip is deeply bent. A side-of-hip exercise completes the set.

Six exercises, with technique

1. Glute bridge. On your back, knees bent, feet flat, hip-width apart. Push through the heels and lift the hips until knees, hips and shoulders form a line. Squeeze the glutes for a second at the top, without arching the lower back. Lower slowly.
2. Hip thrust. The same movement with the upper back against a bench or sofa, and a weight across the hips once bodyweight is easy. Keep the chin tucked and the shins vertical at the top.
3. Deep squat. Feet about shoulder-width apart, toes slightly out. Sit down between the heels, knees following the line of the toes, as deep as you can while the back stays long. Our squat form guide covers depth and knee position in detail.
4. Romanian deadlift. Soft knees, push the hips back with a flat back until you feel a stretch at the back of the thighs, then drive the hips forward to stand. The hip hinge guide teaches the movement step by step.
5. Reverse lunge or step-up. Step back into a lunge, or step onto a sturdy box or bench, and push through the front heel. A slight forward lean of the trunk shifts more work to the glutes.
6. Side leg raise. Standing with a hand on a chair, or lying on your side, lift the straight leg out to the side without tilting the trunk. The NHS includes the standing version in its strength exercises.

Squat or hip thrust: what the trials say

Kubo's trial is the clearest evidence that depth matters: over ten weeks, the full squat grew the gluteus maximus three times more than the half squat. If knee or hip comfort allows, squat through a full range.

Plotkin's trial compared the two favourites directly. Untrained adults did the same number of sets of either the hip thrust or the back squat for nine weeks. Glute growth was similar in both groups. The hip thrust produced more glute activity on the sensors in the first session, but that did not reliably predict who grew more. The squat built more quadriceps. Each group became strongest at the exercise it practised. A balanced glute workout therefore uses both families of movement rather than arguing over one.

How much volume per week

The NHS recommends strengthening all major muscle groups, including the hips, on at least two days a week, with sets of 8 to 12 repetitions taken close to the point where another would be difficult, and two to three sets per exercise.

For growth, more weekly sets help up to a point. In a meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues, each extra weekly set was linked to a small additional gain in muscle size. A review by Iversen and colleagues on time-efficient training suggests at least four weekly sets per muscle group as a minimum. And how you split those sets across the week matters little: when total volume is equal, training a muscle once or several times a week produced similar growth in another Schoenfeld meta-analysis. The calculator on this page turns your sets, repetitions and days into a weekly total.

A 30-minute glute session

1. Warm-up, 5 minutes. Brisk walk or march, ten bodyweight squats, ten bridges, ten side leg raises per side.
2. Hip thrust or bridge, 7 minutes. 3 sets of 10 to 12, two minutes of rest.
3. Squat, 7 minutes. 3 sets of 8 to 10, full depth.
4. Reverse lunge, 6 minutes. 2 sets of 10 per leg.
5. Side leg raise, 5 minutes. 2 sets of 15 per side, slow.

Done twice a week, that gives the glutes around 16 hard sets a week. On busy weeks, keep the bridge and the squat and drop the rest.

How to progress

• First step: repetitions. Add one or two repetitions per set each week while the technique stays clean.
• Second step: load. When you reach the top of the range, add weight: a backpack with books, a dumbbell on the hips, a kettlebell held at the chest.
• Third step: one leg at a time. Single-leg bridge, Bulgarian split squat, step-up onto a higher box.
• Always: leave one or two repetitions in reserve on most sets, and slow the lowering phase.

One misconception to drop: glute exercises do not burn the fat that sits on the hips. In a trial by Ramírez-Campillo and colleagues, training one leg reduced overall fat mass but not the fat on the trained leg. The toning principles guide explains the rest.

If you have hip, knee or lower-back pain, or have had surgery on these joints, ask your doctor or a physiotherapist which exercises suit you before you add load. Stop any movement that causes sharp pain.

Build your glute routine with Never Skip Club

Strong glutes come from sessions repeated for months, not from one perfect workout. In Never Skip Club, you pick the body area, the level (Easy, Medium or Intense), 20, 30 or 45 minutes and whether you train at home, in a hotel or at the gym, with or without equipment, and the app builds a guided session of five or six animated exercises with your sets logged. Start a crew with three to seven friends and agree on a rhythm, say three sessions a week for a month. A session counts from 30 minutes, and the ranking rewards regularity, not extra sessions. Pair it with our leg workout for a complete lower body. Create your free account, and if you want an expert to check your hip thrust or squat, find a coach from our network. Already a member? Sign in.