Glute training exploded in popularity about 10 years ago… around about the same time that Instagram took off and fitness influencers became more popular. Before then, outside of the strength and condoning world, nobody really bothered with glute exercises. You’d never see people doing hip thrusts etc.
Now even in commercial gyms you’ll see people performing various glute exercises. There’s programmes written about growing your glutes and equipment providers have started to produce machines specifically to train your glutes!
The thing is, there’s so much more than building a booty to glute work. Strong glutes help you athletically, they help to prevent injury and they are a genuinely functional muscle to strengthen. They help to generate power, strengthen the lower back and serve as a powerful junction between upper and lower body.
If glute day is going to become a thing, we want you to do it properly. Here’s 5 glute exercises that you need to be doing if you want to build a strong set of cheeks…
Single leg deadlifts
The single leg deadlift is a really humbling exercise. It’s the kind of thing that you look at, think ‘ah, that’ll be easy enough’ and then try with a decent weight. Your standing leg will wobble like you’re stood on jelly. Your glute will scream at you and the whole thing will look like a disaster.
It’s an exercise you really want to persevere with though, making sure you get good at it. It’s an excellent glute strengthener, it trains the lower back effectively, helps with knee stability and engages the core.
Shoot for 4 sets of 10 per leg. Start with a light weight - you’ll quickly learn why if you go too heavy!
Hip thrusts
These are probably the most famous of all glute exercises. They’re a pretty simple set up, don’t take much in the way of technique to learn and are very effective. They allow a lot of weight to be lifted by the glutes as well, so they’re excellent for strengthening the muscles.
You can set these up with most kinds of barbell, use a pad for comfort if you need to, and adjust the height of your feet and back support to increase or decrease the range of movement with the exercise.
Aim for 5 sets of 8 here.
Split squats
The split squat is often neglected in favour of other forms of squats - usually barbell back squats. The beauty of the split squat is that it is a unilateral exercise, forcing both sides to work independently. It means that the stronger side doesn’t dominate the movement like it can with a barbell.
The other benefit is the range of movement is bigger. The greater depth you hit with the split squat really engages the glutes, forcing them to work extra hard. This help you iron out strength imbalances and improves lower limb joint health.
Aim for 4 sets of 10 per side.
Step Ups
Step ups are a super functional exercise - anyone who has had to walk up several flights of stairs, or climbed a big hill knows how hard walking up something steep can be! Step ups are this movement and then some! Being a unilateral exercise they iron out strength imbalances, plus they’re known to be one of the best glute exercises there is.
They are easy to adjust - you can lift heavier or lighter weights, and you can increase or decrease the height of the step you’re using to do the step ups. They work well either with a fixed number of repetitions, or for a given time period.
Aim for 4 sets of 20 per leg.
Lateral band walks
These are a great exercise for prehab (preventing injuries rather than fixing them), but they are equally as useful as part of a glute training plan. They’re simple to do, don’t require you to learn much technique or need much equipment. Ideally you’ll have a little space to walk in, but if not it works well going to side to side.
You can adapt the strength of the band relative to the exercise intensity - this means you can use a tighter, thicker band if you want to go harder. Likewise you can go for longer if you want the muscles to do more work.
Aim for 3 sets of 60 seconds in both directions.
Glute training - final thoughts
You don’t need to over-complicate your glute workouts to get the most from them. In fact, a handful of simple movements that are executed well is perfectly suitable. There’s an opportunity to build a powerful, strong and impressive peach just by using these 5 exercises and working hard each time.
If you’re wanting any additional guidance, our expert team of personal trainers at AdMac Fitness are on hand.
Are you interested in working with AdMac Fitness? Read on…
The AdMac Fitness personal training studio is in Bow, E3. We have personal trainers with a range of specialities, so we can offer the ideal personal trainer to help you achieve your goals. For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!