How to Grow Your Glutes: Exercises, Volume and Patience
To grow your glutes, train them two or three times a week with three types of movement: a hip extension (hip thrust or glute bridge), a hinge (Romanian deadlift), and a single-leg squat pattern (split squat or step-up). Do roughly 10 to 20 hard sets a week in total, add load or reps steadily, and eat enough protein and total food to build muscle. Expect noticeable change in three to four months and meaningful change over a year. Bands, “activation” circuits and hundreds of bodyweight kickbacks feel busy but rarely build much on their own. Heavy, controlled work with a full range does.
What your glutes actually do
The gluteus maximus, the big one, extends the hip: it drives you up from a squat, pushes you forward when you climb, and locks the hip at the top of a deadlift. The gluteus medius and minimus sit higher on the side of the hip and stop the pelvis dropping when you stand on one leg. Building the shape most people want involves both, with most of the work going to the maximus.
That tells you which exercises matter: anything that loads the hip as it straightens, ideally through a long range, plus some single-leg work that challenges side-to-side control.
The three exercise types that do most of the work
1. Hip extension: hip thrust and glute bridge
The hip thrust loads the glutes hardest at the top, where the hip is fully straight. It is easy to learn, easy to load heavily, and low in technical risk. The common error is arching the lower back to finish the rep instead of tucking the pelvis slightly and squeezing. Our hip thrust form guide goes through set-up in detail.
2. Hinge: Romanian deadlift
The Romanian deadlift loads the glutes and hamstrings in a stretched position, the opposite end of the range from the hip thrust. There is good reason to think training muscles at longer lengths is effective for growth, which is why pairing the two makes sense. Push the hips back, keep the bar close, lower until you feel a strong stretch in the back of the thighs, then stand by driving the hips forward.
3. Single-leg: split squat, step-up, reverse lunge
Single-leg work hits the glute through a deep range and makes the medius work to keep you stable. A rear-foot-elevated split squat with a slight forward lean of the torso shifts more work to the glutes. It is also brutally honest about left-right differences. See the Bulgarian split squat guide for set-up.
Optional extras
Cable kickbacks, cable abductions and side-lying work for the medius are useful finishers, especially for the upper, outer part of the glute. Treat them as the garnish, not the meal.
How many sets and how often
For most people, 10 to 20 working sets a week aimed at the glutes is a sensible range, counting squats and lunges as partial contributions. Spread them across two or three sessions. The glutes recover reasonably well, but a single huge “glute day” tends to produce sloppy sets at the end.
| Session | Exercise | Sets x reps |
|---|---|---|
| A | Barbell hip thrust | 4 x 8 to 12 |
| A | Rear-foot-elevated split squat | 3 x 8 to 10 each leg |
| A | Cable abduction | 2 x 12 to 15 each side |
| B | Romanian deadlift | 3 x 6 to 10 |
| B | Reverse lunge or step-up | 3 x 10 each leg |
| B | Cable kickback | 2 x 12 to 15 each side |
That is 17 sets a week. A beginner can start with the first two exercises of each day and add the rest after a month.
Progression is the part people skip
Muscle grows when you ask it to do more than it is used to, over and over. In practice that means writing down your weights and trying to beat them. Use a rep range: when every set reaches the top of it with good form, add weight and drop back to the bottom. Hip thrusts and Romanian deadlifts can progress for a long time. Split squats progress more slowly; adding one rep per leg is a real win. We cover the principle in more depth in progressive overload explained.
Effort matters as much as load. Finish working sets with one to three reps in reserve. If you could have done eight more, the set did not count for much.
Food, sleep and the “why is nothing happening” phase
You cannot build much muscle while eating far too little. If your goal is noticeably larger glutes, a small calorie surplus, or at least maintenance, plus a decent protein intake spread through the day, makes progress far more likely. If you are losing fat at the same time, the shape can improve as fat comes off and the muscle underneath becomes clearer, but growth itself will be slower.
Sleep is part of the training. Short nights make it harder to recover and harder to push hard sets.
A realistic timeline
- Weeks 1 to 4: mostly learning. Strength rises quickly because your nervous system gets better at the movements.
- Months 2 to 4: clothes start to fit differently. You may notice it before anyone else does.
- Months 6 to 12: clear, visible change if training and eating have been consistent.
Genetics influence where and how fast you build muscle. Your glutes will not look like someone else’s, but they will look like a stronger version of yours.
Mistakes that slow glute growth
- Only doing bodyweight or band work and never adding meaningful load.
- Cutting the range short on hinges and split squats.
- Arching the lower back on hip thrusts so the spine finishes the rep.
- Changing the programme every two weeks, so nothing gets progressed.
- Eating in a steep deficit while expecting size.
If you have hip, knee or lower back pain, are pregnant or recently postpartum, or are returning after a long break, check with your GP first and start lighter.
How we train glutes in the studio
In the basement studio we have a squat rack, barbell and plates, a dumbbell rack and a two-stack cable station, which is all you need for the plan above. In private 1-1 sessions I spend most of the early time on hip thrust set-up and hinge position, because those two get the most out of every later set. If you want a coach to check form and progress the plan for you, see 1-1 personal training in Highgate. The UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week, which a glute plan like this covers.
Questions we get asked
Are squats enough to grow glutes?
Deep squats train the glutes well, but most people grow faster by adding a dedicated hip extension like the hip thrust, which loads the top of the range squats leave out.
Will glute training make my legs bigger too?
Some of it, yes. Split squats and squats also work the thighs. If you want glute emphasis, lean slightly forward in split squats and prioritise hip thrusts and hinges.
How quickly can I see results?
Most people notice a firmer feel within a couple of months and visible shape change within four to six, with consistent training and enough food.
How much does coaching cost?
Prices are listed on the personal training page.
Book with The Highgate House
Ready to start training properly? Email us at [email protected] with the service and the day that suits you, and we will come back to you with times.
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The Highgate House, Archway Road, Highgate, London N6.
