How To Grow Glutes: An In-Depth Guide

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Here’s how to grow glutes fast for that peach-shaped booty you're after.

The curvy, round booty has been having a moment since 2010. Women everywhere want a tiny waist with a big butt and thick thighs. Especially with the rise of the slim-thick influencer body (which is completely unrealistic). So, you're not alone if you're wondering how to grow glutes to create that round shape of your dreams.

We have good news: You don’t have to starve yourself or pay for plastic surgery to get the peach-shaped tush of your dreams!

Understanding how to grow glutes is all about anatomy and picking the right exercises for size and definition. The trick is doing the right exercises to get results and doing enough of them.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you’re working out and not seeing results. But if you understand your gluteal muscles, your glutes, and how to train them, you'll have the key to the butt you've always wanted.

Anatomy Of the Glutes

Before you can understand how to grow glutes effectively, you need to understand the anatomy of your posterior. Growing your butt requires the regular exercise of your three gluteal muscles that make up your glutes. These three muscles include: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.

Gluteus Maximus

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in your butt. It lays on top of the other glute muscles, so it’s also the most visible. A well-developed gluteus maximus tends to create a bubble-shaped butt.

The primary function of your gluteus maximus is moving your leg backward, which is known as hip extension. It comes into play when your legs are bent, which weakens the hamstrings, forcing the gluteus maximus to take over. So, for example, your gluteus maximus turns on at the bottom of a squat.

In addition, the fibers at the base of the gluteus maximus contribute to hip adduction or pushing your thighs together. The gluteus maximus is somewhat slow-twitch dominant, which means that the most effective way to train it is with high rep workouts and endurance exercises.

Gluteus Medius

The gluteus medius is the second largest muscle in your butt. It lies slightly higher up than the gluteus maximus but not on top of it. Instead, it wraps around the front of your hips, and when it is well developed, it makes your hips look wider and may be visible from the front.

In short, building your gluteus medius will make your butt bigger on the sides.

The primary function of the gluteus medius is straight leg hip abduction, which includes moving your legs apart. So that's the main motion you'll use to train this muscle.

Like the gluteus maximus, the medius is somewhat slow-twitch dominant and benefits from high rep workouts and endurance exercises. Some personal trainers believe that the secret to a nice butt is training the gluteus medius.

Gluteus Minimus

The gluteus minimus lies beneath the maximus and medius and is never visible. Building the gluteus minimus will make your butt look bigger, but it doesn’t add visible muscle tone.

The gluteus minimus assists the maximus and medius with hip extension and abduction. Thankfully, this means you'll train it when you train the others. And since it's slightly slow-twitch dominant, the same training methods are effective.

So, you don’t need to train the gluteus minimus specifically. The same is true for the piriformis and other small muscles around this region.

How To Grow Glutes: Best Butt Exercises

Now that you have the anatomy down, the next step in understanding how to grow glutes is finding the right exercises. And the best exercises to grow your butt aren’t always the most popular.

The primary reason for this is that the best exercises incorporate a full range of motion to really activate the glutes. This means modifying or even skipping some exercises. With hip thrusts, for example, you’ll need to elevate your feet on a stool or bench to increase the range of motion, turning them into deficit hip thrusts.

We’ve divided the exercises below into two groups: compound exercises and isolation exercises.

Compound Exercises

A compound exercise means that you’re using multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously. For example, when you squat, you're using your glutes, hip flexors, calves, hamstrings, quads, and core. Compound exercises burn more calories, elevate your heart rate, improve intramuscular coordination, and help you build muscle mass.

Some of the best compound exercises to grow your glutes include:

Take time to learn the form of each of these exercises before you do them. Go slow, keep your core tight, and remember to breathe as you focus on a full range of motion. It's not about how fast you can go; it's about keeping good form.

Isolation Exercises

An isolation exercise targets a specific muscle group and uses only one joint. By stimulating only one muscle group at a time, these exercises promote muscle growth and enhance your performance during compound movements. They’re crucial for athletes in all sports, and you don’t want to skip them.

Some of the best isolation exercises to grow your glutes include:

When focusing on an isolation exercise, emphasize the contraction of the muscle you’re working and try to keep the rest out of it. For example, when you’re doing hip thrusts, focus on squeezing the glutes and keeping them active through the whole movement while you try to relax the rest of your legs. And remember to breathe while you focus on moving through a full range of motion, just like with the compound exercises.

How To Grow Your Glutes: 3-Month Glute Transformation Plan

This 3-month glute transformation plan should give you noticeable results in, well, three months! So take some before pictures, schedule your workouts, and get ready to change your booty for the better.

The Plan

Rotate through the following five workouts, training your glutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Once you finish your first three-month period, you can try fitting in a fourth glute day to increase intensity.

These workouts will incorporate the exercises outlined above, along with target reps and sets. You might need to increase the reps, sets, and intensity of each exercise if you're a seasoned lifter.

The Workouts

Before Warm up with a walk, some jumping jacks, jump rope, or yoga to make sure your muscles are ready to work. And no matter how experienced you are, always rest for a minute or two between sets.

Workout #1: 25-Minute Workout

Bulgarian Split Squat with a Deficit – 3 sets of 15 reps
Elbow Plank – 3 sets to fatigue
Glute Ham Raise – 3 sets of 15 reps
Cable Hip Abduction – 2 sets per leg

Note:“To fatigue” for the elbow plank means that you’ll hold the exercise for as long as you can with good form. Use about 75% of the maximum amount you can lift for any exercise involving a cable machine or weights.

This workout can serve as a standalone routine, or you can add more full-body exercises after the elbow plank to give your glutes a more extended rest period.

Workout #2: 30-Minute Workout

Back Squat with Resistance Bands – 3 sets of 20 reps
Pushups – 3 sets to fatigue
Lying Leg Curl – 3 sets of 15 reps per leg
Glute Kickbacks – 3 sets of 15 reps per leg

Note:“To fatigue” for the pushups means that you’ll do as many as you can with good form. Use about 75% of the maximum amount you can lift for any exercise involving a cable machine or weights.

This workout can serve as a standalone routine. Alternately, add more full-body or upper-body exercises after the pushups to give your glutes a more extended rest.

Workout #3: Simple 15-Minute Workout

Pull Throughs – 4 sets of 25 reps
Single-Leg Hip Thrust with a Deficit – 2 sets of 15 reps per leg
Lying Leg Curls – 2 sets of 15 reps per leg

Note:For any exercise involving a cable machine or weights, use about 75% of the maximum amount you can lift.

You can use this workout as a quick standalone routine for busy days. However, if you want to add more, try adding exercises for unrelated body pets after the pull-throughs and the hip thrusts.

Workout #4: 20-Minute High-Intensity Workout

Back Squats with Resistance Bands – 5 sets of 20 reps
Jump Lunges – 5 sets to fatigue

Note:“To fatigue” for the jump lunges means that you’ll do as many as you can while keeping proper form. Use one step down from the strongest resistance band you can lift for the back squats.

This workout is short but intense and is intended to stand alone. It will leave you sweaty and tired with no extra exercise if done correctly.

Workout #5: Bodyweight Only

Bulgarian Split Squat – 4 sets to fatigue per leg
Jump Lunges – 4 sets to fatigue
Single-Leg Hip Thrust with a Deficit – 4 sets to fatigue per leg

Note:“To fatigue” means that you’ll do as many reps as you can while keeping good form. This workout does not use weights.

This bodyweight workout can be done anywhere and requires no equipment. If you’re traveling and cannot train with equipment, use this workout exclusively.

Safety Warning

You should always consult your healthcare professional before beginning a new workout routine. This is doubly important if you have pre-existing conditions or chronic pain. Only your doctor can determine if you’re ready to start a new exercise program.

Stop exercising immediately if you feel any pain during a movement. If the pain persists, consult your physician.

BONUS: Don’t Make These Booty-Building Mistakes!

Now that you understand the basics of the anatomy of your glutes, you can understand common mistakes people make when trying to grow their butt.

Mistake #1: Not Working All the Muscles

Manypeople only train the gluteus maximus, neglecting the other muscles. And worse still, it’s common to neglect training the adduction that activates the fibers at the bottom of the gluteus maximus.

This is fixable by adding in better exercises, including:

Hip Thrusts
Glute Kickbacks
Glute-Ham Raises
Lying Leg Curl
Cable Hip Abduction

Mistake #2: Relying on Thighs and Hamstrings

If you’ve ever seen someone who does endless squats and doesn’t have a great booty, they're relying on their thighs and possibly hamstrings. Part of the reason is not squatting deep enough, which is a must to activate the glutes. The other part is a lack of:

Bent-knee exercises like glute kickbacks and hip thrusts.
Isolation movements like hip thrusts, glute kickbacks, and glute ham raises.

Mistake #3: Pre-Fatiguing Muscles

Pre-fatiguing refers to using an isolation exercise to hit a particular muscle before hitting it again with a compound exercise. While this was once a common approach to training, we now know it reduces muscle activation.

So, squats after hip thrusts might feelharder on your glutes, but they’re actually not doing as much. You'll want to do your compound movements before your isolation movements for maximum results.

Mistake #4: Ignoring Your Results

This mistake isn't about exercise; it’s about your mindset. If you don't notice your glutes growing, losing focus on your goals is more likely. So, don't ignore your results! Celebrate them.

Here are some ways to celebrate your results:

Take weekly progress pictures in the same outfit.
Take weekly measurements around the biggest part of your butt.
Wear high quality, flattering leggings that emphasize your curves.
Wear workout shorts that allow you to watch your muscles activate in the mirror.

By changing your wardrobe and charting your progress, you’ll have constant motivation to keep working out. And check out our ultimate leggings guide and our guide to styling your shorts if you’re not sure where to start with the wardrobe portion.

Grow Your Booty

You have everything you need to grow your booty. All that's left is to follow a regular workout routine. This 3-month glute transformation plan doesn't stop at three months. That's just when you should start seeing good results! It extends indefinitely.

Once you know how to grow glutes, you must keep doing the exercises, adding weights, increasing your intensity, and upping your frequency to challenge your muscles. And if you stop exercising your glutes, you’ll gradually lose your hard-earned results.

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