Build Strong Glutes Glute Exercises

By Meghan Callaway And Matthew Ibrahim

Strong glutes can really help improve your overall performance, and can potentially make your body more resilient to certain injuries and issues.

In short, no matter your age, gender, training experience, and background, including an assortment of glute exercises in your training program will likely be well worth your while. Make sure to include exercises that address the different planes of movement, and include both bilateral and unilateral exercises in your program.

Strong people typically possess a well-developed pair of glutes. Let’s just be real for a second: generally speaking, the majority of people training and exercising crave strong glutes to look better, feel better and perform better. Whatever your reason, be sure to incorporate exercises that directly target the glutes.

Are barbell hip thrusts the holy grail of glute training?

Many people falsely assume that in order for them to achieve their goal glutes, they absolutely MUST perform heavy barbell hip thrusts or glute bridges. While these two exercises can be great options, they might not be the best options for everybody.

Let us be perfectly clear: we are definitely not hating on barbell hip thrusts or glute bridges – we love them! Both can be very beneficial exercises when they are performed correctly, and are implemented intelligently. That being said, we decided to stray from the norm and instead provide some other extremely effective options.

Overall, we are big fans of using a variety of training tools to effectively train the glutes in multiple ways (i.e., different angles, bilateral vs. unilateral, controlled tempos, going for the “pump” vs. going for strength, etc.).

Here’s our list of 8 exercises to help you build strong glutes:

1. Barbell Staggered Stance RDL With Band Resistance Around Hips

2. Chain 1-Leg Hip Thrust With Knee Drive

3. Glute Ham Raise + Band Resistance (credit to Eric Cressey)

4. Kettlebell Dead Stop 1-Leg RDL

5. Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats With Focus On Posterior Chain

6. Dumbbell Mini-Band Frog Bridge

7. Side Plank Band Resisted Clamshell Combo + Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Hold

8. Barbell RDL With 5-Second Eccentric

#1) Barbell Staggered Stance RDL With Band Resistance Around Hips

Meghan’s Tips:

With this exercise, the band resistance, which is coming from behind, will really help reinforce the ever-important hip hinging movement. The addition of the high tension band plus the weight will really torch your hamstrings and glutes. With the staggered stance, your front leg should be doing the majority of the work. Play around with your stance and see what works and feels best. But avoid placing your back foot so it’s too far back (like you would during a split squat) as this generally makes executing the hip hinging movement very awkward. Also, maintain a “train track” stance versus a more narrow “tightrope” stance. This will give you a more stable base to work from. For the duration of the exercise, make sure the barbell remains close to your body, and does not drift ahead.

#2) Chain 1-Leg Hip Thrust With Knee Drive

Matthew’s Tips:

Keep the foot of your working leg flat on the ground as you drive the opposite knee up toward your chest.

#3) Glute Ham Raise + Band Resistance (credit to Eric Cressey)

Meghan’s Tips:

I got this awesome glute hamstring raise variation from Eric Cressey. He added in a banded reach. The banded reach component trains scapular upward rotation, which is something that many people lack the ability to do. As per Cressey’s description, ‘’the serratus works like an anti-lat’’ so during the concentric portion of the movement you can’t cheat by extending through the lumbar spine instead of extending through the hips. For the duration of the exercise, your arms should remain perpendicular to your body. Maintain the “canister” position and do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribcage to flare.

#4) Kettlebell Dead Stop 1-Leg RDL

Matthew’s Tips:

Softly place the KB on the ground during the lower portion, maintain that bottom position for a moment, gather the KB and drive back up.

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#5) Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats With Focus On Posterior Chain

Meghan’s Tips:

In this split squat variation, you will elevate your back foot on a box, bench, or other stable surface. As the goal is to target more posterior chain muscles versus the quadriceps, you will adopt a greater distance between your front and back foot, your shin of the front leg will be in more of a vertical position and your knee will be in closer proximity to your heel versus closer to your toes, and you will have more of a forward lean in your torso. You may lightly touch the knee of your back leg to the pad when you are in the bottom position, or you may stop before you touch the pad (or floor if you aren’t using a pad). Due to the position of the knee in relation to the toes, this might be considered a more “knee friendly” option.

#6) Dumbbell Mini-Band Frog Bridge

Matthew’s Tips:

Create an “A-frame” with your feet on the ground, which helps to keep the knees out to the side as you work the glutes.

#7) Side Plank Band Resisted Clamshell Combo + Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Hold

Meghan’s Tips:

Side planks are often thought of as a mundane “rehab” exercise, and one that is often over-prescribed by physios or coaches. Well, this side plank variation is certainly not dull. This extremely challenging exercise combines a modified side plank, a clamshell, and a bottoms-up kettlebell hold. So you will be strengthening your glutes, improving your lumbo-pelvic stability, shoulder and scapular stability, and grip strength. This exercise is extremely anti-rotational in nature. For the duration of the exercise, your body should remain in a straight line from your head to knees, and your body should remain square to a wall that’s ahead. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, ribcage to flare, or torso, spine, or hips to rotate. For the duration of the exercise, maintain a 360 degree brace. I chose to perform the exercise from my hand, versus on my forearm. For the duration of the exercise I am actively pushing my body away from the ground and am protracting my shoulder blade (moving it away from the spine).