5 Super Glute Strengthening Exercises

Hi gorgeous girls & welcome to the blog. It’s Lauryn here. I hope you’re having an amazing productive week!

Today I’m going to be spilling my secrets on some super exercises to strengthen those glutes! Of course taking into account that we’re all busy ladies wanting a fast, but effective workout. A quick disclaimer before we start – for muscle strengthening it’s so important to be eating enough food and hitting that protein goal! For best results, complete these exercises while hitting your macros and water intake. Read our blog on nutritional advise here for more information https://filter.fitness.blog/2022/02/27/nutritional-advise-for-muscle-growth/

We all know how difficult yet important it is to find that balance between gym, college, healthy eating, and all the other personal things we have going on. I get it. That’s why I’ve put this list together for you so we can hit those leg gains fast and effectively!

All of these exercises can be performed in the gym or from home. Ideally a weight added would be more beneficial but don’t worry if you don’t have any! I’ll also share my tips on what you can use as a replacement weight. Let’s jump right in…

Number 5 is squat. This can be weighted or bodyweight, whatever you feel most comfortable with. A squat position consists of standing with your feet separated and in line with your shoulders. Lower your upper body, slightly sticking your bum out, as if you’re sitting down on a chair. Once you’ve reached your limit on how low you can go, push yourself back up. This exercise is great for strengthening your quads too. In order to focus on our glutes, we’re going to squat as deep and as low as we can so we can use our glutes to push us back up. Only go as far as you feel you can. Slightly squeeze your glutes as you return to starting position.

If you are doing this in the gym and want to use a weight, a barbel, dumbbell or kettlebell can be used. A barbel can be placed resting on your shoulders, while a dumbbell and kettlebell can be held in your hands. If you are doing this at home and want to use a weight but don’t have one, anything that carries weight can be held in your hands as you squat. My tip would be to use a bag of sugar to start.

Next up is reverse lunges. Both front and reverse lunges are effective however front focuses more on quads while reverse focuses more on glutes and hamstring. These can be done using weights or bodyweight. Bring one foot back behind your leg and slightly to the right or left (for example, if you are using your right leg, move it behind your left leg but slightly to the right so it’s not directly behind it.) Lower both legs down into a kneeling position and repeat.

If you are doing this in the gym and want to use a weight, a barbel, dumbbells, or kettlebells can be held. If you are doing this at home and want to use a weight, again like a squat, my advise would be to use anything that is manageable for you to carry.

Hip Thrusts are an excellent exercise for growing your glutes. They can be performed using a weight or bodyweight, however for more effective results using a weight is best for this exercise. Hip thrusts can be done differently depending on if a weight is used or not. Let’s start off with using a weight. A barbel or weighted bag is perfect for this however a dumbbell or kettlebell can be used but this may feel uncomfortable and not be as stable. Lying down, place the weight on your hips with your shoulders leaning against something and your legs bent. Raise your hips pushing the weight upwards. Squeeze your glutes here and slowly lower your hips back down into starting position.

If you would prefer not to use a weight, hip thrusts can be done in two ways. They can be performed the same way as using a weight or they can be done lying flat down with your knees bent and pushing your hips upwards. It’s really important in this exercise to squeeze when your hips are pushed up. Again, a weight can be used at home like a bag of sugar but ensure you’re comfortable with it as it will be sitting on on your hips so it can be sometimes more painful than your shoulders.

RDLs are a super glute focused exercised however they do take a bit more time than the other exercises, so maybe focus on these in a less busy week. It’s extremely important to get your form correct with this exercise as if not it can cause injury to your back. These can be done with a weight or bodyweight, however with weight is more effective for this exercise. If you are not comfortable yet using a weight, practise perfecting your form first without a weight and when you feel like the exercise is becoming easy, perhaps consider adding weights. It’s still effective not using a weight, the results are just faster with.

I highly recommend using a light weight or no weight at all when starting off with this exercise as perfecting the form is more important to start. If you are using weights, a barbel, dumbbell or kettlebell can be used. Place the weight on the ground in front of your feet with your feet separated. Kneel down to pick up the weight and lift it up. Squeeze your glutes once you are standing straight. Slowly bring the weight back down and once close to the ground, lift it back up and squeeze. It’s super important when lifting the weight to lift with your hips and not with your back. Your back should not be bent over when lifting, you should be in more of a squat position. A tip I have for these is to push out your bum when bringing the weight down so you are using your hips and not your back.

Finally, number 1 is Bulgarian split squats. These are super effective and a simple , quick exercise ideal for us busy gals. These can be performed weighted or with bodyweight, whatever you feel most comfortable with. A barbel, dumbbells or kettlebells can be used with this exercise however I recommend using two dumbbells as I find this the easiest and it helps my balance. For this exercise, you need something stable that goes up to the height of your kneecap (it doesn’t need to be exact, you just need to feel comfortable and get a good balance.)

To start, stand in front of the object you have chosen. This can be a bench in the gym or a small cabinet or chair at home. Place one foot backwards and rest it on this object. Move forwards with your other foot. Once in a comfortable position with good balance, bend your knee and squat using the one foot that’s on the ground. Push back up and squeeze your glutes. If you want to use a weight at home I would recommend using something with handles that you can carry. You could fill a handbag with heavy items such as toiletries for example. This is my favourite glute focused exercise because it is so easy to do but you really feel the burn afterwards.

These five exercises have been lifesavers for me allowing me to build and strengthen my glutes but also to do a quick session, so I still have time for the rest of my busy day. I hope you guys agree with me too! If you try out these exercises be sure to give us some feedback on how they worked for you by giving us a thumbs up or down at the bottom of this blog! If you found this helpful, we have many other blog posts which you might enjoy that you can find on our blog page ( https://filter.fitness.blog/blog/) or you can sign up with your email address below to be notified when we release a new blog. I hope this was a good guide for you girls, especially if you are just beginning your exercise journey! Don’t forget that everyone has to start somewhere!

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Thanks for reading and happy exercising!! Until next time.

Love, Lauryn x