The benefits of a toned booty go far deeper than aesthetics. Strong glutes are essential for maintaining mobility and reducing the risk of injury as we age. “Glute strength is crucial for stabilizing your hips and supporting your lower back, which helps you move better and stay pain-free,” says Leigh Taylor Weissman, CPT, a personal trainer and founder of the Leigh Taylor Method. Whether sitting, standing, or working out, engaging your glutes is essential for overall strength and stability.
So, if you want to see serious booty gains, it’s time to level up your routine with some effective glute exercises.
Meet the experts:Leigh Taylor Weissman, CPT, is a personal trainer, glute specialist, and founder of the Leigh Taylor Method. Kehinde Anjorin, CFSC, NCSF, is a functional strength coach, personal trainer, and founder of PowerInMovement and online streaming fitness service The Power Method.
As we age, muscle mass and bone density naturally decline, which can expose a body to injury and pain, says Weissman. Strength training helps counteract this loss, and targeting your glutes is a key part of that strategy. “Having strong glutes further protects the body from injury and pain as its main job is to support and stabilize your hips, which control knee and ankle movement, as well as your entire trunk from neck to pelvis.”
Strong glutes do more than just power you through workouts—they're key players in everyday movements like sitting, standing, walking, and even climbing stairs, says Kehinde Anjorin, CFSC, NCSF, a certified functional strength coach, personal trainer, and founder of PowerInMovement. “They play a pivotal role in hip and lower back stability, and they’re also your biggest hip extensors,” she says.
Strong glutes also aid in hinging and squatting, while keeping your back strong and pelvis stabilized, which helps protect the lower back from injury, says Anjorin. Plus, if you’re spending most of your day sitting at a desk (hello, same!), strong glutes are crucial for offsetting the effects of prolonged sitting. Working the glutes helps realign the body out of a flexed position and can help correct imbalances caused by sitting for long periods, says Weissman.
To maximize your booty gains, variety in your movements is key, says Anjorin. While squats will always be a staple, incorporating different exercises will target your glutes from all angles, helping you build, strengthen, and tone a well-rounded peach. For a fun and structured way to mix things up, try our Glute Gains Challenge, designed to help you hit every angle and level up your glute game.
Now that you have the 411 on why working your glutes is so important, let’s get into training specifics. Ready to up your glute game? These exercises will help you switch up your routine, build strength, and see results.
Time: 15 minutes | Equipment: resistance band and dumbbells optional | Good for: Glutes
Instructions: Choose at least three exercises from the list below. For each exercise, perform 3 sets of 8–12 reps. Rest for 30 seconds between each set. After completing one set of one exercise, move on to the next exercise. Once you’ve completed all your selected exercises, rest for 1 minute, then repeat the entire circuit two more times, for a total of 3 rounds.
Pro tip: If you can easily perform more than 12 reps with your current weight, it’s time to increase the weight for a greater challenge. That last rep should be a fight, but doable without sacrificing form.
Why it rocks: This is a great exercise to work the glutes in extension one side at a time, says Weissman. “By keeping the hips static and allowing the moving leg to extend away from the body and toward the ceiling, you’ll isolate the gluteus maximus and feel that burn.”
How to:
Pro tip: Weissman suggests pulsing the leg at the top of the movement to increase time under tension and maximize the burn.
How to:
Why it rocks: This is one of Weissman’s favorite glute moves for a reason. “You’ll get a lot of bang for that brutal buck,” she says. It targets the lower glute max and glute medius, while also torching the gluteus minimus when you add slight rotation to the “working hip,” she says.
How to:
Why it rocks: Clam shells are another great move for hitting the gluteus medius and minimus, says Weissman. Another perk? You’ll also target your inner and outer thighs and engage your pelvic floor.
How to:
Pro tip: The mini resistance band around your thighs increases resistance and adds a major burn but the exercise can be done without a band, too, says Weissman.
Why it rocks: Hip thrusts are the same concept as a glute bridge, but on an elevated surface, says Weissman. “This allows for the glutes to go through their full range of motion and is the most effective exercise for glute growth, especially for the gluteus maximus.”
How to:
Why it rocks: This move works the glutes and includes a stabilizing challenge. “By adding a stabilizing element, you take some of the load away from the glute medius, however it will target the lower glute maximus much more effectively,” says Weissman.
How to:
Why it rocks: “A walking lunge is the best exercise to mimic your gait (walk) and target the glutes to support that movement,” says Weissman. “You can work so many muscles that help stabilize the hips and pelvis while performing it, and there’s an aerobic component that you may not get in other exercises.”
How to:
Pro tip: Walking lunges are a great workout finisher to totally toast the muscle, says Weissman. “You are alternating the load from one hip to the other, giving you a small but very necessary ‘rest’ or reset on one side.”
Why it rocks: This is a golden butt exercise for a reason: It works the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius, says Weissman. Plus, this move is a killer way to improve your stability and train unilateral strength, she says.
How to:
Why it rocks: This move primarily targets one leg, but still involves both sides of the body. The back leg helps stabilize the front leg and hip, says Weissman.
Weissman explains that while single-leg deadlifts primarily target one leg, they can still involve both sides of the body. The back leg helps stabilize the front leg and hip, making it somewhat bilateral in nature.
How to:
Pro tip: To increase the challenge on the working leg, you can adjust the weight distribution by slightly elevating the heel of your opposite foot, shifting more load onto the targeted side.
Why it rocks: Glute bridges are one of Weissman's favorite exercises for glutes because they work the muscles in the concentric phase. “The glutes love the shortened position, that tight squeeze you feel when you clench them, and loading the hips in this capacity will be a winning ticket to the gains.”
How to:
Why it rocks: The glute bridge is a great move for working on your hip extension, says Weissman. You’ll also feel a little burn in your abs since maintaining the bridge requires core stability and strength.
How to:
Why it rocks: This variation without added weight is great for beginners to perfect form. It still works all three muscles of the glutes.
How to:
Why it rocks: The goblet squat is another killer booty move because it works the hips in flexion and abduction which targets all three muscles of the glutes, says Weissman. The added weight also adds more tension to the glutes as the hips have to travel back and hinge to execute, she says.
How to:
Why it rocks: A unilateral squat is an advanced exercise since it requires balance, stability, and coordination, while simultaneously torching your glutes, says Weissman. It’s also a knee dominant move, so you can ease into it with a higher box to nail the movement pattern and build strength, she says.
How to:
Why it rocks: A curtsy lunge works the entire glute maximus, says Weissman. “What makes this exercise unique is that the moving leg travels behind the hip in the frontal plane following the glutes' natural fibers. By moving the leg behind and to the side of the body, you’re working the front hip in a way that is unlike most other glute building movements.”
How to:
Why it rocks: This move works the trio of glutes, and is another frontal plane exercise that helps create a well-rounded routine, says Weissman. “When designing a routine, having exercises that work in multiple planes of motion, front to back, and side to side, will ensure you are targeting all the major muscles in the glutes.”
How to:
Why it rocks: A Romanian deadlift is a bilateral hip dominant exercise and one of Weissman’s top moves for glute gains. “This is one of the big lifts that you can load up, which is an important variable when growing the glutes.”
How to:
If your goal is to grow your glutes, Weissman says there are three non-negotiable moves for a bigger booty: hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts, and squats. We want to prioritize these three moves as a means to build a booty since they are the ones we can load with the most weight, she says.
The hip thrust is one of the few exercises where you can significantly load the glutes in the shortened position (when the glutes are contracted or squeezed), says Weissman. “Here you will mostly be targeting the middle gluteus maximus and some gluteus medius, especially if you are performing the exercises with external rotation (with your hips open and feet pointed heels in and toes out).”
Romanian deadlifts are another maximizing glute move because they’re a hip dominant exercise that will target the gluteus maximus and medius, says Weissman. “Unlike the hip thrust, this exercise will largely hit the lower portion of your glutes, and work them in the lengthened position, when they are stretched.”
Lastly, the squat is another fantastic compound lift to load the lower gluteus maximus in the lengthened position as you move into the end range (the deep portion of the squat), says Weissman. “Pushing the hips back into flexion and letting the torso fold slightly will load more of those booty fibers as you bend the knees to get depth.”
Want to make butt exercises more effective? You must progressively overload (challenge yourself more) over time, Weissman says. Here are three ways to do that:
Finally, if you want a bigger butt, you have to “eat for your goals,” says Weissman. Strength training is the number one priority, but without the diet to support the work, your muscles won’t have the fuel needed to grow. Prioritize fueling up with carbs pre-workout and eating protein after your lifts to ensure you’re getting enough nutrients to support the work you’re putting in.s.
Here's a quick posterior anatomy primer. Your glutes include three distinct muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.
Andi Breitowich is a Chicago-based writer and graduate student at Northwestern Medill. She’s a mass consumer of social media and cares about women’s rights, holistic wellness, and non-stigmatizing reproductive care. As a former collegiate pole vaulter, she has a love for all things fitness and is currently obsessed with Peloton Tread workouts and hot yoga.
Jennifer Nied is the fitness editor at Women’s Health and has more than 10 years of experience in health and wellness journalism. She’s always out exploring—sweat-testing workouts and gear, hiking, snowboarding, running, and more—with her husband, daughter, and dog.
