Training the glutes: how the muscle works and what loads it hardest

Three muscles make up the glutes. The gluteus maximus is the big one that gives the buttocks their shape. It extends the hip, pulling the thigh back behind you or driving the hips forwards as you stand, and it turns the thigh outwards. The gluteus medius and minimus sit higher and to the side. They lift the leg out sideways and, more usefully, hold the pelvis level every time you stand on one leg, which means every step you walk or run.

For training, the key idea is that the glutes can be loaded at either end of their range. Deep squats, lunges and Romanian deadlifts are hardest when the hip is bent and the muscle is long. Hip thrusts, bridges and cable kickbacks are hardest when the hip is straight and the muscle is short. A well-built glute programme includes something from each end, plus a little side-hip work.

Group glute exercises by where in the rep they are hardest and the choice gets easier. Each library page below covers its movement step by step.

• Hardest at the top, with the glutes short: the hip thrust, the floor glute bridge and cable kickbacks. These are the most targeted glute exercises, because little else limits the set.
• Hardest in the stretch: the Romanian deadlift and the deadlift, which share the work with the hamstrings.
• Squats and lunges with deep hips: the back squat, the goblet squat, the Bulgarian split squat and the lunge. The quads work hard too, and depth decides how much the glutes contribute.
• Fast hip extension: the kettlebell swing, which builds power and conditioning more than size.
• The side of the hip: hip abduction on a machine or a cable, and band side steps, for the gluteus medius and minimus.

People search for the one machine that builds glutes, and the honest answer is that it does not exist: each machine covers only part of the job. What a machine does offer is a way to load the glutes hard with less balance and less set-up. Here is what each common one is good for.

For the glutes and hamstrings together, the Romanian deadlift and the back extension are the most efficient picks. For the glutes and quads together, the leg press, the split squat and a deep squat. And if all you had was a barbell, a bench and a rack, you could still train the glutes completely: thrusts, hinges and squats need nothing more.

Two or three glute sessions a week work well. The glutes bounce back quickly from thrusts and bridges and more slowly from deep squats and heavy hinges, so spread the hardest lifts across the week. As with the rest of the legs, a common coaching range is about 10 to 20 hard sets a week once you have been training a while, and about 6 to 10 when you are new. Squats, lunges and hinges count towards that total, so someone who already squats twice a week may need only a few sets of thrusts on top.

Progress the same way you would any lift: add reps at a weight until every set reaches the top of the range, then add a little load. The hypertrophy volume calculator helps you total your weekly sets.

Many people come to glute training wanting a bigger or rounder shape. Training can build the muscle, but slowly: think in months of consistent, progressive sessions, with enough food to support them, not weeks. How the hips look also depends on your genetics, where your body stores fat and your overall body fat, and training does not control any of those. No exercise or programme can decide the exact shape you end up with.

What you can measure, week by week, is performance: the load on your hip thrust, the reps on your split squat, how steady you are on one leg. When those numbers keep rising, the muscle is being given a reason to grow. If they stall for several weeks, look at sleep, food and recovery before adding more sets.

• Living on bands and light pump work. Band exercises are useful for warming up, but the glutes need loads that rise over months.
• Arching instead of extending. In thrusts, swings and back extensions, finishing the rep with the lower back takes the work away from the glutes. Keep the ribs down and the chin tucked.
• Cutting squats and lunges short. Shallow reps leave the glutes with little to do; go as deep as you can control.
• Training glutes every day. Daily sets with no rest days and no progression leave you tired rather than stronger.
• Forgetting the rest of the body. A glute emphasis belongs inside a full-body plan, not in place of one.
• Pushing through hip or back pain. Stop the exercise, and have pain that persists checked by a doctor or physiotherapist.

The core glute movements need little special kit, and RPM's photos of the Al Manhal floor show it: flat benches, barbells and colour bumper plates for thrusts and hinges, squat racks, an angled plate-loaded leg press, multi-station cable towers, dumbbells and kettlebells. A hip thrust machine, an abduction machine, a Smith machine and a back extension bench do not appear in those photos, so ask which are on the floor in the Mixed and Ladies sections during your free tour.

This hub covers every glute movement in the library, for anyone who trains. The glute training guide for women is a different thing: a two-day programme for women training in RPM's Ladies section, with the research behind its set counts. For coaching, see personal training or a female personal trainer, and browse every movement in the exercise library.