How To Grow Your Glutes
One of the most popular questions we receive is, “How do I shape and grow my glutes?” 🍑
At Move With Us, our goal is to equip you with the right tools to help you achieve your health and fitness goals, expand your knowledge, and support your journey.
So, want to know how you can grow your glutes? Keep reading to uncover our top 3 tips for glute growth, the most effective glute-focused exercises, plus our training recommendation.
Glute Activation
Have you ever completed a glute-focused session only to feel a little disheartened that you didn’t feel the glute burn?
If you struggle to feel your glutes firing in glute-focused exercises, we highly recommend adding in activation exercises to help switch on your glutes before you get into your main workout.
When performing glute activation exercises it’s important to create a Mind-to-Muscle (MTM) connection.
MTM connection is the action in which you use your mind to properly engage, contract, and work a particular muscle.
To perform MTM connection successfully you need to incorporate exercises that focus on deliberately activating the muscle group you're targeting.
This simple act of consciously feeling your muscles working makes all the difference in your results!
In every exercise during a glute-focused session, you should be focusing your attention on using your glutes and actively thinking about that specific area.
➡️ Keep the movement controlled with every rep and concentrate on contracting (squeezing) the glutes.
➡️ Pause for a brief moment at the point of maximum contraction and mentally isolate your target muscles.
In addition to applying MTM connection, you should strive for correct form and technique.
Performing the exercises correctly will make the world of difference to your rate of progression.
One final benefit of fostering MTM connection is that you'll learn to listen to your body.
This helps you know when it's time to challenge yourself with a heavier weight, apply progressive overload, and also recognise what you should and shouldn’t be feeling when performing an exercise.
Weight Selection & Progressive Overload
Choose weights that are appropriate for your strength and selected rep range - but also challenge you during your sessions. Don’t be scared to lift heavy and apply progressive overload.
Everyone's weight selection will be different, but a good rule of a thumb here is being able to complete the entire set with correct form, while really feeling the burn by the final few reps.
Another form of progressive overload is introducing a variety of sets and reps within your training protocol (high, medium, and low). Variation with this will challenge you in different, but equally important ways!
➡️ Add different training styles to the mix. Compound lifts are great and 100% necessary!
But accessory work also helps - being that banded activation, finishers, etc. Don’t be afraid to broaden your exercise horizon!
Fuel your body to grow your glutes
Get your nutrition right!
While exercise selection and progressive overload are important - another key factor to growing your glutes is your nutrition.
If you want to achieve glute growth, you need to ensure you’re consuming adequate calories to facilitate muscle growth.
Eating in a calorie surplus is key, however protein and carbohydrates play a vital role in muscle growth as well.
Protein is important for muscle growth and recovery while carbohydrates are especially important for training performance and replenishing glycogen stores after a tough session.
Aim to have at least 1.6-2.2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight each day, if you’re aiming to maximise muscle growth.
This will help stimulate muscle growth and assist in recovery!
Keep in mind you can have more protein if you’d like, however this won’t necessarily give you more muscle-building benefits.
Rachel's Favourite Glute-building Exercises
Rachel typically trains glutes 2-3 times a week, targeting them from all angles at a variety of rep ranges and weights.
She notes that consistency is extremely important here,
"If you want to grow your glutes, train them regularly, and more frequently than just once a week!"
There are a number of different opinions on the best exercises to build and shape the glutes, but at the end of the day, the best exercises are those that you personally feel target your booty.
Every body is different and there isn't just one overarching blanket approach to training.
These are 3 exercises Rachel's personal favourite glute-building exercises, and are the ones that have worked best in her training journey.
1. Hip Thrusts
2. Barbell Squats (Low Bar)
3. Bulgarian Split Squats
Ready to grow your glutes with us?
The Move With Us experience will see you enjoy effective, yet challenging training sessions, customised meal guides tailored to your personal goal as well as, support from our qualified, in-house Trainers, Coaches and Accredited Dietitian's. Follow the link below find the perfect Program for you and your goals, and start your journey with us today.
