If you’ve been reading my articles for a while now, then you’ve probably noticed that I have been on a fitness journey for the last couple of months. And that journey has nothing to do with losing weight, and everything to do with building muscle. Particularly my gluteus maximus muscle. Yup, all this girl wants is a bit of junk in her trunk. And I’ve been dedicated to this — from exercising regularly to eating my protein. I’ve learned so much about it since the beginning of the year that I just thought it would be a shame not to share it. I have to warn you of course — building muscle takes time. But if you have the patience and determination — here’s how to actually build your glutes.
The Right Exercise
First things first — if you want to build a juicy booty, you will need to lift HEAVY. So, bodyweight training just won’t cut it. So, if you’re usually a pilates princess, I would strongly encourage you to add at least two weightlifting days per week into your routine.
The next step is to find the perfect exercises. Most women, me included, want to grow their glutes, but not particularly their quads. Which can be a bit tricky. Let me be honest — quads are important (and sexy) too. So, you’ll simply have to grow them at least to some point when it comes to building a booty. But there are certain exercises that are more glute-focused rather than quads-focused.
My absolute favorite one is, without a doubt, hip thrusts. If you’ve not already incorporated them into your routine, then what are you waiting for? There are plenty of variations of hip thrust, but my favorite way is to do them on the Smith machine. Some gyms even have dedicated hip thrust machines, which makes setting up for this exercise so much easier. And my final piece of advice is — always do a small pause when you thrust your hip towards the ceiling. This will give you the ultimate booty burn.
Squats, Deadlifts, Kickbacks
Of course, no matter how amazing hip thrusts are — you also have to incorporate other exercises into your routine. So, my usual glute workout routine consists of four exercises: hip thrusts (I love to go as heavy as possible for my first set, and gradually decrease the weight), Bulgarian split squats, Romanian deadlifts, and cable kickbacks.
If an exercise has a European country in its name, you know it’s going to be a tough one. Needless to say, doing Bulgarian SS and Romanian DL makes me wanna cancel my gym membership every single time. However, these are some of the best exercises that mainly target your glutes, and not so much your quads. Finally, I also enjoy doing cable kickbacks. These are great, particularly for the gluteus minimus. So, if you want to build a true shelf — you have to add these to your workouts as well.
Fuel the Glutes
Last but not least, I want to remind you that it’s not all about exercising your butt off — it’s also about knowing how to rest, and fueling your body. If you want to build muscle – you HAVE to increase your protein intake. Aim for around 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. Otherwise, you simply won’t notice any difference. Rest is important too, and that includes two things — getting enough sleep, and not overdoing it. I find that training your glutes 2 times a week is the sweet spot. Your muscles will have enough time to rest, but you’re still consistent enough to see results. And finally — accept that it will take some time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your booty can’t be either.
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