Introduction
For this workout, we will give you a number of appropriately sequenced exercises for the glutes, which will ultimately help you develop a tighter butt in the long term.
As a mandatory warm up, we have the body-weight squats, which we believe to be the best hip activator- Which is also why you will see this exercise at the beginning of pretty much every glute or leg workout that we have on our website.
Again, the goal here is to train heavily, after the first two exercises. However, we should focus on proper execution and being fairly far from failure.
What this means is that this is a beginner/intermediate workout, during which, extreme levels of intensity are not reached. However, the intensity levels are still in the muscle building range and we reach them safely, by preparing our bodies with 2 body-weight exercises prior to lifting actual weights.
Workout priorities
The workout strictly prioritizes the muscular development of the gluteus. And while strength gains will be just an accompanying aspect of this workout, they shall not be the predominant focus.
Our goal here is to execute the exercises properly, with no inertial movements and of course, with fairly heavy weights, that will allow for new adaptive reactions of the working musculature.
Exercises
| Exercise | Sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|---|
| Body-Weight Squat | 5 | 15 |
| Body-Weight Hip Thrust | 3 | 12 |
| Barbell Squats | 4 | 12,10,10,10 |
| Barbell Romanian Dead-Lift | 3 | 10 |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 3 | 10 |
Exercise map
Body-Weight Squats
Execution
- Stand up with feet at shoulder width and arms lifted
- Keep body straight, toes pointing out slightly and knees out of lock out
- Squat all the way down slowly
- Move up explosively, contracting the glutes
Barbell Squats
Execution
- Load the barbell and get under it, placing the middle of it on your traps
- Un-rack the barbell and step like you would in the first exercise (knees bent, toes pointing out slightly)
- Look forward and squat down slowly, until your legs are parallel to the ground
- Move up explosively, contracting the glutes at the top
Barbell Romanian Dead-Lift
Execution
- Place the loaded barbell on the ground and get behind it, stepping with feet close to one another
- Bend knees slightly, keep torso straight and bend over to grab the bar at shoulder width
- Extend your body up, lifting the barbell
- Once your body is at a 90-degree angle, contract your glutes and let the barbell go down slowly, without letting it touch the ground
Body-Weight Hip Thrust
Execution
- Lie with the top of your back on the side of the bench
- Place feet forward and slightly apart, letting your hips hang
- Thrust up explosively, contracting the glutes
- Hold the contraction briefly and let your hips go down again
Barbell Hip Thrust
Execution
- Place the loaded bar on the side of a bench and put a safety pad on it
- Get under the bar so that it is at hip level
- Place your upper back on the bench and lift the barbell slightly off of the ground
- Thrust up explosively, contracting the glutes and holding the contraction briefly
- Go down to the initial position, without letting the bar touch the ground
Workout Tips
- Rest Times Between Sets:
The workout is fairly heavy, meaning that adequate rest times should be taken in-between sets. If you are doing this workout to grow your glutes, go heavier and take up to 90 seconds of rest between sets. If you are doing this workout to shape up your glutes during the weight loss phase, simply increase repetitions with 2+ per set, lower the weights and lower the rest time to 30 seconds between sets. - Iso Tension After Workout:
To take this workout a step further, you can use the iso-tension principle after each workout. Flex the entire musculature and focus on flexing the worked muscle group primarily. The typical iso-tension scheme is- Full contraction- Hold (up to 10-15 sec) – Release
Conclusion
This beginner/intermediate workout will allow you to perfectly master the proper execution of the given exercises, and while it is not extremely intense, it will allow you to improve your glutes.
The workout is designed to help you grow and shape up your glutes, while also allowing you to reach the fairly high intensity levels safely, without putting yourself at a risk of injury. It is highly recommended that the exercises are done through a controlled, full range of motion that allows you to keep constant tension.
As in every other workout, we inhale on the negative part, where no muscle contraction is used and exhale on the positive part, where the working musculature starts getting engaged.
After each workout, it is also recommended that you do 10-15 minutes of iso tension (flexing) for the whole body, with the main focus being on the trained muscle group.
