20 Glute Exercises to Get Your Best Butt

How to do it:

1. Sit on one hip with a tennis ball or mobility ball under the outside of your glute.
2. Adjust your position on the ball until you find a sore “trigger” point. Hold on the spot for 30 to 60 seconds.
3. Move the ball to a different spot and repeat. Maintain as much bodyweight on the ball as possible. 

How to do it:

1. Stand on the band and loop the other end over the back of your neck and stand tall.
2. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, bend your hips back and lower your torso until it’s nearly parallel to the floor.
3. Think about keeping your chest up and pointing forward.
4. Explosively extend your hips to come back up. That’s one rep.

How to do it:

1. Lie on the floor facedown with your arms at your sides.
2. Squeeze your glutes and raise your torso and legs simultaneously so only your hips touch the floor.
3. Imagine touching your feet with your hands.
4. Hold for a second at the top, and then return to the starting position so your shoulders touch the floor.

How to do it:

1. Loop a mini band around your ankles (you can also loop a light band three times and stretch it between your legs, just above your ankles).
2. With your knees bent slightly and aligned with toes, your hips hinged back, and your glutes engaged, take a small step to the left.
3. Pause, then step right foot to the left. That’s one rep.
4. Continue stepping on the left, rest, then lead with the right foot.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at your waist and grab your toes with your hands.
2. Drop into a squat while keeping your arms straight, elbows inside your knees, chest up, and back flat.
3. While grabbing your toes, lift your hips back and straighten your knees, feeling a stretch in the hamstrings. That’s one rep.
4. Move slowly through this exercise.

How to do it:

1. Lie on your side on the floor and bend your knees 90 degrees.
2. Your knees and feet should be stacked.
3. Place one hand on your glutes and push through your heel as you rotate your hip open, raising your knee until it points to the ceiling. The movement should look like a clamshell opening.
4. Reverse the motion to return to the start. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Hold at the top of the raise for 1-2 seconds while squeezing your glutes.

Variation:

This move can be done while using a resistance band around the knees to increase the challenge.

How to do it:

1. Attach the suspension trainer to a sturdy overhead object and lengthen one handle so it’s at about knee height.
2. Lie on your back on the floor and place the heel of your left foot in the foot cradle.
3. Bend your left knee 90 degrees and extend your right leg on the floor.
4. Brace your abs and contract your glutes to bridge your hips off the floor while simultaneously lifting your right leg in the air until it’s in line with your left thigh. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Let your hinge stop at your upper-back with each bridge and not your neck.

Variation:

There is a floor version of this move where you keep the foot of your bent leg on the floor instead of suspended.

How to do it:

1. Place the ball against a wall and stand with your back against it, holding it in place.
2. Place your feet shoulder width and turn your toes out about 15 degrees.
3. Squat down as low as you can, rolling the ball down the wall as you descend.
4. Push through your heels to stand. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Press your back against the ball so that it’s stable, but not so hard that you’re feeling undo pressure on your back.

Variation:

You can perform this move while holding dumbbells for an extra challenge.

How to do it:

1. Lie faceup on the floor and place your right heel on the floor and extend the left leg.
2. Brace your abs and contract your glutes to bridge your hips off the floor while simultaneously raising your left leg in the air until it’s in line with your right thigh.
3. Lower until your glutes are hovering above the ground. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Let your hinge end at your shoulders and not the neck to avoid strain.

Variation:

This is a variation of the suspended single-leg glue bridge move, where your bent leg is in a suspension harness.

How to do it:

1. Stand on your right leg and push your hips back as far as you can while reaching in front of you with both hands.
2. Keeping your lower back arched, let your knee bend as needed while you allow your torso to move toward the floor.
3. Go as low as you can and hold for one second.
4. Squeeze your glutes to come back up. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Keep your head aligned with your shoulders as you lower your torso. This will help to maintain form in your back.

Variation:

This move can be done with weights–dumbbells or a kettlebell–or without weights.

How to do it:

1. Sit on the floor and place your hands on the floor under your shoulders, fingers pointing in front of you.
2. Place your feet shoulder width and squeeze your glutes.
3. Push through your heels as you bridge your hips up.
4. Your body should form a table, with your torso and hips parallel to the floor.
5. Hold for two seconds, then lower back down. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

If you’re feeling strain in your wrists or shoulders, turn your fingers outward for better support.

Variation:

There is another version of this move where you let your head fall back behind the shoulders at the top of the move, instead of keeping a neutral neck.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Bend at knees and hinge at hips to descend into a squat, bringing hands in front of you.
2. Once thighs are parallel to floor, pause, then engage quads, glutes, and hamstrings to explode upward.
3. Land with soft knees. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Engage your arms for full explosion and balance on landing.

Variation:

There is a 180-degree version of this move where you add a turn to the jump and land facing the opposite direction.

How to do it:

1. Lie on the floor with legs straight and heels on top of a Swiss ball.
2. Lift your hips until your body is in a straight line.
3. Keeping your toes pulled toward your shins, pull the ball toward your butt with your heels.
4. Then, extend your legs to push the ball away. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Keep your core engaged throughout this move so that your hips don’t dip. Also, be sure to perform this move on a surface that allows the stability ball to move easily but not slip.

Variation:

This move targets similar muscles as the standard glute bridge and banded glute bridge exercises.

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back on the floor with legs extended.
2. Roll the bar up your thighs until the bar sits on your lap (you may want to place a towel on your hips or attach a pad to the bar for comfort).
3. Brace your abs and drive your heels into the floor to extend your hips, raising them until they’re in line with your torso.
4. Simply slide your body under the bar after you’ve rested, and begin the glute bridges.

Pro tip

Resist going up onto the balls of your feet as you raise your hips.

Variation:

You can also do a one-leg variation. If you find it difficult to use a barbell, use your bodyweight or free weights (weight plate or dumbbells). 

To make a one-leg variation harder, inch yourself close to a wall or bench so your trunk is about a foot away. Bring your planted leg flat onto the surface. From here, raise your “non-working leg” up into the air, keeping your knee bent. As you raise up into the glute bridge, drive your heel against the surface, raising your hips. 

How to do it:

1. Grasp a dumbbell in your right hand and stand on a step or block that raises you a few inches above the floor.
2. Step back with your right foot and lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor and your rear knee nearly touches the floor.
3. Keep your torso upright. Step forward to return to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Your step back should cause you to feel the stretch in your calf and hamstring, but it shouldn’t be so wide that it pulls your hips backward.

Variation:

This move can be done without using a step or block as your starting point.

How to do it:

1. Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand, arms to your sides. Put some slack in your knees so they’re in a neutral position, slightly bent. 
2. Step one leg back; this non-weight-bearing leg should extend straight back until it’s parallel to the floor, while your planted leg remains engaged and planted firmly to the floor. 
3. As you draw your elevated leg back, bend at the hips as far as you can without losing the arch in your lower back. Your weight-bearing knee should be neutral to just slightly bent to avoid hyperextension. 
4. Sink your arms toward the floor. Use your glutes to pull yourself back to the upright position. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Contract your glutes as you return to starting position. This should keep the strain off of your lower back.

Variation:

There is the traditional Romanian deadlift involving a barbell. You hold a barbell with a shoulder-width grip and stand with feet hip-width apart. Then bend your knees slightly as you lower the bar along your shins until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.

How to do it:

1. Hold a bar on the backs of your shoulders as if to squat.
2. Rest the top of your one foot on a bench or box behind you so that your back knee is bent 90 degrees. 
3. Bend your hips and right knee to lower your body until your rear knee nearly touches the floor. Drive through your planted leg to rise. That’s one rep.
4. Keep your torso upright. If you don’t want to use a barbell, you can hold dumbbells at your sides.

Pro Tip

Keep your upper body posture strong and aligned throughout the movement. Keep your dip shallow for more emphasis on the quads, and deepen it for more emphasis on working the glutes.

Variation:

This move can be done with or without weights. For beginners, try starting by interlocking your fingers behind your head. Then transition to holding a medicine ball before moving to dumbbells or kettlebells.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet outside shoulder-width and toes turned out about 15 degrees.
2. Bend your hips back and let your knees bend as needed until you can grasp the bar at shoulder-width.
3. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, push your hips forward to raise the bar to lockout. That’s one rep.
4. To begin each subsequent rep, push your hips back and lower the bar to mid-shin level.

Pro tip:

Do not bend your knees more and make it a deadlift—the movement must come almost entirely from your hips.

Variation:

There’s also a dumbbell single-leg variation of this move, where you hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides and lean forward while lifting one leg straight behind you. As your chest comes forward, the dumbbells should shift from your sides to directly over your planted foot.

Return to starting position by lowering your back leg as you come up and returning the dumbbells to your sides.

How to do it:

1. Set up in a squat rack or cage and grasp the bar as far apart as is comfortable and step under it.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and nudge the bar out of the rack.
3. Step back and stand with your feet shoulder-width and your toes turned slightly outward.
4. Take a deep breath and bend your hips, then knees to lower your body as far as you can without losing the arch in your lower back.
5. Push your knees outward as you descend.
6. Extend your hips to come back up, continuing to push your knees outward. That’s one rep.

Pro Tip:

“Optimum form and range of motion for the squat is very dependent on your physicality, structure, joint integrity, limb length, strength, flexibility, and current condition,” Reames says. Your range of motion is 90 degrees max at the knee. Some people are able to go lower than this, but not everyone will squat to parallel, he says. And that’s totally okay. “Stick to form and the appropriate resistance levels for you; the squat is still one of the best and simplest moves for overall strength, building lower-body muscle, core strength, and athletic performance.

Variation:

There are numerous variations to this move. Two of them are the overhead squat–where you perform the move while holding the bar over your head, and goblet squat–where you hold the weight in front of you.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart.
2. Hinge at your hips, bend your knees, and lower your hands to grip the bar’s handles in the middle.
3. Inhale and brace your abs as you retract your neck so you feel like you’re making a double chin, looking at the floor several feet in front of you.
4. Keep a flat back as you drive your heels into the floor and lift the bar up, pushing your knees out so they don’t collapse in.
5. Stand upright, squeezing your glutes as you lock out your hips (without leaning back). Bend your hips back and lower the bar. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

The big knuckle of your middle finger should line up with the center of the bar.

Variation:

There are numerous variations to the deadlift with different weight. This move can also be done using resistance bands.

How to do it:

1. Stand perpendicular to a bench or other elevated surface that’ll put your thigh parallel to the floor when you step on it.
2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and step up onto the bench, leaving your trailing leg hanging of.
3. Drive through your front heel to stand.
4. Pause briefly, then slowly lower to starting position. That’s one rep. 
5. You can also stand parallel to the bench and perform lateral dumbbell stepups, and even add a jump to either variation driving through your planted foot and landing softly on the trail leg.

Pro Tip

“You can work one side first then the other, and/or alternate legs,” Reames says. Keep your upper body leaned forward to incorporate as much weight bearing on each repetition, he adds.

Variation:

This move could include a reverse lunge, where you drive your trailing knee up toward your chest as you step up, and then step back into a reverse lunge once your back on the floor.

How to do it:

1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell with two hands.
2. Squat by sitting the hips back and down, keeping your weight in the heels of the feet, without lifting toes.
3. Your elbows should touch your knees at the bottom of the squat. Rise and extend powerfully through hips to rise. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Hold for a beat at the bottom of the move to ensure you don’t bounce or rock your hips.

Variation:

For a fuller range of motion, let your elbows drop slightly below your knees, but not so much that the weight dips below your chest.

How to do it:

1. Stand facing landmine, holding barbell fist-over-fist so thumbs are on top. Step back so body leans forward, placing some bodyweight into barbell, to start. 
2. Drop down into a squat so barbell is just under chin, then reverse. That’s one rep. 

Pro tip:

Widen your stance to deepen your squat and engage more muscle groups.

Variation:

There are numerous variations to this move, including the sidekick squat, the pistol squat, and the prisoner squat.

How to do it:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart with dumbbells in the front-rack position, to start. 
2. Keeping weights near shoulders, lower into a squat, then explosively stand to rise, activating glutes, pressing hips forward, and locking out knees; use the momentum to help drive the weights overhead, palms facing each other. That’s one rep. 
3. Immediately reverse the motion, lowering weights to front-rack position and transitioning into a squat. 

Pro tip:

Foot position is key for this move. You want to place your feet slightly wider that shoulder-width with toes slightly pointed outward.

Variation:

This move can be considered a variation of a jump squat or a kettlebell press-out with a squat.

How to do it:

1. Stand holding dumbbells in each hand at your sides (you can also do this with just your bodyweight).
2. Step to one side and lower your hips to the ground by squatting with the stepping leg, keeping the other leg straight.
3. The arms should remain still with one dumbbell on the outside of the squatting leg, the other between your legs—or put both arms between legs.
4. Push up with your bent leg to return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. That’s one rep.

Pro tip:

Keep your shoulders square throughout the move.

Variation:

There is an unweighted version of this move where you bring your left arm across your body to touch right toes, while keeping your back straight and shoulders square. Reverse the movement and return to standing.