5 Best Glute Building Exercises For Beginners

Try these exercises to build stronger, toned glutes! (Image via unsplash/Sven Mieke)
Try these exercises to build stronger, toned glutes! (Image via unsplash/Sven Mieke)

Glutes are one of the most important muscle groups in your body, yet several people fail to understand the need to exercise them. They're responsible for everything from helping you run faster to lifting heavier weights and even making it easier to climb stairs. That's why it's so important to work them out.

That said, if you're a beginner, it can be hard to know where to start. That's why we've put together this list of the five best glute-building exercises for beginners:


Best Glute Building Exercises For Beginners

1) Glute bridge

The glute bridge is one of the best exercises to strengthen your glutes, which are often underutilized in day-to-day life. Glute bridges also work other muscles like hamstrings and lower back muscles. This can help reduce the risk of injury when performing compound movements like squats and deadlifts that rely heavily on these areas of the body for stability and strength development.

Steps to perform a glute bridge:

  • Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
  • Press into your heels as you lift your hips off of the ground and squeeze your glutes. Return to start position.

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2) Hip thrust

The hip thrust is one of the best glute exercises for beginners because it's easy to perform and targets your glutes from multiple angles.

Steps to perform a hip thrust:

  • Lie on your back with one leg bent at a 90-degree angle, keeping the other leg straight for support.
  • Lift your hips off the ground using the leg that's bent until they're in line with your shoulders and knees. Squeeze your butt cheeks together for maximum contraction.
  • Slowly lower down to starting position and repeat for 8-12 reps per side (resting in between).

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3) Weighted squat

The weighted squat is a great exercise that can be done with or without weights. If you don't have a set of dumbbells, try holding one kettlebell in each hand. This exercise should be performed with proper form and technique to ensure safety.

Steps to perform a weighted squat:

  • Stand tall with your shoulders back, chest up, and core tight.
  • Hold the weight at arm's length in front of your body or place it on your upper back if you're using a barbell.
  • Keeping your weight on heels and knees slightly bent (no more than 10 degrees), lower down into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor (or as deep as possible).
  • Push through your heels as you stand back up.

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4) Bulgarian split squat

The Bulgarian split squat is an excellent exercise to help develop your glutes, quads, and hamstrings.

To perform this:

  • Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand with one foot in front of the other such that they are parallel to each other.
  • Place your rear foot on a raised platform, like a bench or a step.
  • This platform should be around waist level.
  • Lower yourself down until your rear knee nearly touches the floor and then rise back up again.
  • Do this for 10 repetitions for each leg before resting for about 30 seconds between sets (if you can handle more than 10 reps per set then add more weight).

After you have completed all sets of Bulgarian split squats on one side, switch over to the other side so that you do the same number of reps on each side before moving on to another exercise or finishing off.

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5) Romanian deadlift

The Romanian deadlift is a compound exercise that targets the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. It's a great way to build strength in these areas and make them more muscular.

To do a Romanian deadlift:

  • Stand over barbell with feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent.
  • Lower yourself until you're holding the barbell just above your knees, then push your hips back to lift it up while keeping your torso upright until you're standing straight again.
  • Return to starting position by lowering the barbell to just above knees.
  • Repeat the same movement.

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Conclusion

Building strong glutes is not as easy as it sounds, but it’s definitely something you can do with the right workout routine and nutrition. If you follow the tips we shared above, along with some good old-fashioned hard work, then there’s no reason why you won't be proud of your physique in no time!

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