If you feel like you’re not making glutes progress because your legs workouts are always so focused on quads, now’s the time to change it up. Activate your glutes and get a better burn in your backside with these workouts from Bret Contreras, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.

“The secret to achieving highly effective glutes workouts is balance. Many women stick primarily with knee-dominant movements like squats and lunges, and while these are great exercises for shaping the hips and thighs, they need to be balanced out with hip-dominant and lateral movements,” explains Contreras.

There are plenty of options when it comes to getting more of your backside front and center, including hip thrusts, glute bridges, frog pumps, back extensions, reverse hypers, pull-throughs, kickbacks, Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, and stiff-leg deadlifts, says Contreras. “These can be performed with different loading implements in a variety of stances, postures, and rep ranges.” Finish off your workout with a lateral movement such as sumo walks, monster walks, band seated hip abductions, or band hip-hinge abductions, he adds.

Following are three comprehensive glute workouts from Contreras.

Note that each session contains at least one knee-dominant movement, hip-dominant movement, and lateral movement:

WORKOUT 1

EXERCISE 1

BARBELL HIP THRUST WITH BENCH You’ll need: Barbell, Bench How to

3 sets, 10, 8, 6 reps

EXERCISE 2

GOBLET SQUAT You’ll need: Dumbbells, Kettlebells How to

3 sets, 12 reps

EXERCISE 3

SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT WITH BARBELL You’ll need: Barbell How to

3 sets, 8 reps

EXERCISE 4

HIP ABDUCTION MACHINE How to

3 sets, 30 reps

WORKOUT 2

EXERCISE 1

BARBELL FRONT SQUAT You’ll need: Barbell, Squat Rack How to

3 sets, 10, 8, 6 reps

EXERCISE 2

BACK EXTENSION How to

3 sets, 30 reps

EXERCISE 3

CABLE KICKBACK You’ll need: Adjustable Cable Machine, D-Handle Attachment How to

3 sets, 20 reps

EXERCISE 4

CRAB WALK How to

3 sets, 30 reps

WORKOUT 3

EXERCISE 1

BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT

3 sets, 8 reps

EXERCISE 2

SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT WITH BARBELL You’ll need: Barbell How to

3 sets, 8 reps

EXERCISE 3

SQUAT JUMP How to

3 sets, 30 reps

EXERCISE 4

STANDING RESISTANCE-BAND HIP ABDUCTION You’ll need: Resistance Band How to

3 sets, 20 reps

BY M&F HERS EDITORS