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
3sets: 10, 8, 6reps
rest

EXERCISE 2

GOBLET SQUAT

You’ll need: Dumbbells, Kettlebells
3sets: 12reps
rest

EXERCISE 3

SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT WITH DUMBBELLS  You’ll need: Dumbbells

3sets: 8reps

rest

EXERCISE 4

HIP ABDUCTION MACHINE

3sets: 30reps

rest

WORKOUT 2

EXERCISE 1

BARBELL FRONT SQUAT

You’ll need: Barbell, Squat Rack
3sets: 10, 8, 6reps

rest

EXERCISE 2

BACK EXTENSION

3sets: 30reps

rest

EXERCISE 3

CABLE KICKBACK

You’ll need: Adjustable Cable Machine, D-Handle Attachment
3sets: 20reps
rest

EXERCISE 4

CRAB WALK

3sets: 30reps

rest

WORKOUT 3

EXERCISE 1

BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT

3sets: 8reps

rest

EXERCISE 2

SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT WITH DUMBBELLS

You’ll need: Dumbbells
3sets: 8reps

rest

EXERCISE 3

SQUAT JUMP

3sets: 30reps

rest

EXERCISE 4

STANDING RESISTANCE-BAND HIP ABDUCTIONYou’ll need: Resistance Band

set2s: 20reps

rest

By MFH