7 Glute Exercises To Strengthen Your Lower Body

Your glutes are the muscles that make up your buttocks area. Keeping these muscles strong helps stabilize your hips, knees, and lower back. Exercises that target your glutes, such as lunges, squats, and deadlifts, can help prevent injury, correct muscle imbalances, and improve your overall movement.

Walking lunges are a dynamic exercise, meaning they involve both movement and muscle contraction. Walking lunges challenge your balance while also activating your leg muscles—particularly your glutes.

Take big, wide steps so that the lunge hinges at the hip joint rather than the knee joint. This helps shift your weight back for better glute engagement. You can also hold dumbbells in your hands to add resistance and increase the challenge.

Here’s how to perform walking lunges:

1. Stand upright with your feet about hip-width apart.
2. Take one big step forward with one foot and lower your back knee until it’s about 90 degrees, just hovering above the floor.
3. Now, push through your front foot and step the back foot forward into the next lunge.
4. Repeat for 8–12 steps per leg.

Note: Adjust the number of reps as needed based on your personal stamina, ability, and health needs.

Split squats mainly target your glutes and quads (the muscles on the front and sides of your thighs). This makes them an excellent exercise to strengthen your upper leg muscles. Split squats also challenge your balance and single-legged strength, which can help correct differences in muscle strength between the two sides.

Here’s how to perform a Bulgarian split squat:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand a couple of feet in front of a bench or other sturdy, elevated surface.
2. Now, place the top of your back foot on the bench behind you with your toes pointed.
3. Keeping your front foot rooted to the ground, lower your body until your front leg is about parallel to the ground and your back knee is hovering just above the ground.
4. Push up to come back to a standing position, making sure most of the weight is still distributed to your front leg.
5. Complete 8–10 reps per leg.

Another single-legged variation, this exercise targets one glute at a time. It also challenges your hip, knee, and ankle stability. Focus on your form and choose a moderate weight to ensure you can feel your glutes working.

Here’s how to do a single-leg RDL:

1. Hold one dumbbell (or two) in your hands and shift your weight to one leg with a slight bend in the knee.
2. Hinge at the hips and lower your torso while extending the other leg behind you. Keep your back straight and shoulders square.
3. Reverse the motion to stand up straight and squeeze your glutes at the top.
4. Perform 8–12 reps per side.

Hip thrusts have been shown to activate your glutes more effectively than most other exercises. They’re more technical and require closer attention to form, but are incredibly effective when safely done. Always start with a lighter weight and work your way up once you feel ready.

Here’s how to perform a hip thrust using a barbell:

1. Sit on the floor with your upper back against a surface or bench with the barbell lying on your hips (put a pad under the bar for comfort).
2. Keep your core braced and drive through your heels to lift your hips up into extension, until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
3. Squeeze your glutes at the top of the motion, making sure not to extend through your back (hips only), then slowly lower back down.
4. Perform 5–15 reps.

Squats target your quads, glutes, adductors (inner thigh muscles), and hamstrings (back thigh muscles), making them an all-around effective leg exercise. You can perform squats using only your bodyweight, or increase the challenge by using a barbell or by holding a dumbbell to your chest.

Here’s how to do a squat:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. With your core braced, lower your body by bending simultaneously from your hips and knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
3. Go as low as your mobility allows.
4. Drive through your feet to stand up.
5. Complete, slow, controlled subsequent reps.

Deadlifts are another staple glute exercise that targets your entire posterior chain (the muscles on the backside of your body, from your head to your heels). During the hip extension of the deadlift, or the lockout at the top of the movement, your glutes are the most engaged muscle.

Start with a kettlebell weight if you are new to deadlifts or have a history of injury. As you become more familiar with the exercise, you can switch to a barbell.

Here’s how to perform a deadlift:

1. Stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. On the ground, place the kettlebell between your feet or the barbell over your midfoot.
2. Hinge at your hips and bend your knees slightly to grab the kettlebell or bar.
3. Keep your spine neutral as you lift the kettlebell or bar by driving through your feet and extending your hips.
4. Keep the weight close to your body and lock out at the top by squeezing your glutes.
5. Lower back down with control.

Clamshells are an isolation exercise, meaning they use one joint to work on one muscle group. Clamshells challenge the external rotation of the glute muscles on your hip, which can help improve range of motion and stability in the hip.

Plus, using a resistance band during this exercise provides constant tension to your glutes. Choose a band that allows you to complete a wide range of motion but still provides a challenge. You can safely do clamshells to failure, meaning until your muscles give out.

Here’s how to do clamshells with a band:

1. Lay on your side with your knees and hips at about 90 degrees. Place the resistance band around your thighs, just above your knees.
2. Keeping your shoulders forward, open your top knee to the ceiling against the banded resistance, making sure that your torso doesn’t rotate open. 
3. Hold for a couple of seconds at the top before slowly lowering down and completing more reps.
4. Use slow and controlled movements, and perform to muscular failure before switching sides. 

When it comes to developing your glutes, there are three key things you should focus on:

1. Train your glutes several times per week, alternating days for recovery.
2. Gradually raise the intensity of each exercise by increasing the weight and the number of sets as you get stronger. 
3. Use a variety of rep ranges (between 5-15).

Following these key points will help you continue to progress and benefit your muscular health in several ways, ranging from strength to endurance.

While your training load (how much weight) and volume (how many sets/reps) influence your results, your technique is also essential to success. Practice each exercise with lighter weights, especially if you are new to them, and only progress when you feel ready.

It’s also important to complete a thorough warm-up before you start your workout to ensure your muscles are stretched and ready for movement. This can help prevent injury. You can also consider doing a couple of lighter warm-up sets of each exercise before your heavier ‘working sets’ of each glute exercise to activate your nervous system and muscles for the coming challenge.

Everybody can benefit from focused glute exercises, especially because strong glutes help prevent injury and improve your overall movement patterns. Try a variety of exercises, such as walking lunges, hip thrusts, squats, and deadlifts.

Incorporate them into your regular workout routine or dedicate a focused workout day to glutes. Focus on maintaining form before increasing your weight load to prevent injury.