Squats are a great way to get bigger, stronger glutes, but they’re not the only way, and doing them alone won’t get you the glutes of your dreams. Sure squats should be part of your lower-body workout routine, but they’re actually not the best move for glute-building. Here are four ways to get a bigger butt, beyond just squats.
Do Exercises That Activate Your Glutes
To build glutes, barbell hip thrust, B-stance hip thrusts, and dumbbell frog pumps are some of the best exercises. They’re easy to learn, easy to overload over time, and they use the highest level of glute activity.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload refers to upping the weight and/or reps in your workouts to challenge your muscles, and to build your glutes, you’ll have to do this.
Master the Posterior Pelvic Tilt
The workouts are effective if you can feel them working. If you can’t, add the posterior pelvic tilt to your glute exercises, which is the end range glute contraction, like locking out your glutes.
Rule of Thirds
Train the glutes three times per week with a variety of exercises. One-third should be vertical, one-third should be horizontal, and one-third should be lateral/rotary. The one-third rule also applies to weigh, rep ranges, and effort. One-third of the load should be heavy for low reps, one-third should be medium for moderate reps, and one-third should be light for higher reps. For effort, one-thrid of the sets should be carried out to failure, one-third should be performed to two to three reps shy of failure, and one-third of your set shouldn’t be close to failure.
