How to Really Grow Glutes

Grow Strong Glutes With These Effective Workouts and Foods

Summer is right around the corner, and many people want to know how to grow glutes so that they can show off a firmer butt at the beach.

Thankfully, the best glute exercises are simple yet extremely effective.

Also, if you combine those workouts with the correct diet, and learn how to activate your glutes correctly, you will increase your chances of gaining muscle mass in a healthy and sustainable way.

Great Glute Strengthening Exercises

Barbell Squats

Squats are among the best glute exercises to incorporate into your routine. They heavily activate your glutes and also train your upper legs, calves, core, and back stabilizers.

Improper squats can severely damage your joints and muscles, so you should ask a trainer to teach you how to do this booty workout correctly if you’re having trouble with it.

To safely perform a squat, you must first set the bar at the proper height on the rack. The bar should sit slightly lower than your shoulders so that you can easily push it up and step back without getting caught on the rack.

How to do it

Once you’ve set the bar in a good spot, you must step forward, get under the barbell, and center yourself on it. The barbell should lie across the back of your shoulders and line up near where your neck meets your torso.

Grip the barbell so that your forearms are almost parallel with your torso.

Keep your back straight while slowly pushing up with your legs to remove the barbell from the rack.

Then, take a step or two backward until the rack is no longer in your way. Check your posture to ensure that your back is still straight, spread your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, and keep your knees somewhat bent.

Stare straight at the wall in front of you. Don’t angle your head upwards or towards the floor. Otherwise, you may mess up your posture.

Distribute your weight evenly across both feet; don’t lean forward on your toes or put too much weight on your heels.

Finally, you can start your first rep. Gradually bend your knees to lower yourself until your legs are about parallel with the floor. Remember to slowly inhale until you reach that point. Your butt should not wiggle around during this step.

Instead, it should follow an invisible line that’s almost perpendicular to the floor as you descend. Remain in the bottom position for about a second.

As you prepare to perform the upward motion of this exercise, remember to distribute your weight evenly across each foot.

Squeeze your butt muscles, gently exhale, and gradually straighten your knees and hips until you return to the starting position.

Slow down as you approach the top of the rep so that you don’t accidentally spring upward.

Once you’re in the starting position, readjust your posture and footing if you need to. Then, repeat the process until you’ve completed all of the reps in your set. After you’ve completed your set, carefully approach the rack.

Keep your back straight while slightly bending your knees to safely lower the bar onto the mounts.

Glute Kickbacks

This glute strengthening exercise activates your bum and hamstrings without anything but a yoga mat, so it’s one of the best glutes workouts to do at home.

This exercise is pretty easy to perform. First, you must get down on your hands and knees. Your arms and legs should come straight down to the yoga mat while remaining parallel with each other.

Slowly lift one leg toward the ceiling. Keep your foot flat. Your calf should stay perpendicular to the upper leg.

Once your foot is parallel with the ceiling, you can gradually return your leg to its original position and repeat the process with the other leg.

As long as you remember to always keep your back straight, this convenient booty workout will give you a firmer butt in no time.

Barbell Deadlifts

Although most people think of deadlifts as a back exercise, they’re actually a very good way to grow booty. Standard deadlifts activate the glutes, trapezius, erector spinae, and other stabilizer muscles.

As a bonus, deadlifts can greatly improve your posture, which will make your firm butt stand out even more.

Before you start your first rep, the bar should be completely horizontal in front of you. Place your feet under the bar.

Spread your feet about as wide as your shoulders. The bar should be far enough away from your shins that it doesn’t scrape your legs when you lift it.

Keep your back straight, distribute your weight evenly across both feet, and gradually bend your knees until your hands are touching the bar.

At this point, your hips should be slightly above your knees, and your arms will be nearly perpendicular to the bar.

Firmly grasp the bar with an overhand grip. Take a deep breath, brace your abs, and arch your lower back as you lift the bar until reaching a standing position.

Your forearms should be within an inch of the lateral side of each knee as you perform the upward motion.

At the end of the upward motion, you will be standing upright while the bar rests right in front of your thighs.

Arch your lower back and slowly bend your knees as you gradually bring the bar back to the ground.

The bar should remain very close to your body at each stage of the rep. You can finally exhale once the bar is back on the ground. Repeat the process until you’ve finished your set.

Side-Lying Leg Lifts

Side-lying leg lifts almost completely target your butt. To perform this exercise, you must lie down on your side, place a resistance band around your upper legs, and lift the higher leg towards the ceiling.

Lift your leg to about 45 degrees, hold it in place for two seconds, and slowly return the leg to its original position. Once you’ve finished with one leg, you can turn over and repeat the process with the other leg.

Side-lying leg lifts work the outside of your glutes and add a ton of width to your butt. You can easily perform side-lying leg lifts without resistance bands, so they are one of the most convenient booty workouts to do at home.

Dumbbell Lunges

Lunges mainly train your butt, hamstrings, and quadriceps, so they can really make your bum stand out by tightening your upper legs.

Using dumbbells will hasten your progress, but if you don’t have dumbbells, you can do bodyweight lunges to achieve similar results.

Lunges are very safe and easy to perform, so they’re one of the most convenient glutes workouts for someone with a busy life.

Before you start your set, you must stand upright, relax your shoulders, and hold the dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing your legs.

Take a deep breath, move your right leg forward, and land on the heel of your foot. Your step should be big enough that your right thigh is almost parallel with the ground when your foot lands.

As you move forward, shift your weight towards the toes on your left foot. Remember to keep your back straight as you exhale and bring your right foot back to the starting position. Follow the same steps with your left leg.

How to Grow Glutes: Healthy Foods that Will Help You

Skinless Chicken Breast

Your muscles need protein to grow at a steady pace, and skinless chicken breast is a great option for someone who wants a lot of protein without too much saturated fat.

To make your chicken even healthier, you should grill or broil it to get rid of excess fat. Chicken is a very versatile ingredient, so you can easily incorporate it into healthy salads and wraps.

Pasture-Raised Eggs

Eggs in general are highly nutritious. Both the egg white and yolk are rich in nutrients, including proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Pastured eggs come from chickens that are free to wander outdoors in a pasture where they can eat grass, worms, bugs or anything they want.

A 2010 study from Penn State showed that these eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids as eggs from caged hens.

Complex Carbohydrates

The body is built to quickly burn carbs to give you enough energy to perform strenuous tasks, but not all carbohydrates are great for you.

Sugar, white bread, and other refined carbs can cause your blood sugar to spike.

This will give you a lot of energy for a very short time. However, you will soon crash and become hungry again.

Complex carbs provide quick energy but take longer to digest than refined carbs.

Thus, they keep you full and give you long-term energy without harming your health or making you tired.

Foods that are high in complex carbs include oatmeal, buckwheat, chickpeas, brown rice, potatoes, berries, and beans.

Unsaturated Fats

Contrary to popular belief, you shouldn’t completely cut fats out of your diet.

While some fatty foods may contribute to heart disease, other foods contain unsaturated fats that lower your cholesterol and decrease inflammation.

Avocados, eggs, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, cottage cheese, coconut oil, and Greek yogurt are all high in unsaturated fats.

Your body burns healthy fats very slowly, so the aforementioned foods are good snacks if you want to feel full for a long time.

Spinach

Electrolytes are vital for your muscles to properly expand and contract. Without enough magnesium, potassium, and calcium, your muscles will severely cramp.

Thankfully, spinach is full of electrolytes, and you can incorporate spinach into salads, soups, omelets, and a variety of other tasty meals to avoid painful cramps at the gym.

Almonds

Almonds are low in calories and high in protein.

Thus, they’re great for someone who wants to grow their muscles without putting on extra weight.

Moreover, almonds have a lot of fiber, so they can help you stay regular and maintain a healthy digestive system as you consume more protein-rich foods.

How To Grow Glutes Sustainably

Ask for Help

Trying new booty workouts can be tricky, and bad form may lead to severe consequences.

Therefore, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help if you don’t know how to properly perform a workout. Most trainers at reputable gyms have plenty of experience with various exercises, so they can teach you how to grow glutes without putting your body at risk.

Set Measurable Goals

If you want to increase your odds of success, then you need to set measurable and attainable goals.

Although you may simply want to have a bigger butt, such a vague goal gives you no way of assessing your progress. Instead, your goal should have a deadline and include hard numbers or percentages.

For example, a good goal would be to increase the weight of the first set of your barbell squat by 25% within four weeks.

If your first set consists of 12 reps at 100 pounds, then you know that you will have to complete 12 good reps at 125 pounds in your first set by the end of the four-week period.

With such a specific goal, there will be no ambiguity about your success.

Grow Booty With a Convenient Workout Plan

People are often excited when they learn how to grow glutes, but building muscle requires dedication.

It’s easy to imagine that you will do everything in your power to succeed when you’re in the planning phase.

However, once you put your plans into practice, you may have difficulty following through. To increase your likelihood of success, you need a workout plan that fits your schedule and doesn’t present many obstacles.

While you may get a better workout at the fancy gym across town, going to that gym three times per week might not be feasible if you have a busy schedule.

Instead, you may want to spend three nights per week doing bodyweight exercises at home. While the gains from each workout session may not be as significant, you’ll be less likely to skip a workout, so you will grow booty more sustainably over a longer period.

Do the Right Number of Reps

If you want a good booty, then you should do about three sets of between eight and 12 reps per exercise.

Some people start at a low weight on their first set and slightly increase the weight of each following set.

Others train with the same weight for all three sets.

Either way, once you’re able to complete all three sets perfectly, you can increase the weight of your sets and repeat the process.

Recommended read: How to Lose Belly Fat in 30 Days – A Proven Method

How to Grow Glutes: Behaviors To Avoid

Overtraining

You might think that training your bum every day will make it grow at the speed of lightning. However, rest is vital for muscle growth, so overtraining might hinder your progress.

Moreover, working out your bum too often will cause fatigue and increase the likelihood of injury.

You may want to train your glute muscles twice a week – for example on Monday and Thursday or on Tuesday and Friday.

Inconsistency

You need to follow a regular workout schedule and consistently eat the right foods to grow glutes effectively.

Moreover, you can’t just quit working out after you meet your goal. To maintain a thick bum, you need to regularly use it.

Otherwise, the muscles in your butt will gradually shrink.

Heavy Alcohol Consumption

Nothing beats a night out with your friends, but you need to keep the drinking to a minimum if you’re trying to build muscle.

Alcohol limits your body’s ability to process protein. Because protein is one of the most important aspects of muscle growth, heavy drinking will diminish the impact of your workouts.

Enjoying a drink or two with friends once per week won’t cause much of a difference, but drinking every day or consuming many drinks in one sitting will noticeably affect your progress.

A Strong Booty Is on the Horizon

Your butt won’t grow in the blink of an eye.

However, working out multiple times per week and consistently eating the right foods will ensure steady progress.

The journey towards a bigger booty might not always be easy, and you may face challenges along the way, but you will eventually triumph as long as you maintain proper form and stay dedicated to your goals.

Photo by Zoran Zonde Stojanovski on Unsplash