Growing your glutes seems to be a growing trend these days. I work with women both in person and online who are wanting to put significant size on their butts. And I think it’s great! Less obsession with getting skinny and getting smaller, and more obsession with growing and getting strong. I love it.
While growing a big backside can sound superficial, there is actually tons of benefits to growing big, strong glutes. The glutes are the biggest muscle group in the body and play a huge role in how the rest of your body functions as a whole. So, if your glutes are strong and functioning well, the rest of your body will follow.
The glutes are a stubborn muscle group and extremely hard to grow. There is no denying that is takes tons and tons of hard work and tons and tons of time to actually build a solid pair of glutes. But, it is possible if you do it right and stick to the process.
From both my personal experience and working with clients in person and online, I have come to some conclusions as to why our glutes won’t grow.
First, being frequency. How many times a week are you actually training your glutes? Hint- once a week is NOT enough! If you’re looking to build a muscle group, you need to be hitting it AT LEAST twice a week. Consistently twice a week until you feel you’re ready to bump up to more frequency. Now this doesn’t mean you’re going as heavy as you can and setting PRs every session. You should train glutes in varying rep ranges and varying loads every week, hitting them in all types of ways.
The second reason your glutes won’t grow is from lack of “horizontal exercises” and “lateral exercises.” I think squatting has been a big trend for many years to grow our glutes. While squatting is one of the best compound lifts you can do for overall body strength/athleticism, it’s not necessarily the BEST way to grow your glutes. The best way to actually load and isolate your glutes is through horizontal loading (aka hip thrusting). Hip thrusts are the GAME CHANGER when it comes to glute growth! I never saw any real size development until I starting thrusting frequently. The glutes are made up of 3 muscle groups- glute maximus, glute medius, glute minimus. And in order to optimize your glute growth, you want hit all 3 in your training. That’s where lateral exercises come into play, specifically working the glute medius (sides of your butt). Resistance band work is great for this- lateral band steps, lateral band raise, fire hydrants, etc. Implementing hip thrusts and lateral work into your training will result in some serious glute growth- I guarantee it.
The next reason your glutes won’t grow is largely dependent on your nutritional habits. Remember, in order to grow muscle, you have to be at a healthy body fat percentage. If you’re under consuming calories and are sitting at a very low body fat comp, then it’s going to be impossible for you to actually put on size. So remember you must eat to grow!
And lastly, time. This is a big one. We all want immediate results. 8 sessions in and clients will ask, “why am I not seeing results.” Remember, change takes time. It takes consistent dedication and hard work for a long period of time. Most amazing glute transformations you see are usually about 5 years in the making. So instead of stressing about how long it’ll take to get there, focus on putting in the work every week. Make time the only thing separating you from your goals!
