You want to see a sexy, firm, peach emoji booty when you pose in the mirror.

Not a flat, pancake butt without any shape. 

Right?  

You’re in the right place then because in this post, we’ll be walking through everything you could possibly ever want to know about how to grow your glutes. 

Here are the main topics we’ll cover:

• How to workout to achieve the glute gains you want
• What your diet should look like
• Common glute-building mistakes to avoid

If you read this entire post and don’t skip any sections, you’ll come away knowing EXACTLY what to do in order to build an impressive set of glutes.

So do me a favor and don’t skip any sections, okay? 

If you do decide to jump around and skip, you won’t be able to blame me if your glutes don’t grow 😉

What are your glute muscles?

That’s “s” as in plural because your glutes aren’t just one muscle. 

There are actually three primary muscles that make up your glutes:

• Gluteus maximus–This is the largest muscle in your glutes. It’s the muscle most people think of when someone says “glutes.”
• Gluteus medius–AKA your side glutes (think lateral hip).
• Gluteus minimus–The smallest muscle in your glutes (also a lateral hip muscle).

How to grow your glutes at home or in the gym: Training

It doesn’t matter whether you’re bulking or cutting.  

Trying to out-exercise a poor diet would be like trying to sneeze with your eyes open.

Try it and let me know how that goes. 

But while nutrition is definitely an important piece, it doesn’t hold the key to growing your glutes.

Strength training does.

Lifting weights (not those light 2.5 lb dumbbells but challenging yourself with heavy weights) is the only way to build muscle. 

And whether you’re working out in the gym or at home, you need muscle in order to grow your glutes.

Simply put…

No muscle = no glute growth.

What’s true strength training?

First, here’s what it isn’t:

• Banded kickbacks on the StairMaster
• That little fire hydrant exercise where you look like a dog trying to pee 
• Donkey kickbacks with a 3 lb dumbbell wedged behind your knees
• HIIT workouts where you sweat a ton and get so out of breath you’re like a fish out of water gasping for air  
• Orange Theory or fitness boot camp classes

Those won’t get the job done in terms of helping you grow your glutes.

You might “feel the burn” when doing the above (and think that means you’re working on your glutes) but they don’t help you build muscle.

Here’s what does…

1. Progressive overload

This workout principle is fundamental to making progress, building muscle, and seeing the glute growth you want. 

It’s called progressive overload. 

This isn’t a suggestion or something that “might help.” 

Please, for the love of all things glute growth, understand this…🙏🏾 

If you want to grow your glutes, applying this principle is an out-and-out necessity. 

Progressive overload simply means gradually lifting heavier weight over time during your workouts. 

This places added stress on your body. 

But it’s a good type of stress and your body says to itself, “Hey, I need to adapt to handle this extra stress.”

Building muscle (i.e. growing your glutes) is your body’s way of adapting.

For example, let’s say you start out squatting 100 lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps.

Progressive overload would be gradually increasing the weight to 105 lbs, then over time 110 lbs, and so on.

You’re not going to lift more weight every single workout but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

Your goal and mentality should be to lift just a few pounds more or get one more rep than you did the last time out.  

2. Compound movements

The best exercises to grow your glutes (and just build muscle in general) are compound movements such as Bulgarian split squats, hip thrusts, and RDLs (Romanian deadlifts). 

These give you the most bang for your glute-building buck because they allow you to lift the heaviest weight, which recruits the most muscle fibers in your glutes.

How often should you hit glutes for growth?

In terms of frequency, hitting your glutes twice per week is the sweet spot.

You’ll also need enough training volume (i.e. enough sets and reps) to build muscle and grow your glutes.

Ideally, you want to aim for somewhere between 10-20 sets per week of exercises that target your glutes.

Let’s say you’re following an upper/lower training split. 

That might look like this:

• Monday–lower body workout
• Tuesday–upper body workout
• Thursday–lower body workout
• Friday–upper body workout

If you did 8 sets of glute exercises on Monday, followed by 8 sets of glute exercises on Thursday, you’d fall within that 10-20 set range.

8 + 8 = 16 exercises to grow your glutes for the week. 

Another thing…

As long as you’re training hard and keeping workout intensity high (i.e. pushing yourself within 1-2 reps shy of failure on each set), your workouts shouldn’t be a marathon and a half long.

At this point, you might be saying to yourself, “Chad, this is all well and good but I don’t have a workout plan to follow.”

Don’t worry, I got ya covered like an umbrella in the rain.

You can USE THIS ARTICLE I wrote to create a customized workout routine from scratch to help grow your glutes. 

How to grow your glutes: Diet

Weight loss comes down to being in a calorie deficit.

But what should you do when your goal is to grow your glutes? 

You need to do the opposite…

While fat loss requires eating less, growing your glutes means being in a calorie surplus and eating more.  

If you’re a woman (which I’m assuming most of you reading this post are), I understand the thought of eating more calories probably sets off alarm bells in your head.  

Unfortunately, that’s not at all surprising, considering most of the messages you see online or on social media focus on eating less, slimming down, and losing weight.

But I want to be clear about this. 

If growing your glutes is truly a goal of yours, you’re going to have to ditch the “I need to eat fewer calories” mindset. 

That mindset applies to weight loss, not building muscle and growing your glutes. 

But what if I want to lose fat AND grow my glutes at the same time? 

Is that possible?

It is…

But only if:

1. You’re a complete beginner to strength training and being on an actual program where you apply progressive overload.

Or..

2. You’ve taken an extended break for strength training.

The thing with either of those scenarios is that newbie sort of “superpower” where you can lose fat and grow your glutes at the same time is only temporary.   

So it’s not a situation where you can have your cake and eat it too long-term.

Losing fat and building muscle are two conflicting goals, like trying to run forward and backward at the same time.  

Choose the one goal you want to accomplish most and put all your effort into that. 

Growing your glutes requires eating more.

Losing fat requires eating less. 

Won’t the scale go up if I’m eating more calories?

I won’t sit here and lie to you. 

Yes, it will.

You’re eating more and building muscle, so that’s to be expected. 

I know that can be a bit scary, considering your mind has probably been conditioned to view the scale going up as a bad thing.

Seeing the number on that scale start to creep up a little might make you uneasy at first but pushing past those uncomfortable feelings and consuming more calories is what it takes to grow your glutes.

Lean into the fact that change isn’t made when you’re comfortable.

And it’s not just you.

Putting on a little bit of weight happens to everyone who’s truly in a calorie surplus and trying to build muscle. 

So yeah, your clothes might start fitting a little snugger but that’s okay because you need to be thinking long-term here.

Besides, the majority of the weight you put on will be lean muscle mass (i.e. you’re not gaining a whole bunch of body fat). 

Some of that extra scale weight just comes down to increasing your carb intake (which is typical when you’re in a calorie surplus). 

Carbs (no, they don’t automatically make you fat) cause your body to hold onto more water, and water retention means a higher number on the scale.

Again, an increase in scale weight doesn’t mean you’re gaining body fat. 

How much weight will I gain?

First off, your weight fluctuates on a daily basis so I’d recommend weighing yourself every single day.

You’ll get a more accurate reading that way and have more insight into how your weight is truly trending month over month. 

In general, expect to see roughly a 0.5-2 lb weight increase each month.

I can’t say this enough but just to reiterate, you’re not putting on a ton of extra body fat. 

As long as you’re sticking to your strength training plan and staying on track with your nutrition, the majority of your weight gain will be muscle and you’ll keep fat gain to a minimum. 

What happens if the scale goes up more than the 0.5-2 lbs I just mentioned? 

Let’s say you’re gaining 3, 4, 5 lbs+. 

Don’t do anything drastic if you find yourself in this situation, like slash your calories by 500 or something like that.

Just cut back your calories a little bit at a time until you fall back within that 0.5-2 lb range.

How many calories should I be eating to grow my glutes?

Here’s how to figure out the number of calories you should be eating to build muscle and grow your glutes:

1. Use a TDEE calculator like this one here to get your maintenance calories (This is the number of calories you’d eat to maintain your current weight).

2. Add about 200 calories to your maintenance number to get your surplus calories for glute growth.

Let’s say your maintenance calories are 1,800. 

Adding 200 to that gets you 2,000 calories per day to grow your glutes. 

To make sure you’re actually eating that amount on a daily basis, start counting calories.

You don’t want to guesstimate or try to “eyeball” your portion sizes.

You’re just gambling with your muscle growth when you do that and leaving things up to chance.

Within those calories, make sure you’re eating enough protein (0.7g-1g per pound of your body weight daily). 

Here’s a quick summary of nutrition to grow your glutes…

A.) Eat in a calorie surplus (about 100-200 calories above your maintenance)

B.) Eat 0.7g-1g per pound of body weight in protein daily

Follow the 80/20 rule with your diet

Don’t be fooled into thinking growing your glutes means feeling deprived and giving up all the foods you love.

Whether your goal is to build muscle and grow your glutes or to lose weight by being in a calorie deficit (remember, you need to pick one and stick with it), the 80/20 rule is a good one to follow for eating.

It’s a flexible approach to nutrition where you simply get 80% of your calories from nutrient-dense whole foods like chicken breast, eggs/egg whites, potatoes, fruits, veggies, etc.

And then the other 20% of your calories can come from foods like pizza, burgers, chips, fries, and cookies–those favorite “fun” foods that may be a little higher in calories.  

Eating that way–“healthy” the majority of the time while allowing room for your favorites in moderation– is an infinitely more sustainable approach than going completely cold turkey on all the sweets, treats, and snacks you enjoy.

And when you can sustain, you maintain the results you achieve. 

The key to growing your glutes: Patience and consistency

We’ve talked about how to train to grow your glutes and also about what your diet should look like. 

But simply possessing that knowledge won’t mean diddly squat unless you have the two words I’m about to say….

Patience.

Consistency.

Don’t go into this with the expectation that working out and being in a calorie surplus for a few weeks will lead to some dramatic transformation.

Growing your glutes isn’t an overnight sensation type of thing.

But that’s where a lot of people just fall by the wayside and I don’t want you to be one of them!

It’s easy to be be super consistent in the beginning.

You’re all motivated to lose weight or grow your glutes but when you don’t see any results after only a few weeks, you give up and think things aren’t working.

The thing is, they are.

And if just make the commitment to be in this for the long haul, you’ll see that. 

How often can you just poof, snap your fingers, and achieve some ultimate goal?

We all know the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

And it honestly couldn’t be any more true than when it comes to growing your glutes.

But as long as you’re consistent with your workouts and nutrition over the long term you WILL see results. 

That means sticking to the plan and doing everything you know you need to do, even when you’re not feeling all that motivated or results aren’t happening as fast as you’d like. 

Why are my glutes not growing?

You’re probably starting to question whether a juicier, more plump backside is even in the cards for you.

If so, make sure none of the common glute-building mistakes below apply to you.

Mistakes to avoid when trying to grow your glutes

1. Focusing on the “burn” or “pump” instead of progressive overload

Yes, it’s good to challenge yourself and you’re going to have to push through that burning sensation in your workouts. 

It’s also beneficial to develop a mind-muscle connection to ensure you’re actually working the right muscles.

But you build muscle and grow your glutes by applying progressive overload (gradually increasing the amount of weight you lift over time), not necessarily by “feeling the burn” or getting a good pump. 

Your glutes could be on fire and you could have the best pump in the world but if you’re not continuing to lift heavier and heavier weight, you won’t grow your glutes.

Don’t forget this–progressive overload is essential to muscle growth. 

2. Not eating enough overall calories

You might think, “Well, if I don’t eat too many calories I can stay lean and grow my glutes at the same time.” 

So you crash diet and go with the whole 1,200 calories a day nonsense. 

But as we’ve discussed, that’s not how things work. 

Trying to operate that way would be like having one foot in the door and one foot out.

Are you inside or outside?

You’re neither. 

You’re just stuck and not making any progress in either direction.

Pick your main goal:

Either eat a little bit more to your glutes OR eat a little bit less to lose fat.

3. Not eating enough protein

Protein is to muscle growth (and growing your glutes) what water is to a fish. 

Remember that? 

Here’s a list of high-protein foods I put together for you to include in your diet: 

• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast 
• Lean ground beef 
• Lean ground turkey 
• Steak (sirloin tip side, top round steak, eye of round steak)
• Egg whites/eggs: Instead of having 3 whole eggs for an omelet, have 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites, or something like that. It’ll save you calories while still keeping protein high.
• Shrimp
• Tuna 
• Salmon: High in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to your health.
• White fish (cod, tilapia, halibut) 
• Lean ground turkey
• Pork tenderloin
• Low or nonfat Greek yogurt
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Seitan
• Protein powder

 

How to grow your glutes FAQs

What is the fastest way to grow glutes?

I get it, you want to grow your glutes as fast as possible.

But when you think fast, fast, fast with the glute gains it just overinflates your expectations.

Then, you get disappointed when results don’t come as quickly as you want or expect them to.

The best way to grow your glutes is by being consistent and having patience.

Strength train 3-4 times a week (focusing on compound movements and progressive overload) and eat in a calorie surplus to fuel glute growth.

How do I know if my glutes are growing?

1. If you want a definitive way to tell, one of the signs your glutes are growing is a change in your measurements (take them every couple of weeks or so and chart your progress). 

2. You can always check to see how things are going in the mirror or through progress pictures. 

3. Your clothes also may start fitting a little bit tighter around your glutes.

Should I train glutes every day?

Nope, don’t do this…

Your body needs time to rest and recover in between workouts. 

That’s when the real glute growth magic happens–during recovery. 

Training glutes twice per week is optimal.