The Ultimate guide to growing your glutes without growing your legs

If you want to grow your glutes without growing your legs this is your ultimate guide. To accomplish this we want to focus on two main things; 1) do a higher proportion of our weightlifting with isolation exercises that isolate the glutes, and 2) when we do compound lower body movements, make sure we are using the best technique possible to allow our glutes to do as much of the work as possible. At the end there is a sample program to put theory into practice.

1) More of our training volume should be exercises that isolate the glutes, which are often hardest at the top of the movement where there is no other option than to use your glutes. These are going to be exercises like the hip thrust, single leg hip thrust, kickbacks, cable abductions, and hip extensions on either the 45 degree hip extension or GHD. The most important consideration on the technique for these is that we avoid arching our back to complete the reps. We want to maintain a neutral spine as we move around our hips as much as possible. I like to program one of these types of exercises to start each glute focused workout, working heavy in the 4-8 or 6-10 rep range, and then finish with another exercise at the end of the workout in a higher rep range, often 15-20 with minimal rest in between sets. 

2) When we do our big compound movements, we want to make sure our technique puts our glutes in the best position possible to contribute to the movement. You have to learn to hinge through your hips to do this effectively, avoiding rounding or arching your lower back, and maintaining good tension through your trunk. The kickstand hinge is the ultimate test of whether you can actually move through your hips, or if you have been compensating in this movement by moving through your spine or knee. 

Once you can effectively move through your hips, make sure you are using a technique that reduces the relative contribution from your quads and hamstrings. In the leg press, place your feet high to reduce the amount of bend in your knees. Your squats should have a more forward torso lean, almost like a good morning. And with your lunges you should try to stack your knee on top of the middle of your foot and lean your torso forward as you go through the movement. In your hinges, make sure you keep your weight over the middle of your foot, and your knees bent accordingly. Try not to move through your knee at all in your rdl work, and feel how much harder your glutes have to work compared to your hamstrings. 

The following is a 3 day routine that trains your glutes incredibly effectively. 

Day 1 

A) Hip thrust (barbell or machine) 3 sets of 4-8 reps 

B1) Barbell Back squat (glute focus) 3 sets 6-10 reps 

B2) Staggered stance RDL 3 sets 8-12 reps per side 

C) Cable abduction 3 sets of 15-20 reps per side 

Day 2 

A) 45 degree hip extension 1 + ¼ reps 3 sets 4-8 reps 

B1) RDL (barbell/trap bar/ double dumbbell) 3 sets 6-10 reps 

B2) Reverse lunge 3 sets 8-12 reps per side (complete all reps on one side before moving to the other) 

C) Single leg hip thrust 2 sets rest pause as many reps as possible (if you get more than 20 reps in your first set add a dumbbell to the hip on the working leg) (rest pause works as follows - complete as many reps as you can on one side, then immediately without resting go to the other side, then without rest back to the first side, and so on until you have completed three sets to failure on each side) 

Day 3 

A) GHD hip extension 3 sets of clusters 5.5.5 (rest 5 seconds in between each set of 5 reps) 

B1) Rear foot elevated split squat 3 sets 6-10 reps per side 

B2) Bosu ball hamstring curl 3 sets 15-20 reps 

C) Glute medius kickbacks 3 sets 15-20 reps