Booty building 101: Everything I’ve learnt about building glutes so far.

Hi guys, 

I’m so excited to write this blog! I write about booty building a lot in my posts on Instagram so I thought I would combine everything into one concise blog so it’s easy to read and simply laid out. 

I’ve spent the last 18 months focusing on building a booty and I’ve made many mistakes in the process and tried lots of different approaches, so I want to share everything I’ve learnt and that I feel has worked for me so you guys can hopefully benefit from it!

*Disclaimer*

This blog is based off my experiences and what I have learnt from watching professionals and other non professionals. I’m not a professional or qualified (YET) so please bear that in mind when reading this blog. 

▪️GENERAL TIPS 

-Protein: It’s so important to eat enough protein when trying to build glutes. You can work out your own protein requirement on free macro calculators online, I use the IIFYM website.

-Progressive Overload: If you started training using 6kg dumbbells for your lunges and you’re still using that same weight 6 months later, you aren’t progressively overloading the muscle. 

Aim to increase the weight you are using each week but make sure you feel that your form is strong so you don’t injure yourself. 

Some exercises you will progress quickly with and others you may struggle to increase the weight but don’t worry, just take your time. 

-Take Note: Keep a written note of the weights you are using for each exercise and update weekly when you progress so you can see how far you have come. 

-Glute activation: Your glute muscles can be lazy and need to be “woken up” before starting a leg day for maximum booty gains and not so much on the quad gains. Exercises such as: crab walks, donkey kicks, clamshells, glute bridges and frog pumps used with resistance bands have been winners for me. 

-Touch: Touch your glutes during activation or other exercises if you struggle to activate/hit them and really think about your glutes whilst performing every single rep rather just rushing through to get it done. 

-Isolation exercises: For example; Fire hydrants, donkey kicks, glute bridges. Isolation means exercises that isolate one or two muscle groups. These are perfect for growing glutes as the other muscles; for example your quads can quite often take over. 

A lot of glute activation exercises isolate the glutes especially when used with resistance bands. 

-Compounds: For example: Lunges, deadlifts and squats. These require the use of a lot of different muscles in your body. Although they don’t isolate your glutes as much as a “banded fire hydrant”, don’t skip your compound movements as you need the strength from these movements to help with progressive overload, to keep good form and to have a balanced physique. 

(I do a mix of isolated and compound movements and I’ve seen the most muscle growth this way rather than just focusing on one type of exercise) 

-Bret Contreras and Diana Ruiz fit: They both have changed my entire outlook and training on glutes. Bret has a PHD in glutes and has such an advanced level of knowledge when it comes to building glutes and Diana Ruiz has great workouts that teach you a lot about which exercise helps the different muscle in your glutes for the perfect “bubble butt”. Definitely follow them both on YouTube and Instagram if you want to up your glute game. 

▪️THE 3 MAIN GLUTE MUSCLES 

-The gluteus maximus 

-The gluteus medius (often called the “side booty muscle” on social media) 

-The gluteus minimus 

Working all 3 of these muscles will help you to achieve the look of an evenly proportioned booty.

I try to target each of these muscles on every leg session. 

▪️MY “GO TO” EXERCISES FOR GLUTES: 

Donkey kicks, fire hydrants, Romanian dead lifts, single leg deadlifts, cable kickbacks, crab walks, the hip abductor machine, frog pumps, heavy hip thrusts, banded or dumbbell hip thrusts, rainbow kicks, sumo squats, glute bridges and elevated goblet squats. 

▪️MY STRUCTURE FOR LEG/GLUTE SESSIONS: 

*I write down a plan on my phone before so I can refer back to it during my workout* 

~ Activation x 1 set with resistance bands or ankle weights. 

For example: 

-Donkey kicks x 20 each leg with ankle weights 

-Fire hydrants x 20 each leg with resistance band 

-Crab walks x 20 with resistance band

-Frog pumps x 20 

-Clamshells x 20 each side with resistance band 

~Heavy weight exercises or compounds 

For example: 

-Hip thrusts on smith machine: 10 reps x 4/5 sets 

-Sumo smith machine squats: 10 reps x 3 sets 

-Romanian dead lifts (RDL’s) (1 dumbbell in each hand): 10 reps x 3/4 sets 

-Walking/Stationary lunges: 20 lunges x 3 sets 

-Hip abductor machine: 15 reps x 4/5 sets 

~Isolated or lighter weight work 

For example: 

-Cable kick backs: 10 each leg x 3 sets 

-Cable fire hydrants: 10 each leg x 3 sets 

-Elevated glute bridge: 20 reps x 3-4 sets 

-Banded exercises with higher reps 

~Finisher ideas: 

-Repeat of glute activation

-20 frog pumps x 4 sets 

-Jumping in and out squats 15 reps x 3/4 sets 

▪️EXERCISES I LIKE FOR “SIDE GLUTES”:

(You can find these either on my workout videos on Instagram @daniellapetersfit or on YouTube if you type the name of the exercise in)  

Fire hydrants, the abductor machine, elevated goblet squat, clamshells, side lunges, good mornings, semi circles, single leg push downs on the assisted pull up machine, cable fire hydrants, rainbow kicks, pausing goblet squats, crab walks, jumping and in and out squats and side leg raises with dumbbells. 

▪️EXERCISES I LIKE FOR THE “UNDER BUTT” 

Donkey kicks, dumbbell glute bridge, single leg lift ups with ankle weights, RDL’s, cable pull throughs, single leg kick ups, kneeling hip thrusts, single leg deadlifts, good mornings and step ups onto a platform with a kickback. 

▪️OTHER GREAT GLUTE EXERCISES: 

Sumo squats, sumo deadlifts, leg press machine, leg curl machine, frog pumps, walking and stationary lunges, Bulgarian split squats and cable squats. 

▪️EXAMPLES OF PROTEIN SOURCES: 

Animal protein: Chicken, pork, beef, venison, lamb, tuna, salmon, eggs, milk, Greek yoghurt and cheese. 

Non animal protein: Beans, lentils, quinoa, hummus, chickpeas, tofu, seitan, broccoli, chia seeds, soy products, rice.

Other protein sources: Protein powder, protein bars, shakes and other “protein products”. 

These lists are not exhaustive, simply examples 🙂

▪️SUPPLEMENTS:

-You don’t NEED supplements in order to see muscle growth so don’t worry if you don’t want to take them or can’t afford them. However they are helpful 🙂 

I use protein powder to make protein oats or protein shakes because I don’t eat a lot of animal products which TEND to be the highest in protein so this ensures I hit my protein intake each day. If you are a meat/dairy/egg eater you should find it much easier to hit your daily protein intake. 

I also drink water mixed with flavoured  BCAA powder after my leg days to help aid muscle growth, reduce muscle soreness and fatigue. I notice a HUGE difference when I don’t take use BCAA’s. 

▪️MINI Q&A

“How can I build hip dips?” 

Your hip dips actually depend on your bone structure and how your hip bones sit. Hence why some people have very obvious looking hip dips and others don’t. You obviously can’t change bone structure but I have found by targeting the gluteus medius muscle (the side booty muscle) and building up the muscles around your hips more that it helps to soften the appearance of them. 

Certain leggings and underwear can make your hip dips look worse or smoother depending on the style, fit and material. 

Gaining weight can also help with losing the appearance of hip dips as you have more body fat to conceal that area. 

▪️”Which exercises do you think have helped you grow your glutes the most?” 

Heavy hip thrusts, frog pumps, cable kickbacks and the hip abductor machine. 

▪️”How can I get rid of the fat right underneath my bum” 

I have found focusing on exercises that target your hamstrings such as RDL’s, single leg deadlifts and glute bridges really effective in tightening that area up and also just general weight loss. 

▪️”Can you build glutes whilst losing weight?”

I honestly don’t know the answer to this question. From my experience I found focusing on one thing at a time , (i.e- weight loss or muscle gain) easier and my “body goal” came together in the end. 

I didn’t completely lose my bum when I tried to lose weight however, I just kept a strong focus on glutes so I didn’t lose too much volume. 

▪️”How many reps/sets should I do?”

I personally stick to 6-8 reps on compound movements with 3-4 sets and 10-20 reps with 3-5 sets on lighter/isolation movements. 

Find a ratio that you like and one that works for you. 

▪️”What is your protein intake?”

I generally aim for 90-120g of protein depending on my goal. At the moment it’s 111g a day.

▪️”How many times a week do you train legs?” 

Generally 3 times but always 2 no matter what and I never train legs 2 days in a row. 

I hope this helps someone with their future booty gains and one day when I’m qualified I will write a more factual and scientific version of this blog 😉 

Thank you if you got to the end of this and if you have any requests for future blogs please message me on Instagram.

My instagram: @daniellapetersfit 

Lots of love 

Danni 

Xx