Best Glute Workout: Gym Exercises For Glutes And Bum

Why Train Glutes | Full Workout | 8 Best Exercises | Combining Legs & Glutes | FAQs

Page last updated: 26/10/26

Looking for a gym workout that will help to give you defined legs and a sculpted butt? Not to mention help to increase your athletic performance and prevent knee and back pain? This guide covers the best glute exercises to build strength and shape in your booty, and how to combine them into one great workout session.

Everything here is based around standard gym kit, so you can follow it at any PureGym using a barbell, bench, cable machine and a resistance band.

At a glance

• A good glute workout mixes compound lifts with isolation work.
• Hip thrusts, squats, split squats and step ups should form the base of the session.
• Train glutes two to three times a week for enough volume to grow.
• Work in the 8 to 12 rep range for most exercises, with heavier low-rep work for strength.
• Finish with a high-rep isolation move such as cable or banded kickbacks.
• Add weight or reps each week so the glutes keep being challenged.
• A full glute session takes around 45 to 60 minutes, including a warm up.

Why train your glutes at the gym?

The right gym equipment can make all the difference when training your bum and glute muscles. As the biggest muscle in your body, bodyweight exercises can easily stop challenging your glutes and slow your progress. In the gym, you can add enough weight to make your muscles work hard and easily increase weight week by week to build strength through progressive overload. Plus, you can make the most of equipment like the hip thrust bench and cable machine — these can be hard to replicate at home. 

Strengthening and shaping your glutes doesn't happen overnight, unfortunately! Adding in butt-focused exercises to your weekly workouts will help to grow your glutes faster, with many people seeing a difference in just a few months. 

If your goal is specifically to grow your glutes, we have a dedicated guide to getting bigger glutes here. Just remember that the best way to grow any muscle is to progressively add more stimulus to the muscle, so make sure you increase either your weight or reps each week, and eat enough protein.

A full glute workout to try at the gym

Here, fitness influencer @beth_fitnessuk shares her booty-boosting routine with PureGym Insider @emilypuregym. 

Watch the video below to see the workout, or read on for the full breakdown of this workout under the video so you can save it for your next bum workout.

For this workout, you will need a barbell, weighted plates, a pair of barbell clips, a set of dumbbells and a resistance band.

Barbell hip thrusts – 4 x 10-12 reps

Designed to help you improve your glute strength, shape and size, barbell hip thrusts should become one of the fundamental movements in your glute workout. This exercise will also benefit your squats and deadlifts by improving your glute power and strengthening the lower back and leg muscles.

For this, you will need a barbell, bench and weights. Rest your upper back on the bench and push up to create a 90-degree angle from your foot to your knee. Ensure you are always looking forward and keeping your chin to your chest so you are not hurting your spine. 

Complete 4 sets of 10-12 reps.

Step ups – 4 x 10 reps

The step up is a great conditioning exercise, with studies like this one from the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine showing it may be one of the best exercises for activating your glutes, helping you to develop explosive leg power. 

Place one foot on the bench, which will be the working leg. Pushing through the heel of your foot, bring your other leg up to the bench. This is 1 rep; aim for 4 sets of 10 before moving on. If you want to make the exercise harder, add in some weights by either placing a barbell on your back or holding a dumbbell in each hand.

Complete 4 sets of 10 reps on each side. 

Bulgarian split squats – 3 x 10 reps

Bulgarian split squats are a great functional movement that allows you to build single-leg strength and stability. This exercise is fantastic for adding size to quads, hamstrings and glutes. 

Lunge forward, placing your trailing leg on the bench. Squat down, pushing through the heel on the floor so you can feel it in the glutes. Make sure you get nice and low, but try to avoid your knee touching the floor. This time we are going for 3 sets of 10 reps on each leg.

Walking lunge – 3 x 10 reps

The walking lunge allows you to focus on the activation of the glute to build and tone the muscle and again will help you achieve a symmetrically toned body by working one leg at a time.

Step forward, taking a nice wide stance to help activate the glutes. Sink down slowly; again, avoid the knee touching the floor and squeeze on the way up. As we did last time, 3 rounds of 10 reps on each leg.

Banded kickbacks – 3 sets to failure

Kickbacks improve your muscle strength and tone, helping to create sculpted legs. They also improve core stability!

This exercise is great as a finisher. Place a heavy resistance band just above the knee and get into a plank position with your knees on the ground. First of all, you want to kick the leg out behind you and then out to the side. This is a high-rep exercise, going until failure and alternating between legs. Perform the exercise 3 times through.

8 more glute exercises to do at the gym 

Looking for more exercises to add to a gym workout routine for your glutes? Check out this video for more inspiration or click through to the links below for more ideas on how to do each exercise.

• Hip thrusts
• Bulgarian split squats
• Single leg glute bridge
• Cable kickbacks
• Sumo squats
• Box step ups
• Curtsy lunges
• 1 ¼ goblet squats

Legs and glutes: how to train them together at the gym

It’s pretty common for gym-goers to combine legs and glutes sessions, mainly because the glutes are already working during most leg exercises. It’s also more time-efficient anyway — if you’re training three times a week, one lower body session that covers both is generally more realistic than two separate sessions. 

If you’re interested in combining the two: 

• Start with a big lift that works everything at once — something like a barbell squat or leg press
• Then go for a movement that bends at the hips with a straight-ish back — Romanian deadlifts or good mornings are good for this. This helps to work your bum and your hamstrings at the same time
• Follow with a move that works one leg at a time. For example, Bulgarian split squats, walking lunges, and step ups can even out any side-to-side differences and keep each leg strong
• Finish with a glute-only exercise such as cable kickbacks or hip thrusts — aim for higher reps for these

These four steps should cover the major lower body muscles: your glutes, quads and hamstrings. Three or four sets of each is plenty, and the whole session should take around 45 minutes. 

Glute Workout FAQs 

How long should a glute workout take?

Including a warm up, most of the workouts above should take around 45 to 60 minutes. If you’re short on time, focus more on compound lifts that work more than one muscle at a time — you can cut any isolation exercises. Two heavy exercises done properly will do more for your glutes than six rushed ones.

Should I train glutes on leg day or on their own?

Really, either works, so it’s whatever is best for you. Training them on leg day is more time-efficient and suits most people training three or four times a week. A dedicated glute day makes sense if your butt muscles are your main priority and you are training five or more times a week, because you can put the volume in while your legs are fresh.

What if the hip thrust bench or squat rack is busy?

If someone’s already using the kit you were planning on using next, you can easily swap out your movement rather than waste time waiting. For example, hip thrusts can be replaced with the glute bridge on the floor or a machine hip thrust if your gym has one. Squats can be replaced with goblet squats, leg press or Bulgarian split squats. If you’ve got more exercises left in your session, you can always come back to that piece of kit later in your workout once it’s free. 

Do I need a hip thrust machine to get results?

No. A barbell and a flat bench will do everything a hip thrust machine does in strengthening and shaping your booty, but may just take a little bit more time. The machine is a bit more comfortable and quicker to set up, which can make a difference if you are training at a busy time. 

Will a glute workout make my legs bigger too?

Some of it will carry over, because squats, lunges and split squats all work the quads and hamstrings as well. If you want to keep leg growth to a minimum, lean more heavily on hip thrusts, glute bridges and kickbacks, which isolate the glutes more directly.

How soon will I see results from glute training?

With consistent training, you could find yourself feeling stronger within three or four weeks, and see visible change at around eight to twelve weeks. Progress often depends far more on whether you are adding weight or reps over time than on which exercises you pick — you can find out more about this in our progressive overload guide.

For more support, check out our free Exercises section and get a breakdown of how to perform different exercises for different muscle groups. You can also check out our Best Glutes Exercises for Women guide for further inspiration.