The 7 rules for growing your glutes
1. Train them at least twice a week.
A review of the research found that training a muscle twice a week grew it more than once a week, for the same total amount of work (Schoenfeld et al., 2016).
2. Do enough sets.
Aim for about 10 or more hard sets for your glutes across the week. Muscle growth increased with weekly sets up to at least that level (Schoenfeld et al., 2017). Beginners can start lower and build up.
3. Use the right exercises.
Build your sessions around a hip thrust or glute bridge, a hinge such as the Romanian deadlift, a single-leg move such as the Bulgarian split squat, and abduction for the side glutes. See glute exercises.
4. Train hard enough.
Finish most sets with only 1 to 3 reps left in the tank. Easy sets won't give your glutes a reason to grow.
5. Keep making it harder.
Add a rep, then add weight once you hit the top of your rep range on every set. Doing the same weight for the same reps for months is the most common reason glutes stop growing.
6. Eat enough protein, and enough food.
A large review found that protein intakes up to about 1.6 g per kg of body weight a day helped people gain more muscle from training, with no extra benefit above that (Morton et al., 2018). For a 60 kg woman, that's roughly 95 g of protein a day. Eating too little overall makes building muscle much harder.
7. Give it time and sleep.
Muscle is built while you recover. Leave at least a day between hard glute sessions, and aim for 7 or more hours of sleep.
How long does it take to grow your glutes?
Everyone is different, but for most people training consistently, it looks like this:
| Time | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1–4 | You get stronger quickly as you learn the movements. Little visible change yet. |
| Weeks 4–8 | Lifts keep going up. Your glutes may feel firmer. |
| Weeks 8–12 | Many people start to see a difference in shape in photos. |
| 6 months | Clear, visible change for most people who've trained and eaten well throughout. |
Take a photo from the same angle, in the same light, every 4 weeks. Change is hard to see in the mirror day to day.
Can you grow your glutes at home?
Yes. Your glutes respond to hard work, not to a particular place. At home, use hip thrusts with your shoulders on a sofa, Bulgarian split squats, single-leg Romanian deadlifts and banded abduction. Without heavy weights, make sets harder by doing more reps, pausing at the top, or lowering slowly, and take sets close to failure. See glute exercises at home.
Can you grow your glutes in a calorie deficit?
Beginners often can, slowly, while losing fat, especially with high protein intake and hard training. But it's much easier to build muscle while eating enough. If growing your glutes is your main goal, eat around maintenance or slightly above, rather than in a deficit.
How to grow your upper and side glutes
Keep heavy hip thrusts as your main lift for overall size, then add 2 or 3 sets of abduction at the end of each glute session: the hip abduction machine, banded walks or side planks with a leg raise. See upper glute exercises and gluteus medius exercises.
Why aren't my glutes growing?
- Not adding weight or reps over time. Track your lifts and beat them.
- Sets are too easy. End most sets with 1 to 3 reps left.
- Not enough protein or food. Aim for around 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight.
- Too much quad work, not enough glute work. Swap some squats for hip thrusts and hinges.
- Not enough time. Give a plan at least 8 to 12 weeks before judging it.