The best glute workout for women: one full session, done properly

The best glute workout for women is not a forty-minute circuit of band kickbacks filmed in good lighting. It's a short list of hard exercises built around hip extension, loaded heavy enough to matter, and repeated for months while the weights go up. Less content-friendly. Much more effective.

This post is one complete session: the warm-up, five exercises with how-tos, sets and reps, how to progress, and where it goes in a week that also has running in it. Run it yourself or let one plan for running and lifting schedule it for you. Your glutes won't know the difference.

What makes a glute workout the best one

Your glutes do three main jobs: extend the hip (standing up from a squat, driving the hips forward in a deadlift, pushing off the ground when you run), move the leg out to the side, and keep your pelvis level when you stand on one leg. A good session trains all three, with most of the work going to the first, because that's where you can use real load.

So the session below has a heavy hip extension exercise, a hinge, a single-leg exercise, a back extension variation and some side-to-side work. It's meant to slot into a women's training plan with running built in once or twice a week, not replace the rest of your training.

It's also one session out of a whole week. The full map of workouts for women by body part covers the rest.

What a glute workout won't do

It won't change where your body stores fat, and no exercise will reshape one area on demand. What glute training does do is make your hips stronger and more powerful, and muscles that are trained hard and progressively tend to grow. That's the deal. It's a good deal.

Is the hip thrust really the best glute exercise?

It's a very good one. It's not magic. A nine-week trial comparing hip thrust and back squat training in untrained adults found both produced similar glute growth, even though the hip thrust showed higher glute muscle activity in the first session. The squat group also grew more quadriceps and adductor muscle, and each group got stronger at the lift it trained.

Higher muscle activity doesn't automatically mean more growth. Use the hip thrust for heavy, direct hip extension, and keep a squat or split squat in the program too.

The best glute workout for women: the full session

Warm-up (5–8 minutes)

Five minutes of easy cardio, then:

• ›Glute bridge: 2 x 10. Lie on your back, feet flat, and drive your hips up until your knees, hips and shoulders line up. Pause, lower.
• ›Banded lateral walk: 2 x 10 steps each way. Band above the knees, slight squat, step sideways without letting the feet snap together.
• ›Ramp-up sets of the hip thrust: one easy set of eight, one moderate set of five.

1. Hip thrust

Sit on the floor with your upper back against a bench (the edge just below your shoulder blades), barbell or a heavy dumbbell across the crease of your hips. Use a pad. Feet flat, about hip-width, positioned so your shins are roughly vertical at the top.

Tuck your chin slightly and keep your ribs down. Drive through your heels and push your hips up until your thighs and torso form a straight line. Squeeze your glutes hard for a second at the top. Lower under control until your hips are just above the floor, and go again.

Common mistakes: arching the lower back to get the hips higher (stop when the thighs are level), feet too close (you'll feel it in your quads) or too far (hamstrings take over). Adjust until the glutes are doing the work.

2. Romanian deadlift

Stand tall with a barbell or two dumbbells, knees soft. Push your hips back like you're closing a car door with your butt, letting the weight slide down your thighs. Back flat, weight close to your legs. Lower only as far as your hamstrings allow, then drive your hips forward to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top. Don't lean back.

3. Bulgarian split squat with a forward lean

Back foot laces-down on a knee-height bench, front foot far enough forward that the heel stays planted. Hinge your torso forward slightly from the hips, keeping your back flat. Drop straight down, then drive up through the front foot. The back leg is a kickstand.

The lean is deliberate. A 2025 EMG study in trained female athletes found that leaning the trunk forward increased gluteus maximus activity compared with an upright torso. It also trains each side on its own, including the job of keeping your pelvis level.

4. 45-degree back extension, glute bias

Set the pad just below your hip bones so you can bend at the hips. Turn your toes out slightly and let your upper back round gently as you lower. Then drive up by squeezing your glutes, stopping when your body forms a straight line. No hyperextending at the top. Hold a plate or dumbbell at your chest once bodyweight is easy.

5. Side-lying or cable hip abduction

Lie on your side, bottom knee bent, top leg straight and slightly behind your body. Lift the top leg toward the ceiling, leading with the heel, without rolling your hips backward. Lower slowly. On a cable, stand side-on with the ankle strap on your outside leg and do the same movement standing. This trains the side-of-hip muscles that keep your pelvis level when you run.

Sets and reps for the session

Coaching conventions, not commandments. RPE 8 means about two reps left in reserve. Split squat reps are per leg.

About 50 minutes including the warm-up. Short on time? Do the first three. That's the workout. The last two are support.

Home version

• ›Dumbbell hip thrust or single-leg hip thrust off a sofa: 4 x 10–12
• ›Dumbbell Romanian deadlift: 3 x 10
• ›Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat, forward lean: 3 x 8 per leg
• ›Single-leg glute bridge: 2 x 12 per side
• ›Side-lying hip abduction: 2 x 15–20 per side

The bigger menu of moves, from kickbacks to step-ups, lives in a guide to glute exercises. This session is one way to put them together.

How to progress the session

• ›Double progression on the big three. When every set reaches the top of the rep range with clean form, add the smallest jump in weight and go back to the bottom of the range.
• ›Hip thrusts often progress faster than your other lifts. That's normal. Keep adding small jumps as long as the top position stays clean.
• ›At home, change the leverage. Two legs to one leg, a slower lower, a two-second pause at the top. Single-leg work makes a light dumbbell hard again.
• ›Abduction and back extensions: add reps first, then load.
• ›Deload. Most plans take a lighter week every three to five weeks.

How the glute workout fits a running week

Glute work is leg work. Hip thrusts and RDLs tire the same muscles that drive you uphill and push you off the ground, so program this session like a heavy leg day:

• ›Put it on an easy run day, after the run if both are on the same day.
• ›Keep it away from the day before intervals or the long run.
• ›Heavy beats long. A 2024 meta-analysis on runners found high-load strength training (at least 80% of max) produced small improvements in running economy, while submaximal loads did not show the same effect. Two hundred banded kickbacks are not that.

If you already have a leg day, alternate: one week leans squat, the next leans glutes, or run the glute session as your second lower day in a lifting-priority block.

Build the rest of the week

Glutes don't work alone. Your trunk holds the position the thrust needs, so finish one session a week with ten minutes from the ab workout for women. The upper body needs pulling too: rows and pulldowns from the best back exercises women can do keep your week balanced. Squats and hamstring work round out the lower body, which is what female leg training explained covers.

Arms are optional. Rows train the biceps and pressing trains the triceps, so bicep workouts for women and ladies tricep exercises are finishers, not sessions. And the best chest workout for females explained in one line: push-ups and dumbbell presses, progressed like everything else.

How exrsz handles it

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, so a home setup gets dumbbell thrusts and a gym gets a barbell. It places glute and leg sessions away from your hard runs in one plan, adapts loads each week based on what you lifted, and reshuffles the week when you miss a session.

FAQ

What is the best glute workout for women?

A session built on a heavy hip extension (hip thrust), a hinge (Romanian deadlift) and a single-leg exercise (Bulgarian split squat), plus some back extension and abduction work. Three or four sets of each, progressed over months.

Are hip thrusts better than squats for glutes?

Not clearly. A nine-week trial found hip thrusts and back squats produced similar glute growth, with squats also building more quads and adductors. Doing both is a sensible default.

How often should women train glutes?

Once or twice a week with a dedicated session, on top of the glute work you already get from squats and deadlifts. Runners usually keep it to once a week in a race block.

Can I do the best glute workout for women at home?

Yes. Dumbbell hip thrusts, single-leg thrusts, dumbbell Romanian deadlifts and Bulgarian split squats cover it. Progress with single-leg variations and slower tempos when the dumbbells get light.

Will glute workouts make my legs bulky?

Muscle grows slowly for everyone, and you control the dose. The goal here is stronger hips, not a particular shape.