The Best Glute Workouts To Seriously Improve Your Fitness

If you think glute workouts should be left to your belfie-obsessed better half, think again. Train the bum and you’ll reap rewards across the board, gaining strength, stability, and a strong base from which to build the rest of your workouts. Since they’re your biggest muscles, you’ll also burn more calories each and every day.

So why are you just sitting on them? To help you train your body’s best secret weapon, we asked some experts in the business to tell us exactly what you need to know to build the butt.

The Experts

David Wiener is a training and nutrition specialist at Freeletics

Chris Walton is a PT extraordinaire at Embody Fitness

Rueben Stone is a PT at Go Train Fitness

Keith McNiven is the founder of London-based personal training company Right Path Fitness

Why Do I Need To Train My Glutes?

Your glute muscles are some of the strongest and most powerful in the body, and training them is as important as training any other muscle. It’s especially important if you want to build your leg muscles.

They play a huge role for propelling us forwards (running, walking), upwards (climbing steps, jumping), sideways (stepping sideways during sports) and also helping to keep the body in an upright position. Much of the force required to propel Usain Bolt down the 100m track was generated by his glutes and even if your goals are much less ambitious than winning Olympic gold, don’t leave the behind behind.

“Training your glutes regularly can also help to combat and decrease the risk of lower back pain, and help you to build a strong core, supporting your muscles when you exercise and carry out everyday functional tasks,” says Wiener. “They can also improve your mobility and can improve your posture and athletic performance.”

Plus, having a strong body overall (which includes your glute muscles) lessens the risk of injury, especially in your knees, lower back and hamstrings.