Glutes Resistance Training
The glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in the body. They are the primary driver of hip extension — the movement of pushing the hips forward — and play a central role in stabilizing the pelvis, supporting the lower back, and transferring force between the upper and lower body. Everything from walking and running to squatting and deadlifting relies on the glutes working effectively.
Despite being the largest muscle group in the body, the glutes are chronically underdeveloped and underactivated in most people. Prolonged sitting shortens the hip flexors and inhibits glute activation, which means many people go through daily life and even through training sessions with glutes that aren’t contributing as much as they should be. The downstream effects of that show up as lower back pain, knee tracking issues, and hip discomfort — problems that often improve significantly when glute strength and activation are addressed directly.
The glutes respond to a wider variety of movement patterns than most muscle groups. Hip thrusts and glute bridges load them through a direct hip extension with the spine supported. Squats and lunges train them through a combined knee and hip movement. Kickbacks and abductions isolate the glute medius and minimus — the smaller glute muscles responsible for hip stabilization — which tend to get even less attention than the gluteus maximus in most programs. All of these patterns have a place in complete glute development.
Below are the glute movement patterns in the library.
Reference Card
Muscles
- Gluteus maximus — primary driver of hip extension
- Gluteus medius — primary stabilizer of the pelvis during single leg movements
- Gluteus minimus — supports hip stabilization alongside the medius
Movement Patterns
- Hip thrusts — direct hip extension movements that load the glutes at the top of the range where they’re strongest
- Hip abductions — movements that train the glute medius and minimus through lateral hip movement
- Step ups — unilateral movements that train the glutes and quads through a single leg pushing pattern
- Kickbacks — isolation movements that train the glutes through hip extension with the knee bent
Considerations
- The glutes are involved in squats and lunges but benefit from direct training beyond compound work alone
- Glute medius and minimus training through abduction movements supports hip stability and reduces knee and lower back stress
- Activation matters — learning to feel the glutes working during movements is a skill worth developing, particularly for people who sit for long periods
- The glutes respond well to a high variety of movements and rep ranges — more so than most other muscle groups
Programming Notes
- Hip thrusts work well early in a glute focused session as a primary compound movement
- Abductions and kickbacks work well as finishing movements or as activation work at the start of a session
- Responds well across a wide rep range — from heavier compound loading (6–10) to higher rep isolation work (15–25)
- Frequency matters here — the glutes respond well to being trained more than once per week