Intro
Most of this glute training advice comes from the Glute Lab by Brett Contreras. It is a great 500+ page book and goes into much more depth than this post does. I may revise this guide later as I let the information settle in my brain.
Link to Book: https://www.amazon.com/Glute-Lab-Ar...=1678755617&sprefix=glute+lab+,aps,576&sr=8-1
The glutes are perhaps the least intuitive of all the muscles to train with calisthenics. For that reason, this guide has taken me longer to write than the others. There are a few challenges of training the glutes and: they are very strong, they benefit from a large range of motion, and many bodyweight posterior chain exercises tend to have resistance curves that fluctuate greatly. I've done my best to address those challenges.
The glutes are such strong muscles that external load is a necessity to continue to progress. You'll at least need heavy bands and hip bands, if not other options like kettlebells/dumbbells, sandbags, or barbells. But in the beginner/intermediate stages you can get away with minimal equipment while you build up your hip stability.
Renaissance Periodization Glutes Guide: https://rpstrength.com/glute-training-tips-hypertrophy/
Heavy Resistance Bands & Hip Bands
The muscles of your posterior chain are extremely strong. Heavy (45lb/20 kg+) resistance bands and moderate-to-strong hip bands are essential to maximizing your results. Many of these exercises have resistance curves that fluctuate greatly throughout the exercise, and bands can help mitigate that. Additionally, the load of your bodyweight alone can only do so much, especially in the case of the hip musculature.
Key Principles
Resistance Bands
Useful for incrementally progressing weight, can hold 1 or 2 for more options in loading. I already have an in-depth post about kettlebells.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight.../a_guide_to_kettlebells_for_the_calisthenics/
One of your heaviest loading options, the sandbag is often preferable to a barbell because the sandbag is not a rigid shape, allowing it to conform to your body more comfortably during calisthenics exercises. I have already made an in-depth post related to sandbags, consult that for information. https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight...dbag_training_an_alternative_to_free_weights/
Barbells/Gym
Barbell exercises with a significant hip hinge, such as deadlift and good morning variations, train the posterior chain of the body, including the glutes and hamstrings. Additionally, I'd recommend some glute isolation exercises such as barbell hip thrusts and some of the options listed below for the medius/minimus. Besides hip hinging, the hamstrings will also need to be trained with some sort of curling isolation exercise.
Hip Thrust Progressions
The essential glute-building exercise, invented by Brett Contreras. I strongly recommend using a combination of resistance bands, hip bands, and external loads (kettlebell, dumbell, sandbag, etc.) to increase difficulty. Band resistance is extra useful because the peak contraction of the glutes is at full hip extension, when the band tension will be highest. If you do no other glute exercise, at least train the hip thrust.
The single leg deadlift (or single leg RDL), is interesting, with bodyweight it's quite easy beyond the beginner level, but with heavy bands it becomes a dependable unilateral glute training exercise. The tension of the bands is highest at the top, where the leverage is easiest, making the single leg DL much more stimulating overall. Make sure to grip the bands at a point where you are still getting sufficent tension at the bottom, and a strong glute contraction at the top. Bands can also be attached to other forms of weight like barbells, dumbells, sandbags, etc.
NOTE: If you have a weight vest and bands, you can still get some challenge at the bottom of the movement from the weight vest, it feels a bit odd but is effective if you match the weight vest and band strength well. This is a good option for people without other options for adding load, I used it for months during the pandemic lockdown.
I consider hip thrusts to be better at isolating and heavily stimulating the glutes, but single leg DLs are a close runner-up. Additionally, the single leg DL has the advantage of also targetting other muscle groups like the hamstrings, low back, and trunk more than the hip thrust does. So if you're constrained on time or need an exercise that hits multiple muscle groups effectively, single leg DL wins out over hip thrusts.
Moderate intensity lower body movements that emphasize the glutes. Useful as accessory work for the main glute movements. These are generally secondary exercises after hip thrusts and/or single leg DLs. Pressing variations generally work the quads as well as the glutes, while pulling variations generally work the hamstrings and low back as well as the glutes. Trunk variations work the core significantly.
Pressing
Glute-Emphasis Split Squat
Glute-Emphasis Hyperextensions
Band External Rotation (Obliques + Glutes)
Glute Isolation Exercises
Moderate-intensity exercises for isolating the glutes, useful as accessory work to the main glute movements. These are generally secondary exercises after hip thrusts and/or single leg DLs.
Band Pullthrough
Low-intensity exercises primarily targetting the smaller gluteal muscles. Note that it is not feasible to truly "isolate" the medius and minimus from the maximus when training, but you can still emphasize them. These are good to either put in the beginning or end of a workout, as they are not very taxing generally. Usually trained for higher reps as they are less intense.
Abductions
Most of this glute training advice comes from the Glute Lab by Brett Contreras. It is a great 500+ page book and goes into much more depth than this post does. I may revise this guide later as I let the information settle in my brain.
Link to Book: https://www.amazon.com/Glute-Lab-Ar...=1678755617&sprefix=glute+lab+,aps,576&sr=8-1
The glutes are perhaps the least intuitive of all the muscles to train with calisthenics. For that reason, this guide has taken me longer to write than the others. There are a few challenges of training the glutes and: they are very strong, they benefit from a large range of motion, and many bodyweight posterior chain exercises tend to have resistance curves that fluctuate greatly. I've done my best to address those challenges.
The glutes are such strong muscles that external load is a necessity to continue to progress. You'll at least need heavy bands and hip bands, if not other options like kettlebells/dumbbells, sandbags, or barbells. But in the beginner/intermediate stages you can get away with minimal equipment while you build up your hip stability.
Renaissance Periodization Glutes Guide: https://rpstrength.com/glute-training-tips-hypertrophy/
Heavy Resistance Bands & Hip Bands
The muscles of your posterior chain are extremely strong. Heavy (45lb/20 kg+) resistance bands and moderate-to-strong hip bands are essential to maximizing your results. Many of these exercises have resistance curves that fluctuate greatly throughout the exercise, and bands can help mitigate that. Additionally, the load of your bodyweight alone can only do so much, especially in the case of the hip musculature.
- Foot Plate for more anchoring options
- Band footplate platform, no need to stand directly on the band and provides a lot more options of using band resistance.
- DIY Options
Key Principles
- Range of Motion: Best results require you to put the glutes through a large range of motion. Pause at the bottom and top to maintain control. Work up to this over time, but be gradual.
- Fatigue & Volume: The muscles of the hip are accustomed to carrying your body around all day. They can (generally) handle a greater training volume than the muscles of your upper body. Volume can make a major difference in glute training results, particularly with bodyweight variations.
- You can still develop glute hypertrophy with sets of 20+ repetitions, as made evident by tried and true hypertrophy programs such as the 20 rep squat program
- However, consistent muscle gain requires you to still be training at a high enough intensity to bring the glute muscles close to failure.
- Consult the Renaissance Periodization article above for more information on this.
- You can still develop glute hypertrophy with sets of 20+ repetitions, as made evident by tried and true hypertrophy programs such as the 20 rep squat program
- Loading The hip muscles are very powerful and it is highly recommended to add external load to keep progressing in strength and hypertrophy. This can also be a way to get stronger on intermediate progressions as you work towards more advanced movements.
- Calisthenics without any additional load is not going sufficient to maximize hip strength and power. Eventually, additional load must be incorporated for continued strength gains.
- As shown here, advanced single leg squat movements like the pistol squat are only lifting about 88.5% of your body mass: https://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Bodyweight
- While this sounds impressive, the equivalent of a 1.8x bodyweight squat falls in the range of intermediate leg strength. Thankfully, with unilateral leg presses, the use of external resistance can offset this.
- Advanced trainees can lift an impressive amount of additional load with unilateral variations like the split squat: https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/bulgarian-split-squat
- https://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandards
- https://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/SquatStandardsKg
Tools for Leg Training
Resistance Bands
- Use resistance bands to improve the resistance curve and as a convenient and portable way to add load. Many bodyweight exercises are much less challenging at the top, so a band is a useful tool. If possible, use in combination with other methods.
- Foot Plate for more anchoring options
- Using a band footplate platform means there is no need to stand directly on the band and provides a lot more options for using band resistance.
- DIY Options
- Foot Plate for more anchoring options
- Hip Bands
- Hip bands, AKA booty bands or mini-bands, as smaller resistance bands designed for training the lower body, especially the glutes. They can be used in most glute exercises (especially isolation ones and hip thrusts) and will make a massive difference in your results. If you have trouble feeling your glutes, hip bands can often help them activate more intensely.
- Generally, you load the bands at the knees, so you are forced to abduct your hips outward. You can use hip bands in conjunction with standard resistance bands for almost all exercises.
- Pro Tip: Double-Looping Bands and Doubling Up on Bands
- You can increase resistance of a standard resistance band by double looping it into an x-shape, or anchoring on the outside of a resistance band so both sides are resisting you, instead of just one. Additionally, you can use two bands at the same time to increase total resistance, so that's a good way to mix and match if you have bands of several strengths.
- Weight vests are excellent as they do not have to be held, and the weight is very close to your center of gravity. Try to get a vest that has incremental weights for changing load. I recommend getting a vest with a max weight of at least 16 kg/35 lbs.
- The main drawback of vests is that they are not very heavy. However, this can be addressed by pairing the weight vest with other methods of adding load, particularly resistance bands. I strongly recommend combining these two to get the benefits of both.
Useful for incrementally progressing weight, can hold 1 or 2 for more options in loading. I already have an in-depth post about kettlebells.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight.../a_guide_to_kettlebells_for_the_calisthenics/
- Kettlebell Hip Thrust: https://youtu.be/JjpEuLNur2o
One of your heaviest loading options, the sandbag is often preferable to a barbell because the sandbag is not a rigid shape, allowing it to conform to your body more comfortably during calisthenics exercises. I have already made an in-depth post related to sandbags, consult that for information. https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight...dbag_training_an_alternative_to_free_weights/
Barbells/Gym
Barbell exercises with a significant hip hinge, such as deadlift and good morning variations, train the posterior chain of the body, including the glutes and hamstrings. Additionally, I'd recommend some glute isolation exercises such as barbell hip thrusts and some of the options listed below for the medius/minimus. Besides hip hinging, the hamstrings will also need to be trained with some sort of curling isolation exercise.
Exercises
Hip Thrust Progressions
The essential glute-building exercise, invented by Brett Contreras. I strongly recommend using a combination of resistance bands, hip bands, and external loads (kettlebell, dumbell, sandbag, etc.) to increase difficulty. Band resistance is extra useful because the peak contraction of the glutes is at full hip extension, when the band tension will be highest. If you do no other glute exercise, at least train the hip thrust.
- Single Leg Shoulder and Feet Elevated Hip Thrust
- Shoulder and Feet Elevated Hip Thrust
- Increased ROM and difficulty
- https://youtu.be/YIpw8ogCVKs
- Single Leg Hip Band Thrust
- https://youtu.be/jemVr8d_LPc
- This band position can be used for all single leg variations
- Hip Thrust
- Hip Band Glute Bridge
- Single Leg Glute Bridge
- Glute Bridge
The single leg deadlift (or single leg RDL), is interesting, with bodyweight it's quite easy beyond the beginner level, but with heavy bands it becomes a dependable unilateral glute training exercise. The tension of the bands is highest at the top, where the leverage is easiest, making the single leg DL much more stimulating overall. Make sure to grip the bands at a point where you are still getting sufficent tension at the bottom, and a strong glute contraction at the top. Bands can also be attached to other forms of weight like barbells, dumbells, sandbags, etc.
NOTE: If you have a weight vest and bands, you can still get some challenge at the bottom of the movement from the weight vest, it feels a bit odd but is effective if you match the weight vest and band strength well. This is a good option for people without other options for adding load, I used it for months during the pandemic lockdown.
I consider hip thrusts to be better at isolating and heavily stimulating the glutes, but single leg DLs are a close runner-up. Additionally, the single leg DL has the advantage of also targetting other muscle groups like the hamstrings, low back, and trunk more than the hip thrust does. So if you're constrained on time or need an exercise that hits multiple muscle groups effectively, single leg DL wins out over hip thrusts.
- Band-Resisted Contralateral Single Leg DL
- The cross-body resistance adds additional stabilization challenge.
- https://youtu.be/jlMCK3Q9S2g
- Band-Resisted Single Leg DL
- Band-Resisted Kickstand DL
- Hip Band Single Leg DL
- Bodyweight Single Leg DL w/ Reach
Moderate intensity lower body movements that emphasize the glutes. Useful as accessory work for the main glute movements. These are generally secondary exercises after hip thrusts and/or single leg DLs. Pressing variations generally work the quads as well as the glutes, while pulling variations generally work the hamstrings and low back as well as the glutes. Trunk variations work the core significantly.
Pressing
Glute-Emphasis Split Squat
- Instead of an upright posture, maintain a forward leaning posture (30-45 degrees) for the entire exercise. Shift load away from the quads and knee onto the hips and glutes. Focus on a strong hip extension at the top. Slow and controlled lowering as you stretch the glute under load. Usually there will not be much knee flexion compared to a normal split squat.
- https://youtu.be/JLEyaXRMv8o
- 30-45 degree lean, load additional weight to the side or rear of your body if possible. Again, the slow deliberate lowering is crucial. https://youtu.be/X_oNQX4srHc
- A lunge variation with a deep glute stretch. Keep knee flexion minimal and have a controlled and slow lowering as you load the hip and stretch it under load.
- https://youtu.be/UeSqJlXDn8M
- Shrimp squats already have a lot of glute stimulation, but increase this to replicate the split squat form of a strong 30-45 degree lean, plus the slow lowering and stretch under load of a reverse lunge. In my experience, this variation carries over to the standard shrimp squat and barbell squat variations tremendously, since glutes are often a weakpoint for people. Glute weakness is the reason many people who are great pistol squatters still struggle to master the shrimp squat, or the reverse nordic curl for that manner.
Glute-Emphasis Hyperextensions
- A modified position to de-emphasize the spinal erectors in favor of the glutes when doing hyperextensions.
- https://youtu.be/pTj9YXi95j4
- A modified position to emphasize the glutes over the low back.
- https://youtube.com/shorts/NUg_Xyn2okw?feature=share
- Not exactly a pulling movement, but it felt strange to classify as a pushing movement.
- With a band and hip band, plus some extra weight, the reverse nordic ends up being more of a hip/glute exercise than a quad one. This is because of the more intense hip extension, and your legs being curled preventing hamstrings from taking over as much, You do still get a great quad stretch and pump as well, so it's a win-win. I think the first person to manage a one leg reverse nordic will have immense hip strength.
Band External Rotation (Obliques + Glutes)
- Trains your hips to work in rotation in conjunction with your trunk, very applicable to many athletic activities involving rotation.
- https://youtu.be/19p6nWFHaRI
- Trains the posterior pelvic tilt (glute activation)
- https://youtu.be/0c1np4dV7ec
Glute Isolation Exercises
Moderate-intensity exercises for isolating the glutes, useful as accessory work to the main glute movements. These are generally secondary exercises after hip thrusts and/or single leg DLs.
Band Pullthrough
- Can be trained for high volume or high intensity, depending on strength of bands.
- https://youtu.be/ZuKowDpVVXM
- Upright Hip Thrust
- A variation where you put the band on your hips rather than holding it.
- These are fantastic with bands, they really scorch the glutes. Good for high reps.
- https://youtu.be/DtSfBsdIlJo
- A simple and light unilateral variation to train the glutes for high reps. Much better with bands or ankle weights.
- https://youtu.be/_gdXpFWGtFI
Low-intensity exercises primarily targetting the smaller gluteal muscles. Note that it is not feasible to truly "isolate" the medius and minimus from the maximus when training, but you can still emphasize them. These are good to either put in the beginning or end of a workout, as they are not very taxing generally. Usually trained for higher reps as they are less intense.
Abductions
- One of the main functions of the glute muscles, train for high reps.
- A lot of variations: https://youtu.be/O5wtO3kb4bY
- A few more variations: https://youtu.be/dMQcVcVo_QA
- Seated Variations: https://youtu.be/uo4_wM5r7zY
- Much better with bands at knees.
- https://youtu.be/CiqvDV8pzRk
- https://youtu.be/aMKulMGmbUk
- A hip-thrust variation using the frog stance. Cannot be loaded as heavily as the standard hip thrust due to the more challenging leverage. That actually plays in our favor as a calisthenics trainee, less external load to worry about.
- https://youtube.com/shorts/uJNGZniNXOA?feature=share
- Similar to the frog hip thrust, this is a glute bridge in frog stance, usually done for very high rep pump work (sets of 20-50). The primary difference is that it is done from the floor, not with shoulders on a bench like the frog thrust.
- https://youtu.be/MQ62r2V7Lw8
- A Glute-Dominant Reverse Hyper Variation, similar to the frog pump.
- https://youtu.be/zH8QN413Vuo
- https://youtube.com/shorts/NUg_Xyn2okw?feature=share
- Designed exclusively for use with resistance bands, these work with mini-bands or by double-looping a normal resistance band. They're a great glute warmup and warmup for squatting movements.
- https://youtu.be/3_jyaIdAHRw
- https://youtu.be/dgbhiejP7oI