How to build glutes without gym equipment
How to build glutes without gym equipment

Glutes! Even with fancy, specialized gym equipment legs and glutes are hard to grow and maintain! They require lots of energy, effort and targeted exercises. Now, you’ve probably come across a slew of “in home” glute and booty exercises, but how effective are they? Can you even target your glutes without a gym? In short, YES you can. And in home glute workouts can be very effective if done appropriately and with some sort of resistance.

Here are 6 tips on how to build Glutes without a gym!

  1. Invest in some specialized equipment like ankle weights and “booty” bands: The first rule of building muscle (any muscle that is, glute, shoulder, back, arms) is OVERLOAD. Muscles cannot grow without being stimulated or “loaded” with some sort of resistance. So take those in home donkey kicks, fire hydrants and straight leg kicks and add some sort of resistance to them! Ankle weights, booty bands and dumbbells come in real handy! Buy some and use them in every set! For bigger, rounder glutes aim to do weighted sets instead of just using your own body weight.

    build glutes without a gym
    Lyzabeth Lopez’s Booty Bands
  2. Learn which exercises target which part of your glutes: Your “butt” consists of several large and muscles including gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus, and hip abductors. It’s important to know that not all glute exercises work the same muscle. Fire hydrants, lying abductors, and straight leg kicks are all different as they target a different part of your glutes and legs. It is best to use a structured program and learn which exercise is good for which part of your glutes.
  3. Focus on every rep: There is no point of completing an exercise if you are not concentrating and recruiting the muscle that you intend to work. Make sure to flex your glutes appropriately at the top of your range on exercise like donkey kicks, straight leg kicks, crossovers and hyperextensions. Focus on the quality of every rep. If you are doing so properly, you will literally “feel” your butt muscle in each and every rep! You will typically also fatigue faster as you are actually recruiting the muscle.

    build glutes without a gym
    Copyright Wild Child Sports
  4. Superset, superset, superset! Superset are CRITICAL to muscle growth. Stop resting between sets and exercises and do more supersets (aka two or three exercises that use the exact same muscle group, performed back to back with zero rest!). Set up a mini circuits. For example do right leg weighted donkey kicks, followed immediately by right leg weighted straight leg kicks. Supersets have shown to be very effective in packing on lean mass!
  5. Add some compound movements: Compound movements (that target glutes) are often missing from in home glute program. Think stiff legged deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, step up and hyperextensions… they all indirectly work your butt! Your glutes are VERY active in all those exercises. Compound exercises are essential to any good booty building program . And you definitely do not need a gym to complete them. Lunges, step ups, hamstring curls, glute bridges, hip thrusts, and the like can ALL be complete in home. All you need is some sort of resistance. I would suggest doing high rep superset if you do not have access to some dumbbells or barbells. For example, do 40 reps of walking lunges following by 40 reps of Bulgarian split squats with your own body weight.

    build glutes without a gym
    Copyright LyzabethLopez.com
  6. Mix it up! Use a different rep range, tempo and set for each workout. Try going super slow… or going super fast! Do 6 sets instead of the typical 3! Swap a pilate ball interest of dumbbell on your donkey kicks… use two booty band instead of one! Remember that your body adapts to new stimulus so ensure you are switching things up once in awhile!

Now go and train those pesky legs and glutes! Use the above 6 tips and watch your booty grow! I would also suggest checking out this program that focuses on building a nice hourglass figure, complete with a cinched waist and round glutes!

With over 15 years of experience in training and nutrition, this savvy entrepreneur, TV host (of a US syndicated nutrition and cooking show), and Pro Athlete has coached well over 3000 athletes in gymnastics, dance, cheer-leading, fitness and bodybuilding; including celebrities, models and actors. Lyzabeth is also recognized through her regular magazine appearances as a model and writer, as well as through her blogs and posts to over 4,000,000 social media followers.