The Best Glutes and Hamstrings Workout (5 Exercises) (2024)

Everyone wants a firm and shapely butt and hamstrings. Developing these powerhouse muscles takes hard work and a dedicated workout plan. If you provide the hard work, this glutes and hamstrings workout gives you the tools to sculpt the perfect posterior.

Whether you’re an athlete seeking to enhance performance, a fitness enthusiast looking to strengthen your lower body, or someone who simply wants a bigger and stronger butt, this workout unlocks the full potential of your glutes and hamstrings to help you build the behind you want and deserve.

The Glutes and Hamstrings Workout is one of many premium workouts available in our workout tracker, which you can download for free using the button for your device:

Benefits of Strong Glutes and Hamstrings

Your butt isn’t just for sitting on, and your hamstrings do more than bend your knees. They are power hubs for performance across various everyday activities and athletic pursuits and contribute significantly to strong legs and a strong body.

The gluteal muscles and hamstrings are positioned at the core of your body and involved in almost all lower body movements you can think of, like walking, running, jumping, and lifting.

Enhanced Athletic Performance

All sports and physical activities that involve running, jumping, and lifting rely heavily on the power generated by your posterior chain muscles.

Stronger legs with powerful hamstrings and glutes make you a better athlete and improve athletic performance in all movements requiring explosive or sustained endurance.

Increased Functional Capacity

Glute and hamstring strength are crucial for everyday movements like bending, squatting, and lifting.

Well-developed muscles in your butt and the back of your legs make daily tasks in your everyday life easier and more efficient.

Injury Prevention

Weak lower body muscles, like the glutes and hamstrings, can contribute to imbalances and instability, potentially increasing the risk of injuries.

Stronger hamstrings and glutes help stabilize your hips and knees, reducing the likelihood of muscle fiber strains and sprains and other lower body injuries.

Improved Posture

You help maintain proper alignment and stability of your pelvis and spine by performing lower body exercises that strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.

The result is a better posture, potentially reducing the risk of lower and upper back pain and other posture-related issues.

Looks Great

Everyone likes a well-developed rear. A solid and sculpted posterior is highly desirable, and studies indicate that the gluteal muscles are one of, if not the most appealing body parts, both for men and women.1

Our analysis of training data from a vast number of users of our workout tracker corroborates this, revealing that the glutes are overwhelmingly favored as the most popular muscle group among women and rank as the second most popular among men.

Glutes and Hamstrings Anatomy and Function

Let’s take a close look at what you are probably sitting on right now as you are reading this: your butt and hamstring muscles.

Butt Anatomy and Function

Your gluteal muscles are a group of separate muscles that make up your buttocks. The three primary ones, in order of size, are:

1. Gluteus maximus
2. Gluteus medius
3. Gluteus minimus

In addition, you have several smaller muscles in this area that contribute to functional strength and mobility. You naturally engage them during exercises targeting your legs, hips, and glutes, and you don’t have to design your workout plan around them.

The gluteus maximus is the single biggest single muscle in the human body. It is responsible for most of the shape of your buttocks and is vital in maintaining an upright upper body. Your quads might be larger overall but consist of four different muscles.

Its primary function involves extending and externally rotating the thigh, activating only when necessary during actions like squatting, running, or climbing a stair or hill.

Moreover, the gluteus maximus supports your trunk and pelvis, enabling you to maintain balance on one leg. Without your gluteus maximus to help you, you’d topple like a house of cards if you tried doing a single-leg deadlift.

Nestled between the gluteus maximus and minimus is the gluteus medius, which partially overlaps with the gluteus maximus and covers the gluteus minimus muscle.

Working alongside the gluteus minimus, the gluteus medius performs thigh abduction and internal rotation. It also aids in stabilizing the pelvis and helps keep your trunk upright when you run or engage in other activities that require you to support your body on one leg.

The gluteus minimus is the smallest among the three gluteal muscles. It shares characteristics with the gluteus medius, including similar structure, function, blood supply, and innervation. The primary role of the gluteus minimus is to stabilize and abduct the hip.

Hamstring Anatomy and Function

The hamstrings are a group of muscles located at the back of your thigh. It consists of three primary muscles:

1. Biceps femoris
2. Semitendinosus
3. Semimembranosus

The biceps femoris is the muscle on the outer side of your hamstring. It has two parts: a long head and a short head. The long head starts at your “sit bone” below your glutes, and the short head begins at the back of your thigh bone. Both attach to your lower leg just below the knee.

The semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles run down the back of your middle and inner thighs, respectively. Both muscles start from the hip bone and extend down to the inside back of your leg below the knee.

Your hamstrings cross two joints, the hip joint and the knee joint, giving them two primary functions:

1. Bend your knee (like when performing a leg curl)
2. Extend your hip (like when performing a stiff-legged deadlift, the kettlebell swing, or a good morning)

These actions are crucial for activities like walking, running, and climbing stairs.

The hamstrings also work with the quadriceps at the front of your thigh to stabilize and control your knee joint and act like shock absorbers when you run.

In addition to knee flexion and hip extension, your hamstrings help decelerate your lower leg during movements like kicking or sprinting, preventing excessive knee extension, which could lead to strains or tears.

Glutes and Hamstrings Workout: Overview

This glutes and hamstring workout consists of five of the best exercises for growing bigger glutes and adding muscle mass to the back of your legs.

A combination of compound movements, isolation exercises, and a variety of rep ranges guarantees you’ll gain lower body strength and build muscle in your butt and hammies like never before.

The glutes and hamstrings workout is intended for intermediate to advanced lifters.

If you are new to strength training, take a look at the Barbell Training Program for the Beginner or the Bodybuilding for Beginners workout routine for an excellent introduction to the weights.

If you have some training experience but still consider yourself something of a beginner, you can still benefit from this glutes and hamstrings workout. In that case, do one set less of each exercise.

You can see the workout’s exact set and rep configuration in StrengthLog.

This strength workout requires no advanced training equipment, only an adjustable bench, a barbell, a leg curl machine, and a set of dumbbells and weight plates suitable for your fitness level.

Warming Up for the Glutes and Hamstrings Workout

Warming up before your glutes and hamstrings workout primes your muscles and can substantially improve your exercise performance.

A proper warm-up routine serves multiple purposes. It prepares your muscles for heavy lifting, activates your central nervous system, promotes blood flow, and potentially reduces the likelihood of injury.

Optionally, start with 5–10 minutes of light cardio, such as brisk walking, jogging in place, or jumping jacks. You’ll elevate your heart rate, increase blood flow to your muscles, and increase your body temperature.

Then, perform dynamic stretches and activation exercises that target the glutes and hamstrings to improve flexibility and activate the muscles:

1. Walking lunges: Take giant steps forward, sinking into a lunge position while keeping your back straight and chest lifted. Alternate legs and continue for 10–15 steps.
2. Leg swings: Hold onto something stable for support and swing one leg forward and backward in a controlled manner. Repeat with the other leg.
3. Glute bridge: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Press through your heels and lift your hips, squeezing your glutes at the top position. Lower down and repeat for 10–15 reps to activate your glutes and prepare your muscle fibers to fire during the upcoming hard work.

Glutes and Hamstrings Workout: The Exercises

You kick the training session off with a compound exercise that targets most major muscle groups in your lower body, then alternate multi-joint and isolation movements using both heavy weights and high-rep work.

1. Bulgarian Split Squat
2. Leg Curl
3. Hip Thrust
4. Romanian Deadlift
5. Step Up

Time to get serious! Here is your glutes and hamstrings workout, with detailed step-by-step instructions and videos showing how to perform each exercise.

Bulgarian Split Squat

The Bulgarian split squat is a compound exercise that targets almost all muscles in your lower body. In addition, it activates various other muscle groups, including your core, shoulders, and forearms, making it an excellent exercise for overall strength and physical fitness.

Many people have a love/hate relationship with the Bulgarian split squat. They take a lot out of you, but no one said an effective glutes and hamstrings workout would be easy.

The Bulgarian split squat offers many benefits:

Improved Balance and Stability

Unlike traditional quad and glute movements, such as barbell back squats, the Bulgarian split squat is a unilateral exercise. You work one leg at a time, allowing for better balance and stability.

By challenging your body to perform high-intensity work while on a single leg, the Bulgarian split squat helps enhance your strength and balance.

Enhanced Functional Strength

The movement pattern of the Bulgarian split squat mimics activities like climbing stairs, lunging, or walking uphill.

When you strengthen the muscles involved in these movements, you enhance your functional strength and performance in many everyday activities and sports.

Reduced Muscle Imbalances

It’s not uncommon to have imbalances between your left and right legs.

You can identify and correct these imbalances over time by working each leg separately with unilateral movements like the Bulgarian split squat. The results are improved overall symmetry and even potential injury prevention.

Improved Flexibility

The Bulgarian split squat requires a greater range of motion in the hips than traditional squats.

Regularly performing this exercise increases your hip flexibility and mobility, benefiting your overall lower body movement and athletic performance.

You can substitute the barbell version of the Bulgarian split squat with dumbbells if you prefer. Both options are highly effective strength training exercises to improve balance and stability, increase lower-body power, enhance functional strength, and build a well-developed pair of legs and a bigger, firmer butt.

Muscles Worked in Bulgarian Split Squats

Primary muscles worked:

• Quads
• Glutes
• Adductors

How to Perform the Bulgarian Split Squat

1. Place a bar on your upper back or hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands.
2. Stand with your back turned against a bench, which should be about knee height. Stand about one long step in front of the bench.
3. Place your left foot on the bench behind you.
4. Inhale, look forward and squat down with control until right before your left knee touches the floor.
5. Reverse the movement and extend your right leg again while exhaling.
6. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.
7. Switch legs and repeat the steps above for the left leg.

Pro-tip for preventing the quads from taking over the exercise:

Keep the top of your back foot flat on the bench at all times and avoid pushing your toes into it.

If you start pushing with your toes, your quadriceps spring into action and take over much of the work. That’s not a bad thing in itself. However, you don’t want your quads to dominate your glutes and hamstrings workout.

Leg Curl

The leg curl is the most effective lower-body movement for isolating your hamstrings.

Many fitness enthusiasts, even bodybuilders and athletes who depend on their hamstrings to power them through their workouts, have underdeveloped hamstrings compared to their quadriceps. You’ll often see them performing several times the number of sets for the front of their thighs compared to the back.

By incorporating leg curls into your strength workouts, you address any potential imbalances between your quads and hamstrings and enjoy several benefits:

Reduced Risk of Injury

The hamstrings are susceptible to injuries, and once a hamstring tear occurs, it’s challenging to get rid of it for good.

Hamstring injuries also have a higher recurrence rate than many other soft tissue injuries.

Strengthening these muscles with hamstring curls and different exercises is one of the best ways to increase their resilience and improves their ability to handle the high-intensity workouts needed to build a robust, muscular posterior chain.

Enhanced Athletic Performance

Powerful hamstrings are crucial in most athletic movements involving your lower body.

Strengthening them through hamstring curls boosts your physical performance, including running speed, jumping ability, and overall leg power.

And even if you don’t aspire to be an athlete, well-developed hamstrings assist in performing everyday physical activities effectively and pain-free.

Improved Knee Stability

Your hamstrings contribute to knee joint stabilization and support overall knee health. Imbalances around the knee have been associated with several types of injuries.

Integrating leg curls into your fitness routine promotes muscle balance and might lower the risk of knee injuries and hamstring strains.

Aesthetic Appeal

Last but not least, the well-toned and rounded hamstrings you get from leg curls enhance the appearance of your lower body, particularly when paired with developed glutes. The leg curl is a great exercise for adding lean muscle to your hamstrings and makes you look great from all angles.

In a well-equipped gym, you will typically find various leg curl machines, such as seated leg curls and lying leg curls. The seated variant is slightly more effective for hamstring muscle gain.2 It’s the default leg curl exercise in the StrengthLog workout log.

However, the difference is relatively minor. Feel free to choose between the seated or lying leg curl based on your preference and what equipment is available at your gym.

Alternatively, you can alternate between the two for the sake of variety.

Regardless of your choice, the leg curl remains one of the top exercises for your hamstrings.

Muscles Worked in Seated Leg Curls

Primary muscles worked:

• Hamstrings

How to Perform the Seated Leg Curl

1. Adjust the seat and leg pad of the seated leg curl machine to fit your body. Ensure that your knees align with the machine’s pivot point. The leg pad should rest comfortably on the back of your lower legs, just above your ankles.
2. Sit on the machine with your back against the backrest. Your legs should be fully extended in front of you, with your knee joint slightly off the edge of the seat.
3. Grasp the handles of the machine for stability, keeping your core engaged.
4. Contract your hamstring muscles to flex your knees and curl the leg pad towards your glutes. Focus on initiating the movement from your hamstrings while keeping your thighs pressed against the seat.
5. Curl your legs as far as possible until you reach a fully contracted position, and squeeze your hamstrings.
6. In a controlled manner, gradually extend your legs back to the starting position, fully straightening your knees. Maintain control throughout the eccentric (lowering) phase of the exercise as you return to the starting position.
7. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Hip Thrust

The hip thrust is highly effective for targeting your glutes and hip extensors and is one of the best exercises for building a bigger butt.

Research shows that hip thrusts are superior to traditional lower-body compound movements like the squat and the deadlift for activating the glutes and hamstrings.3 4

While primarily targeting your posterior chain muscles, hip thrusts also engage the vastus lateralis muscle located on the outer side on the front of your thighs.

Different Types of Hip Thrusts

You can do hip thrusts using several different types of equipment.

• The most common hip thrust method involves positioning a loaded barbell at your hip crease. Wrap a towel around the bar or use a barbell pad to increase comfort.
• Alternatively, you can utilize a dumbbell or kettlebell held across your hips. However, you may quickly surpass the available dumbbell weights in your gym. Many people are surprised by the amount of weight they can handle in the hip thrust, and you might be stronger in this movement than you realize.
• You can also do hip thrusts with a resistance band. Loop the band under your feet and along your hip crease, and you’re good to go. Again, you’ll find the loading awkward, as few bands provide enough resistance for this exercise.
• Lastly, a fourth alternative is a dedicated hip thrust machine, eliminating the need to adjust free weights and providing a more convenient setup.

Hip thrusts are an ideal exercise for progressive overload, which is crucial for strength and muscle growth in your glutes. That’s why using free weights with a barbell or a machine (designed specifically for hip thrusts or a Smith machine) works best: it allows you to use enough load to make your butt muscles work hard.

Four Pro Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of the Hip Thrust

1. Control the movement and resist the weight as you lower the bar. Avoid rushing the descent, making the exercise significantly less effective.
2. Avoid pushing your hips excessively high. At the top of the movement, your hips should align with your rib cage. Going beyond that transfers the workload to your lower back instead of targeting the glutes.
3. Keep your feet flat on the floor or the footplate of the machine. Some trainees unintentionally rise onto the balls of their feet at the top of the movement, engaging the quadriceps more and compromising glute activation.
4. Experiment with foot placement until you find the optimal position for yourself. Placing your feet too far forward shifts the emphasis to your hamstrings while positioning them too close to your body increases quad involvement. Feel free to try different positions until you feel your glutes firing.

Muscles Worked in Hip Thrusts

Primary muscles worked:

• Glutes

Secondary muscles worked:

• Adductors
• Quads

How to Perform the Hip Thrust

1. Sit on the floor with your back against a sturdy bench.
2. Roll the barbell over your thighs until it is placed over your hips.
3. Place your feet shoulder-width apart on the floor, with bent knees, and your shoulder blades on top of the bench.
4. Place your hands on the bar to stabilize it. Ensure the weight is secure and won’t shift during the exercise.
5. Press through your heels and drive your hips upward in a straight line. Your knees should form a ~90-degree angle at the top.
6. Squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement before lowering the weight to the starting position, controlling the motion the entire time.
7. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift is a fantastic exercise for targeting and strengthening your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.

This deadlift variation shifts the focus almost entirely to your posterior chain muscles, making it a very popular hip hinge movement and one the the best hamstring exercises.

While the leg curl primarily engages the hamstrings by flexing the knee joint, the Romanian deadlift targets them through hip extension. Incorporating both exercises into your glutes and hamstrings workout ensures optimal development of your hammies.

Maintain a slight bend in your knees throughout the Romanian deadlift movement, emphasizing a complete range of motion and achieving a nice stretch at the bottom.

However, it is crucial to keep yourself from lowering yourself beyond where you can maintain a straight back and proper form. You should feel the stretch, but not to the point of discomfort.

Muscles Worked in Romanian Deadlifts

Primary muscles worked:

• Glutes
• Lower Back
• Hamstrings

Secondary muscles worked:

• Adductors
• Trapezius
• Forearm Flexors

How to Perform the Romanian Deadlift

1. Begin by standing with your feet hip-width apart, holding a barbell or a pair of dumbbells in front of your thighs, with an overhand grip (your palms facing your body).
2. Engage your core muscles and maintain a slight knee bend throughout the exercise.
3. Initiate the movement by pushing your hips back, hinging at the waist, and leaning your torso forward. Keep your back straight and maintain a neutral spine position throughout the exercise.
4. As you lower the weights, focus on pushing your hips back while allowing the barbell or dumbbells to slide down the front of your legs.
5. Lower the weights until you feel a good stretch in your hamstrings. Ensure you maintain good form and avoid rounding your back or allowing the weight to pull you forward excessively. In the bottom position, your torso should be parallel to the floor or slightly higher, depending on your flexibility.
6. From the stretched position, reverse the movement by engaging your hamstrings and glutes to bring your torso back to an upright position. Drive your hips forward as you return to the standing position, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement.
7. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.

Step Up

The final exercise of the glutes and hamstrings workout is the step up. Research shows that the step up rivals or exceeds regular squats and hip thrusts for glute activation.5

After the hard work you’ve put your lower body through, you might not need any added weight. If you do, holding a pair of dumbbells in your hands makes it even more challenging.

You can also change the height of the step to suit your fitness level and balance. As you get used to the exercise and your balance improves, you can step up onto a higher platform to increase the challenge.

Muscles Worked in Step Ups

Primary

• Quads
• Glutes
• Adductors

Secondary

• Hamstrings

How to Perform the Step Up

1. Stand in front of a bench, an elevated platform, or step. A step that is approximately knee height or slightly lower is appropriate for most people.
2. Place your right foot on the step, ensuring your entire foot is in contact with the surface.
3. Use the strength of your glutes and leg muscles to drive your body upward and lift your body upward onto the platform. Avoid using momentum or relying on your back foot to assist you. You want your glutes to do as much of the work as possible.
4. Fully extend your right leg, straightening your knee and pushing your hip forward as you rise.
5. Lift your back foot off the ground and bring it up onto the step, fully extending your leg.
6. Lower yourself in a controlled motion. Maintain control throughout the descent and resist the downward movement with your glute and leg strength.
7. Repeat the movement for your desired number of repetitions.
8. Step onto the platform with your left foot and repeat the steps above for the opposite leg.

Glutes and Hamstrings Workout: Training Volume, Frequency, and Rest Times

Details like training volume, frequency, and rest times, can affect the outcome of your efforts.

Training Volume and Frequency

You want a training volume that is right for your fitness level for the best results in muscle gain and strength.

For most trainees, that means doing 10-12 weekly sets per muscle group.6

Highly experienced athletes and bodybuilders might need up to 20 weekly sets for optimal gains.

This glutes and hamstrings workout provides you with enough stimulus for muscle growth if you perform it once or twice a week, in particular if you also include leg exercises like the squat in your overall workout plan.

Rest Times

I recommend taking the necessary rest period to ensure optimal performance in your next set.

Differences in muscle growth from resting a little longer or shorter are likely insignificant and shouldn’t be a cause for concern.

Go by how you feel: If your body feels ready for another set, it most likely is.

Compound exercises like the Bulgarian split squat may require a more extended recovery period. However, for isolation exercises with lighter weights, you might feel ready for your next set after just a minute of rest.

While a typical rest interval for this glutes and hamstrings workout ranges from 1 to 3 minutes, consider it a general guideline rather than a rigid rule.

How to Incorporate the Glutes and Hamstrings Workout into Your Training Split

This workout is supremely versatile and you can use it to build your glutes and hamstrings in almost any type of training routine.

It can be part of your lower body training day and fits right into a push/pull/legs split, for example.

Simply add squats and leg extensions, and you have the ultimate leg day workout.

• Day one: chest, shoulders, and triceps
• Day two: back and biceps
• Day three: quads and this glutes and hamstrings workout

You can also perform it as a stand-alone session: a great way to zero in on your glute and hamstring training if you want to prioritize those muscles or feel they are lagging behind.

Those are just a few examples; feel free to incorporate this workout into your exercise plan any way you see fit.

Track the Glutes and Hamstrings Workout in StrengthLog

Give the Glutes and Hamstrings Workout a whirl, and you’ll be on your way to building the rear end and hamstrings you’ve always wanted.

It’s available exclusively in our workout log app.

A workout log is the best way to keep track of your progress.

Remember that progressive overload is the key to consistent gains over time. To continue making progress, you must gradually increase the demands on your muscles.

A training log helps you stay consistent, set and achieve specific goals, track your progress over time, identify patterns in your training, and hold yourself accountable to your fitness goals.

While this workout requires a premium subscription, StrengthLog is 100% free to download and use as a workout tracker and general strength training app. All the basic functionality is free – forever. It’s like a personal trainer in your pocket.

Download StrengthLog for free, keep track of your weights and reps, and try to beat your previous numbers each workout.

Want to give premium a shot? We offer all new users a free 14-day trial of premium, which you can activate in the app.

>> Click here to return to our list of training programs and workouts.

For more stand-alone bodybuilding workouts like this, check out these great resources:

• Chest and Bicep Workout
• Back and Biceps Workout
• Back and Shoulder Workout
• Back and Triceps Workout
• Bodybuilding Leg Workout for Mass
• Chest, Shoulder, and Tricep Bodybuilding Workout
• Shoulder and Arm Workout
• Shoulders and Abs Workout
• Chest and Shoulder Workout

Good luck with your training, friend!

References

1. Evol Psychol. 2019 Apr-Jun;17(2):1474704919852918. Men’s Bodily Attractiveness: Muscles as Fitness Indicators.
2. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 53(4):p 825-837, April 2021. Greater Hamstrings Muscle Hypertrophy but Similar Damage Protection after Training at Long versus Short Muscle Lengths.
3. PLoS One. 2021 Mar 29;16(3):e0249307. A comprehensive biomechanical analysis of the barbell hip thrust.
4. J Appl Biomech. 2015 Dec;31(6):452-8. A Comparison of Gluteus Maximus, Biceps Femoris, and Vastus Lateralis Electromyographic Activity in the Back Squat and Barbell Hip Thrust Exercises.
5. J Sports Sci Med. 2020 Mar; 19(1): 195–203. Gluteus Maximus Activation during Common Strength and Hypertrophy Exercises: A Systematic Review.
6. J Hum Kinet. 2022 Jan; 81: 199–210. A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy.

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