Training glutes properly takes four movement patterns, not fifty exercises. Your hip moves in three planes, and the glute complex works in all of them, so a programme that only trains one plane will only build part of the muscle.
Most people whose butt is not growing do not have a bad squat. They have a programme that repeats one movement in six different costumes. This guide covers the four patterns, what each one loads, and how to fit them into a normal week.
Written by Navid Moravej, co-founder of Booty Center. Every claim below is checked against the primary paper.
Why four patterns and not fifty
Because the hip only has three planes of motion, and adding a seventh squat variation does not create a fourth plane. Four patterns cover every direction the glute complex can work in.
The hip is a ball and socket joint. Neumann counted 21 muscles crossing it and organised their actions by the three cardinal planes of movement (Neumann 2010). Front to back is the sagittal plane. Out to the side is the frontal plane. Twisting is the transverse plane. Your glutes do work in all three.
Here is the part almost nobody says out loud. Muscle does not grow evenly. It grows region by region. Nunes and colleagues made this point directly in 2024, showing that changes in muscle size have to be measured at several sites along a muscle, because one measurement site does not represent the whole thing (Nunes et al. 2024). A muscle can grow in one region and barely move in another.
Takahashi and colleagues then showed why that happens in the glutes specifically. They reconstructed gluteus maximus fibres in living people using diffusion tensor imaging and calculated what each region can actually do. Capacity for hip extension and external rotation tended to be greatest in the lower region. Capacity for abduction appeared greatest in the upper region (Takahashi et al. 2025). Different parts of the same muscle are built for different jobs.
What this means in the gym
If regions of a muscle do different jobs, then loading one direction only trains the region built for that direction. That is the whole argument for four patterns, and it comes from measurement, not opinion.
So variety matters. But not the kind of variety you see on social media. Kassiano and colleagues reviewed eight studies on exercise variation and found that systematic variation, chosen from anatomy and biomechanics, can improve regional growth and strength. Excessive random variation may actually hold adaptations back (Kassiano et al. 2022). Swapping exercises weekly for novelty is not a programme. Choosing four patterns on purpose is.
The Myth
“The more glute exercises I do, the more complete my butt will be.” Fifty exercises that all extend the hip are still one pattern. Four patterns chosen on purpose beat fifty chosen at random.
Pillar 1: Vertical hip extension
Vertical hip extension is the squat pattern, where the load runs down through your body to the floor. It loads the glutes hardest in the deep, stretched position at the bottom of the lift.
This is your squat, leg press, lunge, split squat and deadlift. The resistance is vertical, so the hardest point comes when your hips are deepest.
It earns its place for two reasons. It loads the glutes in a lengthened position, and it lets you move real weight. In Plotkin’s nine week trial in untrained lifters, squat training produced glute growth on MRI similar to hip thrust training, and grew the quadriceps and adductors more (Plotkin et al. 2023).
What it cannot do is load the top. When you stand up, the resistance line passes close to your hip and the demand drops off. That gap is why Pillar 2 exists.
Two or three exercises here is plenty. Bar position changes what you feel, broken down in high bar versus low bar squatting for glutes. For more range on one leg, Bulgarian split squats done for glutes rather than quads work well. If you pull, stance is covered in sumo and conventional deadlifts.
Coach’s tip
Depth beats load here. A squat you can take deep with control loads more glute than a heavier one you cut short. Add weight only after the depth is honest.
Pillar 2: Horizontal hip extension
Horizontal hip extension is the hip thrust and bridge pattern, where you push your hips forward against a load instead of standing up under one. It keeps tension on the glutes at the top of the movement, exactly where the squat lets go.
Bezodis and colleagues measured hip extensor moment across the whole lift in the hip thrust, the deadlift and the back squat. The demand was greater early in the lifting phase in the deadlift, and later in the lifting phase in the hip thrust (Bezodis et al. 2018). Different moment, different training effect.
Activation points the same way. Contreras and colleagues compared trained women at a 10 rep max load. Mean upper gluteus maximus activity was 69.5 percent in the hip thrust against 29.4 percent in the squat, and lower gluteus maximus 86.8 percent against 45.4 percent (Contreras et al. 2015).
Be careful with those numbers
Activation is not growth. The study’s authors said plainly that longitudinal trials were needed to see whether higher activation turns into more muscle. When Plotkin’s team ran that trial with MRI, glute growth was similar between the two lifts (Plotkin et al. 2023). Keep both. Do not pick one because it feels harder.
Anchors here are the barbell hip thrust, the glute bridge, and single leg versions of both. The two are not the same lift, and we compare them in glute bridge versus hip thrust. If thrusting leaves your lower back sore rather than your butt tired, that is a fixable technique problem and we cover it in why your lower back hurts after hip thrusts.
Pillar 3: Hip abduction
Hip abduction means taking your leg out to the side, in the frontal plane. It is the only pattern that properly loads the gluteus medius and minimus and the upper part of the gluteus maximus, the muscles that give your butt width, and it is the one almost everyone skips.
The gluteus medius is not a small stabiliser. Neumann reports it as the largest of the hip abductors, making up about 60 percent of the total abductor cross-sectional area (Neumann 2010). That is a serious amount of muscle sitting on the outside of your hip.
And here is the evidence that should end the argument. In Plotkin’s trial, the gluteus medius and minimus showed little to no growth in either the squat group or the hip thrust group over nine weeks (Plotkin et al. 2023). These were untrained lifters, the group that grows most easily, and the outer hip still barely changed after two of the best hip extension lifts and nine supervised weeks. Front to back work does not build the abductors.
Key takeaway
This is the single biggest hole in most glute programmes. If your butt looks flat at the sides, or dips in above the hip, abduction is the pattern you are missing. No amount of squatting will fill it.
Options are the seated abduction machine, cable or band standing abduction, and side lying variations. The machine is easiest to load heavy and easiest to do badly, so read our guide to seated hip abduction machine form. For that side shape specifically, we go deeper in how to round out v shaped glutes.
Pillar 4: Hip external rotation
External rotation means turning your thigh outward, in the transverse plane. It is driven by the gluteus maximus together with a set of small deep rotators underneath it, and it is the least studied of the four patterns.
The anatomy is not in doubt. Takahashi’s imaging work found that capacity for external rotation tended to be greatest in the lower region of the gluteus maximus, the same region with the greatest capacity for hip extension (Takahashi et al. 2025). Neumann also notes that the rear fibres of the gluteus medius produce extension and external rotation, not just abduction (Neumann 2010).
The same imaging work turned up something stranger, and almost nobody in this field has mentioned it. Fascicles in the lower outer corner of the gluteus maximus showed a negative abduction torque, meaning that part of the muscle pulls the thigh inward rather than outward (Takahashi et al. 2025). One muscle, and two regions of it work in opposite directions in the frontal plane. That is how far from uniform this muscle is.
Where the evidence runs out, and we will say so
There is no training study showing that adding external rotation work grows glutes more than not doing it. We know which muscles do the job and where in the muscle they sit. We do not yet have a trial testing the outcome. This pillar is reasoned from anatomy, and you deserve to know that.
So here is the honest position. Rotation work is cheap, it takes a few minutes, and it targets a region the other three patterns load only indirectly. Cable or band external rotation, seated banded rotation, and abduction with a slight outward turn all fit. Treat it as sensible insurance, not a proven growth driver.
How to program all four in a week
Two glute sessions a week, with vertical and horizontal hip extension anchoring each one, plus abduction in both and rotation once. That is the whole framework.
| Pattern | Weekly sets | Where it goes | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Vertical hip extension | 6 to 10 | Start of both sessions | Squat, split squat, deadlift, leg press |
| 2. Horizontal hip extension | 6 to 10 | Second lift, both sessions | Hip thrust, glute bridge, single leg thrust |
| 3. Hip abduction | 6 to 9 | Both sessions, after the big lifts | Seated machine, cable, side lying |
| 4. Hip external rotation | 2 to 4 | Once a week, end of a session | Cable or band rotation, banded abduction |
Order matters less than you think, but train the patterns you can load heaviest while you are fresh. That means the two hip extension patterns first.
Across the literature, resistance training has a moderate effect on gluteus maximus growth, with a pooled effect size of 0.71 in a 2025 meta-analysis of eleven studies (Krause Neto et al. 2025). Real, but not fast. Give this three months before you judge it.
Coach’s tip
Keep the exercises the same for six to eight weeks and add reps or weight instead. Kassiano’s review found random rotation of exercises may hold adaptations back. Progression is the variable that should change week to week, not the exercise list.
The mistake most programmes make
The most common mistake is treating exercise variety as pattern variety. Six exercises that all extend the hip in the sagittal plane is one pattern done six times, and it leaves the frontal and transverse planes completely untrained.
Look at a typical glute day. Squat, Romanian deadlift, walking lunge, leg press, then kickbacks to finish. Five exercises, and every one is vertical or horizontal hip extension. Nothing takes the leg out to the side. Nothing turns the thigh. Two of the three planes get nothing at all.
The fix is not more exercises. It is fewer exercises spread across more patterns. Cut two of those hip extension movements and put abduction and rotation in the space. Same session length, whole butt instead of one third of it very thoroughly.
Bottom line
Four patterns, chosen on purpose, trained consistently, progressed slowly. Your hip moves in three planes, so train all three. That is the entire method, and it is more than most programmes ever do.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to train glutes in all three planes?
Yes, if you want the whole muscle to grow. The hip moves in three planes and different regions of the glutes do different jobs (Takahashi et al. 2025). Training only front to back movement leaves the outer hip and the rotators largely unloaded, which shows up as a butt that looks flat from the side.
Is hip thrust better than squat for glutes?
No, and you should do both. Hip thrusts produce higher glute activation than squats (Contreras et al. 2015), but when researchers actually measured muscle growth by MRI over nine weeks, the two produced similar glute growth (Plotkin et al. 2023). They load different points in the range, so they complement each other.
What is hip external rotation and why does it matter for glutes?
It is turning your thigh outward, powered by the gluteus maximus plus small deep rotators underneath it. Imaging shows the lower region of the gluteus maximus has the greatest capacity for this action (Takahashi et al. 2025). No training study has yet tested whether adding it grows glutes faster.
How many exercises do I need for a complete butt workout?
Four to six across the four patterns, not ten inside one pattern. Two hip extension exercises, one or two abduction exercises and one rotation exercise covers everything. Adding a fifth squat variation adds fatigue without adding a new stimulus, because it repeats a plane you have already trained.
Why are my glutes not growing even though I squat heavy?
Most likely because squatting only trains one of the four patterns. Squats load the glutes in the stretched position but do very little for the gluteus medius and minimus, which showed little to no growth after nine weeks of squat training (Plotkin et al. 2023). Add abduction work.
Can I train all four patterns in one session?
Yes, and it works well if you train legs once a week. Put the two hip extension patterns first while you are fresh, then abduction, then rotation last. Two sessions a week is better if you can manage it, because it splits the volume and keeps quality higher.
How long before I see a change in my butt?
Expect around three months of consistent training before your butt visibly changes shape. A 2025 meta-analysis found a moderate pooled effect of resistance training on gluteus maximus growth (Krause Neto et al. 2025). Real, but gradual. Judge the programme on months, not weeks.
Do glute machines count, or do I need free weights?
They count. Machines are how you load abduction properly, and no free weight equivalent does the job as well. Use free weights for the two hip extension patterns where you can progress heavy, and machines or cables for abduction and rotation.
Want this built into a full programme?
Booty Center turns the research into training you can actually follow. Everything we publish is checked against the primary studies before a single word gets written.
References
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- Bezodis I, Needham L, Brazil A. A comparison of hip joint kinetics during the barbell hip thrust, deadlift and back squat. In: Hume P, ed. Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sports. Auckland, New Zealand; 2018:60-63.
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- Contreras B, Vigotsky AD, Schoenfeld BJ, Beardsley C, Cronin J. A comparison of gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, and vastus lateralis electromyographic activity in the back squat and barbell hip thrust exercises. J Appl Biomech. 2015;31(6):452-458. doi:10.1123/jab.2014-0301
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- Kassiano W, Nunes JP, Costa B, Ribeiro AS, Schoenfeld BJ, Cyrino ES. Does varying resistance exercises promote superior muscle hypertrophy and strength gains? A systematic review. J Strength Cond Res. 2022;36(6):1753-1762. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004258
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- Krause Neto W, Vieira Krause TL, Gama EF. The impact of resistance training on gluteus maximus hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Physiol. 2025;16:1542334. doi:10.3389/fphys.2025.1542334
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- Neumann DA. Kinesiology of the hip: a focus on muscular actions. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2010;40(2):82-94. doi:10.2519/jospt.2010.3025
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- Nunes JP, Blazevich AJ, Schoenfeld BJ, et al. Determining changes in muscle size and architecture after exercise training: one site does not fit all. J Strength Cond Res. 2024;38(4):787-790. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000004722
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- Plotkin DL, Rodas MA, Vigotsky AD, et al. Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift. Front Physiol. 2023;14:1279170. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1279170
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- Takahashi K, Kawama R, Wakahara T. End-divergent architecture diversifies within-muscle mechanical action in human gluteus maximus in vivo. J Biomech. 2025;179:112488. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112488
