The Best Glute Exercises, Ranked: Science-Based Tier List from S to D

THE CLAIM WE KEPT SEEING: Here are the 15 best glute exercises. Almost no list tells you why those made the cut, or which ones actually grow the glutes.

We read the top of Google for best glute exercises. Big health sites, gym brands, YouTube coaches. Some of it is very good. Some of it drops a bodyweight move that can never get harder into the same list as a heavy barbell lift and calls them both best. So we did the boring, useful thing. We checked every popular pick against the actual research, then ranked all 17 from S to D.

Read this first: activation is not growth Most best exercise claims come from EMG studies. EMG measures how much electrical signal a muscle fires during a movement. It is useful, but a big EMG number does not promise a bigger muscle. Growth is measured a different way, with MRI or ultrasound, over weeks of training. An exercise can feel like it lights up your glutes and still be a poor choice for building them. Keep that split in mind every time you see the word best. (EMG = electromyography, a sensor reading of muscle activity.)

Meet the players

Your glutes are three muscles. The gluteus maximus is the big one that drives your hip from bent to straight (standing up, thrusting, climbing stairs). It has an upper and a lower part. The gluteus medius sits higher and to the side; it lifts the leg out and steadies your pelvis. Around them, the adductors (inner thigh) and hamstrings (back of thigh) help you straighten the hip. Good glute training loads the maximus hard through a big range, and gives the medius some direct side work.

The 3 questions we scored every exercise by

We did not rank by hype or by feel. We asked three things, in this order.

 

1. 1. Is there real growth data? Did a study measure muscle size, not just EMG? This counts most.

1. 1. Can you load it heavy, through a big range? The glutes grow when they are loaded from a deep stretch to a full squeeze. A move that stays short, or can only use light weight, is limited.

1. 1. Can you progress it? You need to add weight or reps over months. If a move is stuck at bodyweight forever, growth stalls.

Activation (EMG) was used only as a tie-breaker, never as the main proof.

What the internet gets right

Plenty. Credit where it is due. PureGym’s top three for women are deadlifts, hip thrusts, and sumo squats. That is a strong, honest top three. Gymshark’s 6 best are all heavy, loadable compounds: hip thrust, back squat, front squat, Bulgarian split squat, deadlift, and Romanian deadlift. We agree with that list almost completely. And the science-based coaches on YouTube who rank exercises by growth, not by burn, are asking exactly the right question. When a source leads with heavy hip extension through a full range, it is on solid ground.

The half-truth: “the hip thrust is the gold standard”

Google’s own answer box calls the barbell hip thrust the “gold standard for activating the gluteus maximus” in its shortened position. Half of that is right, and half needs a caveat.

The right half: on EMG, the hip thrust does beat the squat for glute activation, about twice as much in one well-known study (Contreras 2015). Your glutes fire hardest when the hip is fully straight, which is exactly the top of a thrust.

The caveat: the same researchers who found that wrote, in the paper itself, that longer training studies were still needed to see if more activation meant more growth. Those studies now exist. In 2023, a team trained one group on squats and one on hip thrusts for nine weeks and measured the muscle with MRI. Both groups grew their glutes by a similar amount (Plotkin 2023). The squat also grew the thighs more.

THE HONEST VERDICT The hip thrust is not the one king. The hip thrust and the deep squat are co-kings. Calling either one “the” best glute exercise overstates what the growth data actually shows. For proper technique, make sure you know how to do a barbell hip thrust safely.

What the internet gets wrong

Here is the pattern that quietly costs readers results. Several popular lists rank fire hydrants, donkey kicks, and clamshells among the “best” glute exercises, sitting right next to squats and hip thrusts. One well-known beginner list leads with glute bridges and bodyweight squats, then donkey kicks and fire hydrants. Another “best bum” list mixes clamshells and cable kickbacks in with the heavy movers as equals.

These moves are not useless. Clamshells and side-lying work do fire the gluteus medius, and they are fine as a warm-up or in early rehab. But as growth exercises for a healthy trainee, they are weak, for two reasons our three questions expose:

 

• • You can barely load them. A bodyweight donkey kick or fire hydrant uses almost no resistance. The glutes grow from heavy loading through range (Kubo 2019, Plotkin 2023), and these moves cannot deliver it.

• • You cannot progress them well. Once bodyweight is easy, there is nowhere to go. A move you can never make meaningfully harder cannot keep building muscle.

Even for the side-glute (the medius), the research does not crown the fire hydrant. A systematic review found that standing, upright abduction positions tend to beat the low, on-all-fours position for medius activity (Krause Neto 2020). So the fire hydrant is not even the best medius move, let alone a best overall glute builder. Putting these in a “best glute exercises” list without saying “start here, then add load fast” sets beginners up to spin their wheels.

The tier list: all 17, ranked

Scored on growth data first, loading and range second, activation last.

 

S-TIER proven, heavy, full range

Only two exercises have direct glute-growth studies behind them and load the muscle hard through a big range.

 – Barbell Hip Thrust. Best glute activation on record, plus real MRI growth data. Loads the top squeeze hard, and dead easy to add weight.

 – Deep Back Squat. Grew the glutes about 3x more than a half squat in an MRI study (+6.7% vs +2.2%, Kubo 2019), and matched the hip thrust for growth (Plotkin 2023). The key word is deep. A quarter squat does not count.

A-TIER excellent hip-extension builders

– Romanian Deadlift. Loads a deep hip-and-glute stretch under heavy weight. Trains glutes and hamstrings together (shared work, not glutes alone).

– Deadlift (conventional or sumo). Heavy, progressable hip extension. Sumo leans a little more toward the hips.

– Bulgarian Split Squat. One leg at a time, deep stretch, loads the glute strongly. A gym favorite for good reason.

– Walking Lunge. Long stride, big range, easy to add dumbbells over time.

B-TIER useful, but limited by load or range

– Step-Up (high box). Good single-leg work. Keep the box high and add weight.

– Barbell Glute Bridge. Like a hip thrust with a shorter range and a lower ceiling.

– Cable Kickback (hip extension). Decent isolation, but the load ceiling is low.

– Hip Abduction Machine. Genuinely useful for the upper glute and medius, and you can progress the weight.

-45° Back Extension (glute-focus). Nice stretch-to-squeeze, limited by how much load you can hold.

C-TIER activation and warm-up, weak growers

– Banded Side-Steps. A fine glute-medius primer, but the load stays light.

– Standing Band Kickback. Better than nothing, hard to overload.

– Clamshell. A real medius activator and rehab staple, not a mass builder.

D-TIER great for a warm-up, wrong tool for growth

– Fire Hydrant. Tiny load, and not even the top medius move.

– Donkey Kick. Short range, minimal resistance, cannot progress.

Short-range Bodyweight Bridge / glute squeeze. An activation drill, not a growth set.

By the numbers

These figures come from the studies named, not from us.

As squats got deeper, the glutes’ share of the work also rose, from about 17% to 28% to 35% (Caterisano 2002). Going deep, not just adding weight, is what feeds the glutes.

At a glance: pick by your goal

YOUR GOAL	DO THIS
Build maximum glute size	Hip thrust and deep squat as your base, RDL and Bulgarian split squat as backup. Heavy, full range, 2 to 3 times per week.
Grow at home, minimal kit	Bulgarian split squat, walking lunge, single-leg glute bridge, banded work. Add a loaded backpack or dumbbells and keep making it harder.
Total beginner	Start with bodyweight squats, glute bridges, and lunges to learn the moves, then add load within a few weeks. Do not live in the bodyweight phase.
Shape the upper glute & side (medius)	Hip abduction machine and banded work, on top of your heavy compounds. Clamshells as a warm-up.

Quick answers (the questions people ask)

What is the #1 glute exercise?

There isn’t a single one. The hip thrust and the deep squat share the top, and both have real growth data behind them.

What is the most effective glute exercise?

For most people, the barbell hip thrust, because it loads the glutes hard where they are strongest and is very easy to progress.

How can I tone my glutes fast?

“Tone” means build a little muscle and lose a little fat. Train the S and A tier moves 2 to 3 times a week and manage your food. Bodyweight burners alone will not do it.

Does the “8-8-8” glute method work?

It is a hip-thrust set of 8 full reps, 8 partial reps, and an 8-second hold. It is a fine intensity finisher, and the full-range reps are the part that matters most. There is nothing magic about the number. Quality full-range sets taken close to failure do the same job.

Bottom line Most best glute exercises lists are not lying. They are just unranked. They drop warm-up moves next to muscle-builders and let you guess. The research is clearer than the internet makes it look: load your glutes heavy, through a deep stretch to a full squeeze, and keep adding weight over time. The hip thrust and the deep squat lead because they do exactly that. The fire hydrants are for your warm-up, not your gains.

Want the full plan and the demo videos?  bootycenter.com

References

 

• • 1. 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

• • 2. Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata H. Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2019;119(9):1933-1942. doi:10.1007/s00421-019-04181-y

• • 3. 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

• • 4. Krause Neto W, Soares EG, Vieira TL, Aguiar R, Chola TA, Sampaio VL, Gama EF. Examination of gluteus maximus electromyographic excitation associated with dynamic hip extension during body weight exercise: a systematic review. J Sports Sci Med. 2020;19(1):195-203. PMID:32132843

• • 5. Macadam P, Cronin J, Contreras B. An examination of the gluteal muscle activity associated with dynamic hip abduction and hip external rotation exercise: a systematic review. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015;10(5):573-591. PMID:26491608

• • 6. Caterisano A, Moss RF, Pellinger TK, Woodruff K, Lewis VC, Booth W, Khadra T. The effect of back squat depth on the EMG activity of 4 superficial hip and thigh muscles. J Strength Cond Res. 2002;16(3):428-432.