6 Common Mistakes You Might Be Making If You’re Struggling to Grow Your Glutes
Growing your glutes takes time and patience, but how long should you wait until you decide whether your training program is working for you or not?
Typically, small changes in your glute growth takes about 4-6 weeks; usually with very little visible differences yet. It really takes ~8-12 weeks to discover more obvious changes in your physique, with consistency in the gym.
But if you’ve been putting in work for months, if not years, and still feel that you’ve made little to no progress, then this isn’t the norm! It can be disheartening if you’re working towards a goal for a long time and not seeing results where and when you want them.
The truth is, many people are in the same boat as you and you may only need minor adjustments to start seeing some solid progress with your glute growth. Today we’re going over the 6 common mistakes that you might be making on your glute-building journey!
#1 You’re Zoned Out and Not Focused
Lack of focus is the first reason you may not be growing your glutes as effectively as you’d like. This is the first, and easiest one you can rule out if you’re not seeing progress in muscle growth.
When you go to the gym, are you typically present or zoned out? If you are, I guarantee you’re leaving progress on the table. It takes your presence to give your all.
Even if you’re going up in weight or reps, but you’re not paying attention to and trying to connect deeply with what you’re doing, this can and will still impact how well you’re targeting your glutes. Going up in weight doesn’t ALWAYS mean that there will be progress where you want it to, if you’re not paying attention to your technique.
Its easy to want to zone out at the gym completely, but its important to still be present with your exercises. Make sure that with every single rep, you’re focused on your technique, cues that help you, and your breathing.
Just the act of mindlessness in training, even when everything else appears to be done correctly, can truly alter your progress. Stay focused when you’re lifting. Don’t speed through the exercises. Don’t go through the motions all willy-nilly. Be present.
#2: You Need Modifications to Your Lifting Technique
Now, if you’re showing up to the gym and staying focused when lifting, then it may be that your technique and internal cueing is the issue.
Another sign that this may be the issue is if you’re experiencing repetitive pain, such as knee pain after performing these exercises. But some people can exercise like this for years before ever experiencing pain or injuries. Our bodies are actually pretty good at adapting to how you move them, so if you move your body in a way you’re not meaning to, you might be getting stronger, just not in your glutes.
It will take time to practice and re-learn certain movements if you’ve been doing them for awhile, but perfection isn’t what’s important here. Practice is!
If your form is off, even the most subtle changes in how you cue yourself can shift the muscles that you’re targeting and how you’re targeting them.
For example, when some people squat, they unknowingly allow their heels to elevate from the ground. So to fix this, you need to focus on the cues that will help you to best keep your heels grounded. Some examples you can use for this are to, “drive through your heels” or “keep your feet screwed into the floor.”
Another example is allowing your knees to cave in as you squat down. This is often a sign that your glute med and minimus are not activating the way they’re supposed to. You can fix this by focusing on “pushing your knees out” still while keeping feet screwed into the floor. You can also add a band around your thighs for external cueing.
Proper form is important for a reason; it ensures we target exactly what we want to. If your goal is to add volume to your glutes, but you’re adding it to your low back or into your knees, you will not see your glutes get any bigger, even if you’re doing all of the best glute exercises. You might see your low back and knees get stronger, though. Or you might see yourself get injured.
Here are some other examples of movements that are performed incorrectly:
Hip thrusts & glute bridges (rounding the low back instead of rounding the pelvis under for a neutral spine)
45 degree back extensions (arching the low back instead of rounding the upper back)
Squats & deadlifts (keeping the knees slightly bent at the top & not locking out, by standing tall at the top)
#3 You’re Choosing Exercises Based on How They Feel Vs. True Hypertrophy Benefits
You don’t want to choose exercises based just on how they feel.
You can burn the heck out of your glutes, and really feel connected with your glutes… and yet, the exercise can still do very little to actually promote glute hypertrophy.
How is that possible?
There is a difference between feeling your muscles being activated vs. the ability for that actual exercise to truly be progressive for hypertrophy benefits.
One common example of this is when individuals try to grow their glutes with just bodyweight or banded clamshells. You will feel your glutes burning with this exercise, but unless you’re doing it for corrective exercise work, clamshells will not provide enough progressive overload to truly make a difference for your glute hypertrophy and development.
Instead, a similar movement that could help promote growth would be machine hip abductions or cable standing abductions. Both of these variations target the same area of the glutes, but the latter variation allows for better progressive overload for glute growth. Your exercise choice matters. How much it burns doesn’t always matter.
There are many other exercises like this out there that people consistently utilize for glute growth, that don’t necessarily support those goals. Some other examples of this are donkey kickbacks, banded side steps, fire hydrants, and frog pumps.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t utilize these types of movements in your training. There are several people who would benefit greatly from incorporating these movements initially, as many people start out training with imbalances and weaker glutes, so this may be a great movement for some, but not so much for others who have advanced past this movement for muscle-growth.
#4: You’re Not Focused on Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is a pretty well-known term for those in the fitness industry now. At the beginning of the journey, progressive overload looks like either adding weight or adding reps each week.
The goal is that you slowly add volume to your glute work each week.
The first couple of years of lifting is when you get to experience easier progress (”the newbie gains”). But eventually progressive overload will become more challenging and that’s when you’ll want to start implementing other techniques.
If you’re at a more advanced level where you’re not able to add weight or reps each week, then this is where you’ll start considering things like double progressions (if you haven’t already), as well as increasing training volume through training intensity, sets, and additional focuses on
For building your glutes, things like double progressions are considered. As well as increasing your training intensity, adding sets, and focus on time under tension throughout different phases of the lift to target weak points as you get stronger.
Many women tend to be afraid of going heavy in the gym, but this is inevitable if you want to see glute progress and growth.
At the end of the day, you cannot keep utilizing light weights and expect for change to happen. The reason your glutes grow is because you keep challenging them. If you’re not adding to the stress via progressive overload, you will not add muscle either.
#5: You’re Not Eating Enough FOOD
Calories. Carbs. Protein. All of these are important when you want to build muscle. Sorry to say. 😔
Unless you are an absolute beginner to the gym, you have to be in a caloric surplus. This just means eating slightly above your normal maintenance calories. This is the most important because the surplus allows for your body to have enough energy for repair and growth of your glutes.
Being in a caloric deficit reduces your ability and effectiveness to build muscle because you’re already below your maintenance needs. In a deficit, some of your daily energy is coming from fat storage rather than food like carbs and protein, which better supports muscle growth for energy and repair.
Protein and carbs are also crucial; protein for muscle repair and carbs for being able to go harder at the gym with your weights and maintaining your intensity levels.
If you’re in a deficit or on a low carb diet, this is something that will absolutely inhibit your glute gains — even if you’re giving 100% in your lifting sessions.
#6 You Haven’t Played Around with Different Exercise Variations
This is the lesser talked about struggle when it comes to growing your glutes. Some exercises work really well with certain individuals, based on their anatomy.
Anatomical differences like our limb-length or how deep your ball and socket joint is can impact which exercises work best for you. Some people can also cue certain exercises a lot better than others. Playing around with different variations of exercises can help you to better connect with your body and understand what works for you.
The biggest mistake people make is getting too comfortable with the same exact movement patterns, and not trying enough variations of the same thing.
Here are some examples of how different variations may look:
Hip thrust & other hinge variations (wide stance hip thrust, narrow stance, heel elevated bridge, single-leg, banded, 45 degree back extensions, GHD back extensions)
Lunge variations (forward leaning lunge, FFE elevated, Bulgarian split squat, lateral lunge, Cossack squat, curtsy lunge, forward leaning step-ups)
Deadlift variations (Sumo, RDL, SLDL, deficit deadlift, single-leg, banded deadlift with pull from behind hips, cable deadlifts)
Squat variations (wide stance, narrow stance, ATG, single-leg, landmine squat, cable squat, goblet, hack squat)
At the end of the day, you want to target all aspects of your glutes and not get stuck moving only within the same movement patterns.
If you feel like you only have a few exercises that you’re comfortable with doing on your leg/glute days, then this may be a sign that its time to expand your horizons and try out some of the different exercises and machines at your gym!
For example, you may be performing your hip thrusts with a narrow stance, but it may be better for your glute growth if you widen your stance and slightly point out the toes.
The smallest adjustments in your foot positioning will activate your muscles differently within your hips and glutes.
WIDE STANCE HIP THRUST EXAMPLE
NARROW STANCE HIP THRUST EXAMPLE
Don’t get overwhelmed with all the options, just try them and practice them slowly over time. And don’t completely throw out your current program; make adjustments where needed and continue to measure your progress over the weeks. Small adjustments can make a big difference.
If you’re still struggling with building your glutes after implementing these tips, feel free to reach out for additional help or coaching!
And if you’re exiting your beginner phase of lifting and are in need of a new program to grow your glutes, check out this program!
