Glute Exercises in Calisthenics: The Complete No-Equipment Guide

Introduction

Training your glutes doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to the gym or use weights. In fact, there are many glute exercises in calisthenics that you can perform using only your body weight and that, with the right progressions, can be quite effective.

In this article, I'm going to show you different exercises, from the classic glute bridge to more advanced variations, as well as explain how you can progress in them to keep increasing the difficulty.

But it's not all about strengthening the glutes. It's also important to work on their mobility and flexibility, so in addition to strength exercises, we'll go over some stretches you can include in your routine. So, if you want to learn how to train glutes without weights and how to structure a routine that fits your level, here's everything you need to know.

Why training the glutes is important

The glutes are a group of three muscles located at the back and side of the hip. These muscles are the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius, and the gluteus minimus.

Note: The gluteus minimus is a deep muscle, located below the gluteus medius. That's why it can't be seen in the image.

To begin with, thanks to the glutes we can perform a wide variety of basic movements in our day-to-day lives: getting up from a chair, picking up an object from the floor, climbing stairs, walking uphill, among many other daily activities.

Keep in mind that the glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in the human body. Therefore, having big, strong glutes will allow you to lift more weight, jump higher, run faster, and it can even help prevent knee, hip, and lower back injuries.

Besides, we can't deny that they clearly play a very important role in body aesthetics, whether you're a woman or a man.

In short, the glutes influence your life in multiple ways: in your body aesthetics, in your physical health, and in your athletic performance.

How to train the glutes

Due to the size and position of this group of muscles, they participate in a wide variety of movements, which can even be completely opposite, depending on the position of the hip.

However, the main work of these muscles can be reduced to just two main movements: hip extension and hip abduction.

Hip extension

Hip extension is the primary function of the gluteus maximus. However, not all exercises that perform this movement work the glutes to the same degree, because the hamstrings are also heavily involved in this movement and, depending on how you execute the exercise, you can put more emphasis on one muscle than the other.

If you want to learn more about this topic and, along the way, learn the best exercises for the hamstrings, I recommend reading our article on the best hamstring exercises in Calisthenics.

Hip abduction

While hip abduction is the primary function of the gluteus medius and minimus. In addition, through this movement, the upper fibers of the gluteus maximus are also involved.

Glute exercises in calisthenics

Squats, lunges, step-ups

The first exercises are all those with a triple extension movement pattern. This includes the squat along with all its variations and progressions, lunges, step-ups, and, in general, any exercise similar to these.

I won't go into detail in this part because there is already an article on the blog where I explain these exercises and how to perform them correctly in more depth. Here's the link to the article so you can go read it: Leg Exercises in Calisthenics: The Complete No-Equipment Guide

Even so, I'm going to explain how you can perform these exercises to put more emphasis on the glutes and less on the quadriceps. To do this, you can make two slight modifications:

The first one consists of leaning the torso forward, instead of keeping it as upright as possible. Think of it as a combination of a squat and a deadlift.

The second modification applies mainly to semi-unilateral exercises, such as split squats, Bulgarian split squats, lunges, or step-ups. This one consists of increasing the distance between your feet or, in other words, taking a longer step.

You can also make both modifications at the same time in the previously mentioned exercises. This way, we'll increase the length of the hip's (glutes) moment arm and decrease the knee's (quadriceps).

If you want to better understand this moment arm concept, you can read the article on the best biceps exercises in calisthenics. There I explain this topic in a clearer and more detailed way: Biceps Exercises in Calisthenics: The Complete No-Weights Guide

Glute Bridge

The second exercise is the glute bridge, also known as the hip bridge.

It consists of lying on the floor on your back, with your knees bent, and raising your hips until you form a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.

Make sure to place your whole foot flat on the floor and keep your legs close to a vertical line to maximally work the glutes. Avoid placing your feet too far away and resting only on your heels, as this will involve the hamstrings more.

When performing this exercise, do a posterior pelvic tilt at the top, as if you were trying to keep your back flat. By performing this movement, you'll not only squeeze the glutes better, working the muscle more effectively, but you'll also avoid arching your lower back, preventing future pain in that area.

Hip Thrust

The third exercise is the hip thrust.

This exercise is basically a glute bridge, but with your back supported on an elevated surface. Therefore, follow the same instructions I just gave you for the glute bridge, with the only difference being that, at the top, you'll form a horizontal line from your knees to your shoulders.

The advantage of this exercise over the glute bridge is that the range of motion is greater, so it can perfectly be considered a more advanced progression of the previous exercise. However, most people treat it as a separate exercise.

Side-lying hip abduction

Moving on to hip abduction exercises, the fourth exercise is the side-lying hip

abduction.

As its name suggests, it consists of lying on the floor on one side of your body and raising your leg upward. Keep in mind that this is a hip abduction, so you have to raise the leg laterally, keeping it aligned with the rest of your body. Don't bring the leg forward or rotate the hip outward; otherwise, you'd be working the hip flexors instead of the glutes.

Lateral hip raises

The fifth exercise is the lateral hip raise.

This exercise consists of getting on your side and raising your hips from a position similar to a side plank. If it's easier to understand, think of this exercise as a glute bridge or hip thrust performed on your side.

The easiest progression is to perform this exercise on bent knees, like a side glute bridge. If you want to increase the difficulty, you can fully extend your legs, in a side plank position. You can also support yourself on your knees, but on an elevated surface to increase the range of motion, like a lateral hip thrust. And if you want to increase the difficulty even further, you can extend your legs and raise your feet.

How to progress without weights

Increasing the number of reps

The most basic way to progress in most exercises is to perform more and more reps in each set.

Performing unilateral variations

One way to progress is to perform the exercises unilaterally, that is, with one leg at a time. This way, all the load will be distributed over just one of the two legs.

You can perform one-legged squats, also known as pistol squats; single-leg glute bridges and single-leg hip thrusts.

If you're interested in learning the pistol squat, you can read this very complete article about this exercise: Pistol squat: technique, progressions, and how to achieve it from scratch

Increasing the range of motion

One way to progress in these exercises is by increasing the range of motion.

To start, try to perform the maximum range possible in the exercise. For example, in squats, instead of stopping at a parallel line, try to go as deep as you can.

In some exercises, you can increase the range using elevated platforms, such as the glute bridge with feet elevated, the hip thrust with feet elevated, or the lateral hip raise with feet elevated.

There are always ways to achieve this. For example, in the side-lying hip abduction, you can support yourself on your knee, as in a side plank. This way, you raise your hips and, consequently, you can lower your leg further.

Using mini bands

Another way to increase the difficulty of these exercises is by using mini bands around your legs. It is generally used in squats, glute bridges, hip thrusts, and hip abduction exercises.

The higher you place the band, at thigh level, the easier the exercise will be; and the lower you place it, at knee level or even at the ankles, the harder the exercise will be.

An advantage of the band is that, in addition to increasing the difficulty of the exercise, it will make you work hip external rotation, another function of the glutes.

Seated glute stretch

In this section, we're going to look at how to improve glute flexibility, since it's not only important to strengthen them.

Having good glute flexibility will help you improve hip mobility, reducing muscle stiffness, avoiding compensations, and improving your performance in some exercises, such as the deep squat, in elements like the V-sit, and in handstand presses from a pike position.

To do this, you can perform the following stretch:

Sit on the floor, bend one knee, and cross that foot over the other leg, which stays extended.

Now, cross the arm opposite the bent leg, resting the upper part of your arm on the outer part of the knee, until you feel the stretch in the glute.

Finally, hold that position for 30 to 60 seconds. Do this stretch at the end of your routine. Don't perform prolonged passive stretching at the beginning of your routine.

No-weight glute routine

For this article, I'm going to show you a general structure for a no-weight glute routine and its rationale. That way, you'll only have to select the exercises that best fit your specific context and, consequently, you'll be able to build the most personalized routine possible.

• 3x6-20 Vertical loading exercise (squat)
• 4x8-20 Horizontal loading exercise (hip thrust)
• 4x8-20 Hip abduction exercise

The first exercise will be one with a squat movement pattern. With this type of exercise, we look for great tension when the muscle is well stretched. In addition, these exercises work the lower fibers of the glutes more.

The second exercise will be one with a movement pattern similar to the hip thrust. Unlike the previous one, with these exercises we look for a great contraction with the muscle in a shortened position.

And the third exercise will be a hip abduction exercise. As I explained at the beginning of the article, with this movement we work the gluteus medius, the gluteus minimus, and the upper fibers of the gluteus maximus more.

Example:

• 3x12 Bulgarian split squats
• 4x15 Single-leg hip thrust
• 4x15 Side-lying hip abductions

Remember, this is just an example; select the exercises and the number of reps that best suit you. You can also change the number of sets or add more exercises. Lastly, perform this routine 2-3 times per week.

Most common mistakes when training glutes in calisthenics

Arching your back too much

As I already explained above, in exercises like the glute bridge and the hip thrust, make sure to perform a posterior pelvic tilt at the top, squeezing the glutes hard. This way, we'll work the muscle better and, at the same time, prevent future back pain.

Focusing too much on feeling the muscle

It's fine that you want to feel your glutes when training them. In fact, that can be highly recommended. However, you shouldn't take it to the extreme either.

To start, even if you don't feel your glutes, they are definitely working; otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to move. Also, there are exercises in which it's much harder to feel the glutes, and you may even feel other muscles more, as is the case with the squat. This is completely normal, and you shouldn't worry too much about it.

Ignoring the gluteus medius and minimus

Many people ignore the gluteus medius and minimus because they aren't as big and visible as the gluteus maximus. But these muscles are very important for the stabilization of the hip and pelvis, helping you maintain good posture and avoid injuries.

This goes hand in hand with another mistake: downplaying unilateral work. These two glute muscles aren't only present in hip abduction exercises; they are heavily involved in unilateral exercises, such as Bulgarian split squats, step-ups, pistol squats, etc., precisely because you need good stability and balance in these exercises.

Conclusion

The glutes can be trained effectively without weights, combining exercises with different progressions, unilateral variations, and good technique. Also, we shouldn't forget about stretching, since working on the flexibility and mobility of this area is important too.

Train with Calisteniapp

In our Calisteniapp app, we have a specific training program for Glutes, Abs, and Legs that you might find very interesting if you want guidance and a structured progression. Check it out!