Written by Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

Increasingly, we are living in a glute-less society. While booty girls rule Instagram, a significant and growing number of men and women are distinctly lacking in the butt department.

Weak, shapeless glutes are a common sight, and many of the people who DO have big butts are just fat and soft.

So, what has happened to the once-proud glutes?

Poor glute development is mostly caused by spending way too much time sitting down. Prolonged sitting not only completely unloads your glutes; it also places them in a stretched position. The combination of inactivity and unrelenting stretching causes hypotonicity and atrophy. This means the glutes lose their tone or firmness and start to shrink.

The good news is that, with nothing more than a couple of dumbbells, you can reawaken your glutes and build a butt you can be proud of!

In this article, we reveal the ten best dumbbell glute exercises.

The name glutes is usually short for gluteus maximus. However, other muscles make up the glute complex, and they’re no less important.

Providing you use the best glute exercises, you should have no problem building a strong and muscular butt. Still, it’s always helpful to know a little about the underlying anatomy of the muscles you want to develop.

And don’t for a moment underestimate the importance of the glutes. They are biomechanically similar to your deltoids or shoulder muscles. In fact, some people call them the deltoids of the hip!

The main muscles that make up the glutes complex are:

This is the muscle you are currently sitting on, but it’s more than just somewhere convenient to rest your weary bones. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the human body and potentially the most powerful. Located on the back and side of your hip, the functions of the gluteus maximus are:

Related: Best Glute Exercises For Mass

The gluteus medius is located above and beneath the gluteus maximus near the iliac or upper crest of the pelvis. It works alongside the gluteus maximus and also has some additional functions:

Related: Best Gluteus Medius Exercises For A Perfect Butt

This is a small triangle-shaped muscle located within the posterior aspect of the hip. Like the gluteus medius, the gluteus minimus also works alongside the gluteus maximus, and its functions are:

Related: Gluteus Minimus Exercises For Rounder Hips & a Jaw-Dropping Side Butt

Meaning band of white tissue, the TFL is part of the glute complex despite not having the word gluteus in its name. It’s a biaxial muscle which means it crosses two joints – the hip and the knee. As part of the glute group, TFL is involved in:

The Gluteus maximus is the most prominent muscle in the glute complex. Still, the other gluteal muscles deserve your attention too. They might not contribute as much to butt mass, but they are critical for hip stability and performance.

If these other, smaller muscles are neglected, your hips won’t be as stable, and that will affect your athletic performance. Because of the complexity of this part of your body, you must train your glutes from several different directions to ensure you include all of these muscles.

Weak, soft, shapeless butt? Just say no! Put some junk in your trunk with the best dumbbell glute exercises. Include a couple of these awesome exercises in your leg workouts to finally build a butt you can be proud of!

Romanian deadlifts (RDLs) are so-called because they were once a favorite exercise of Romanian Olympic weightlifters. This exercise doesn’t just work your glutes. It also involves your hamstrings and lower back, making it an excellent exercise for strengthening your entire posterior chain.  

If you’ve mastered regular Romanian deadlifts, you are probably ready for a new challenge – single-leg RDLs. Working one leg at a time means you can identify and fix any left to right strength imbalances.

In addition, standing on one leg increases gluteus minimus and gluteus medius engagement as these muscles must work harder to stabilize your hips and pelvis.

While lunges are mostly known as a quads exercise, they also work your glutes. Dumbbell reverse deficit lunges are particularly glute-centric, and you’ll really feel this one the day after doing it!

This is another quads exercise that’s also great for your glutes. While this exercise has nothing to do with the country of Bulgaria, it’s still an excellent unilateral or single-legged exercise. As well as working all your major leg muscles, this split squat variation is good for developing better hip mobility and balance.

Sumo or wide-stance squats not only work your gluteus maximus, but your gluteus minimus and medius too. Performed with a single dumbbell, this exercise is arguably more of a deadlift than a squat, but none of that matters when you just want a great glute workout!

This exercise specifically targets your gluteus minimus and medius, which are located on the side of your hips. With no knee stress to worry about, this is a great way to train your glutes if you suffer from knee pain.

Dumbbell lateral lunges are another compound lower body exercise that emphasizes your glutes. This exercise is also good for hip mobility and flexibility and provides your inner thighs with a welcome workout.

While hip thrusts are usually thought of as a bodyweight or barbell exercise, they work equally well with one or two dumbbells. This hip extension exercise will hammer your gluteus maximus but is also very lower back-friendly, so it’s a good choice for anyone with low back pain.

Step-ups are an effective leg and conditioning exercise. Still, when you use a platform that’s knee height or greater, you’ll really feel your glutes getting involved. The trick to making this exercise effective is doing all the work with your lead leg.

Try NOT to push off the floor with your trial leg. Instead, keep it as straight as you can so your lead leg takes most of the weight.

The dumbbell donkey kick is an isolation exercise, meaning there is movement at only one joint. However, despite being a very straightforward exercise, this is still a great way to tone and condition your glutes.

There is no reason to go through life with a soft, weak butt. While spending too much time sitting CAN weaken your glutes, you don’t have to become a victim of circumstance. Instead, you can grab some weights and train your glutes in the gym or at home. All you need is some dumbbells.

But, there is no need to go all glutes, all the time. Two to three glute-centric workouts per week should be sufficient. That’s because, as with so many things in life, you can have too much of a good thing, and that includes glute workouts.

To get the most from your glute training, you must also allow adequate time for rest and recovery. If you don’t, you could end up overtraining your glutes and find that all your hard workout is wasted.

Patrick Dale is an ex-British Royal Marine, gym owner, and fitness qualifications tutor and assessor. In addition, Patrick is a freelance writer who has authored three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos. He’s not just an armchair fitness expert; Patrick practices what he preaches! He has competed at a high level in numerous sports, including rugby, triathlon, rock climbing, trampolining, powerlifting, and, most recently, stand up paddleboarding. When not lecturing, training, researching, or writing, Patrick is busy enjoying the sunny climate of Cyprus, where he has lived for the last 20-years.

The term dumbbell is often used to describe someone stupid like, “Dude, you’re SUCH a dumbbell!” But there is nothing...

Friends don’t let friends skip leg day. But, sometimes, lack of time means that even the most encouraging friends can’t...

Barbells have been around for hundreds of years. Despite being so old-school, there isn’t a better training tool for building...

The deadlift is the most productive exercise you can do with a barbell – period. Whether you want to build...

Bodybuilding can be very time-consuming. Doing four or more workouts a week, you need to find the time and energy...

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

At FitnessVolt.com Our mission is to help our readers to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, we are on a mission to educate You with the latest from strength and fitness space. Read more. Email: sm(at)fitnessvolt.com Disclosure: FitnessVolt.com has an affiliate relationship with different brands and is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. However, our reviews are based on well research backed analysis.

© Copyright 2010 - 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.

© Copyright 2010 - 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.