I’m a woman who’s interested in sculpting my glutes. I need to lose about 20 pounds and I do know that I’ll need to diet and do cardio to help with this, but once those pounds have been shed I want to have “buns of steel” to show off. What, in your opinion, is the #1 glute exercise?

I’m a woman who’s interested in sculpting my glutes. I need to lose about 20 pounds and I do know that I’ll need to diet and do cardio to help with this, but once those pounds have been shed I want to have “buns of steel” to show off. What, in your opinion, is the #1 glute exercise?

You know, I’ve never paid too much attention to glute-building in the past. After all, none of the thousands of male bodybuilders I’ve personally coached have asked me for my advice on butt development. However, yours is not an uncommon interest among female trainees, and so I do have advice to offer.

There are devices out there designed specifically to hit the gluteal region, both in the gym and home equipment. However, to my way of thinking, there’s no need to perform an exercise that targets only the glutes when a number of leg-building exercises also work the backside. Among these are below-parallel squats, lunges and stiff-legged deadlifts. Also, leg presses performed with the feet spaced wide are good for working the glutes.

Below I’ve outlined a leg routine which, if performed twice a week, should get your glutes into fine shape within two months’ time.

Joe’s Glute/Leg Program
Exercise Sets Reps
Below-parallel squats 3 15

Walking lunges

2* 20
Stiff-legged deadlifts 2 15
Wide-stance leg press 3 10

* Take 20 deep steps with hands on hips, rest for one minute, then repeat.