Building the glutes is one of the most common fitness goals among women in the gym. While some women succeed due to genetics or smart, effective training, many struggle to see results. Why does this happen?
Reason 1: You're always in a calorie deficit
One of the biggest mistakes I see is women being in a constant state of dieting to stay lean, without realizing that consistently not eating enough is slowing down the muscle growth they want. This doesn't mean you need to spend two years overeating junk food like pizza and donuts, but you will need periods where you’re in a calorie surplus if you're serious about maximizing muscle growth. This applies not only to building glutes but to growing any muscle group. Your body needs fuel to grow.
Reason 2: Poor exercise selection
Another common mistake is choosing exercises based on what you see on Instagram influencers' pages. Many of these exercises are unstable and biomechanically inefficient for targeting the glutes. For muscle growth, an exercise needs to make sense for the muscle you're trying to train, and it doesn’t have to look "cool." There's no need to reinvent the wheel, as most exercises that work have already been tried and tested.
The best exercises for glute development are: squats, Romanian deadlifts (RDLs), Bulgarian split squats or any variation of lunges, and hip thrusts or glute bridges. These should form the foundation of your training, with some isolation work added on.
Reason 3: Lack of focus on progressive overload
This is one of the most overlooked aspects of training for people frustrated with their progress. If you're not lifting heavier weights or increasing your reps with the same weight over time (let's say in 6 months or a year), you're unlikely to see much change in how you look. Progressive overload is essential for muscle growth. If you want better results, you need to consistently challenge your muscles.
Reason 4: Constantly changing your workouts
Trying new things is fun, but muscle growth comes from progressive overload, which requires repeating the same (potentially boring) exercises over a long period of time. Not just for three weeks, but sometimes for months or even years. If you find that you can’t stick with a routine for more than a few weeks before looking for a change, the issue might be your unrealistic expectations and impatience. Be patient and trust the process. Often, the best programs are also the most straightforward and repetitive.
Reason 5: Too much "junk" volume
Junk volume refers to sets that are performed far from failure, which means you’re not getting enough effective reps in those sets. Effective reps are the ones performed close to failure—the last five reps in a set leading up to failure are where the real muscle growth happens. Your sets should be taken either to failure (for most isolation exercises and machine work) or very close to failure (for compound exercises) to create the necessary stress for muscle growth.
Also, don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you don’t feel your muscles working at heavier weights, they aren’t being stimulated. Sometimes your entire body is focused on handling the weight, even if you don’t feel a specific burn. On the flip side, just because you feel a burn (like doing 50 reps of RDLs with a resistance band) doesn’t mean you're creating the conditions for muscle growth.
Conclusion:
If you're struggling to build muscle, try not to stay in a constant low-calorie state. Choose proven, fundamental exercises, and stick with them for a long time while consistently progressing in weight or reps. Avoid program-hopping, and ensure that your sets are intense enough, meaning close to failure. Don’t get caught up in Instagram trends with flashy exercises, and don’t do an excessive number of sets that aren’t close to intense enough. Focus on these principles, and I’m confident you’ll start making better progress than ever before.
