The deadlift is a tried and true strength training exercise that can strengthen your entire posterior chain. This is because the deadlift engages your hips, glutes, back, and even your arms and core.
It’s a great exercise for beginners and athletes, but it’s also a great exercise for those wanting to build bigger glutes. This is because the deadlift is one of the best exercises for building glute mass.
To improve your strength and build better glutes, it’s important to understand how to deadlift properly. The deadlift can be a complex exercise, especially if you’re new to the movement. There are many different variations of the deadlift, each of which can help you target a different area of your glutes.
Here are 6 exercises that work out your gluteus maximus!
Deadlift Variations For Glutes
Conventional Deadlift
The conventional deadlift is a great exercise for building strength and muscle in the lower back and hamstrings. This is an exercise that can help people of all fitness levels build strong and toned muscles.
Here is how you do this exercise:
- Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
- Bend at your hips and knees and grip the barbell with an overhand grip.
- Keeping your back straight, lift the barbell off the ground and stand up straight.
- Slowly lower the barbell back to the ground and repeat.
Since the rise of powerlifting in the 1970s, the conventional deadlift has been a staple exercise among bodybuilders, powerlifters, and strength athletes. It is one of the best exercises for building overall body strength and increasing lower body strength.
The focus is on the glutes and hamstrings, which makes this a great exercise for athletes who require explosive unilateral hip extension power.
The Romanian Deadlift
The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, is one of the most tested and widely used exercises. A simple yet effective exercise, it’s a great functional movement that could be performed in many different ways.
It works the hamstrings, lower back, and midsection while also creating an upright torso allowing for greater trunk stability and mobility.
To do this exercise:
- Start by standing with feet shoulder-width apart and a slight bend in the knees.
- Next, hinge at the hips to lower the torso towards the ground. Keep the back flat and allow the arms to hang in front of you.
- Once you reach the bottom position, pause for a count before extending through the hips to return to the starting position.
As with any exercise, be sure to start light and gradually increase the weight as you become more comfortable with the movement.
This is one of the most effective exercises for developing athleticism and improving performance overall.
It is best suited for those looking to build muscle mass, increase strength and explosiveness, or improve overall performance.
Single Leg Deadlift
The single leg deadlift is a compound exercise that works most of several major muscle groups in your body. You’ll work your hamstrings, quads, glutes and lower back while holding the weight above you.
This exercise offers numerous benefits to your overall health and fitness goals because it combines multiple muscle groups into one exercise.
To do proper single leg deadlift:
- Start by standing on one leg with your knee slightly bent.
- Hold a weight in the hand on the same side as the leg you are standing on.
Keeping your back straight, slowly bend forward at the hip, lowering the weight toward the floor. - Once you have reached a comfortable range of motion, reverse the motion and return to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions before switching to the other leg.
Single leg deadlifts are a great addition to any workout program because they help with strength and balance. Single leg exercise will tone your butt, thighs and hamstrings.
They can be done after cardio workouts or on their own, whatever works for you. Either way, don’t lift too heavy. You want to eliminate back pain by strengthening your core and butt muscles.
It’s all about balance for these so if you feel a little wobble – that’s okay!
Sumo Deadlift
Sumo deadlift (or sumo DL, SLDL) is a powerlifting exercise that can be performed with the same weight used in conventional deadlifting.
The major difference is that the bar is lifted off the ground by bending at the knees rather than straightening them, as in conventional deadlifts.
Let’s take a look at the steps needed to perform the sumo deadlift exercise properly
- Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes pointed out slightly.
- Bend at the knees and hips to lower your body into a sumo stance, keeping your back straight and your head up.
- Grasp the barbell with your hands shoulder-width apart, using an overhand grip.
- Keeping your back straight, push through your heels to lift the bar off the ground.
- As the bar reaches knee level, explosively extend your hips and knees to stand up straight, pulling the bar up to hip level.
- Reverse the motion to lower the bar back to the ground.
Despite having the same name as an aggressive Japanese wrestling style, the Sumo deadlift is one of the best exercises for developing overall body strength.
It targets multiple different muscle groups and helps build muscular endurance, stability, and balance all at once. When performed correctly, it can also help alleviate lower back pain.
Deficit Deadlift
Deficit deadlifts are a terrific glute and hamstring exercise. The glute muscles receive a huge workload when you stand on a step or box and pull through the leg.
This exercise can be done using dumbbells, but it’s more effective with barbells since it eliminates any assistance from your back. Here is how to properly do this exercise so that you get the most benefits.
- Place a box or step under your feet so that your heels are elevated.
- Bend your knees and hips to lower your body down to the barbell. Grab the barbell with an overhand grip, your hands about shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your back straight, drive your heels into the box and lift the barbell off the ground.
- Hold the barbell at your hips and slowly lower it back to the ground.
A deficit deadlift is a great alternative to the regular pull from the floor. Heavier weights can be used and you can still get a good training effect.
You can use this exercise for warm-up or as assistance to other exercises where you focus on improving your deadlift technique.
Stiff-Legged Deadlift
The stiff-legged deadlift is another great type of deadlift. It targets your hamstring and gluteal muscles, while helping to develop a strong rear view into your lifts.
The goal with this exercise should be to reach slightly below parallel, but don’t worry if you’re not there at first—you’ll get it eventually! A full range of motion will help increase stability and power when doing this lift.
Here is how you do this exercise:
- Start with the bar on the floor, and your feet hip-wide apart.
- Hinge forward at the hip and keep your back flat.
- Reach down and grasp the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Keeping your shoulders down and your chest up, drive your hips forward and stand up with the bar.
- Reverse the motion and lower the bar back to the floor.
The stiff-legged deadlift offers a great opportunity to build total body strength without stressing the lower back.
As it is a slower lift that does not put the body under very much stress, it can be done more frequently than other deadlifts, thus allowing for better gains in muscle mass.
Conclusion
Deadlifting is beneficial for all beginner lifters as well as advanced athletes. The best exercises to strengthen the core, glutes and hamstrings are the back squat and deadlift.
If you want to get stronger then use a deadlift program with heavier weights, sets and reps for maximum benefits.