Most people know the gym is the place to be to build muscle all over your body. But what are some gym machines specifically for your butt muscles aka your glutes?
There are plenty of reasons to improve your butt muscles. Your glutes can burn a lot of calories, they are generally considered to be aesthetically pleasing, improve posture, and more.
How heavy you should set the resistance on these gym machines varies from exercise to exercise and individual to individual. If you are not sure which weight would be right for you, you can start with light a light setting to get the technique right and slowly build up from there.
That being said here are 7 gym machines you can use to get bigger and stronger butt muscles also known as glutes for everyone from beginners to people with a lot of resistance training experience.
1. Leg press machine
The leg press is a gym machine where you push away weights from your body with your legs. This can be both sideways but more often upward while sitting in a low seat. You can describe the leg press as a squat in machine form.
For this machine, the main exercise is a regular leg press with your two feet placed on the platform at about shoulder-width. Push the weights away until your legs are slightly less than stretched and then slowly return the weights to starting position.
The leg press is a great gym machine to strengthen your legs. This means your glutes but also your quadriceps and hamstrings.
2. Hip thrust machine
Hip thrusts are similar to glute bridges but instead of doing them on the ground, you use a weight bench to elevate your upper body. There is also a gym machine that simulates this movement. This means hip thrust machines help you strengthen and grow your glute muscles too.
This butt gym machine is not the most popular so your local gym may not have this one available. If this is the case and you still want to do a weighted glute exercise, you can also give the regular hip thrust with a weight bench and a barbell a try.
3. Cable machine
The cable machine is a type of gym machine where a steel frame holds weights and pulleys. Thanks to the cable going through these pulleys and attached to these weights you can do many types of strength training exercises for a wide variety of muscles.
One example of a butt muscle exercise you can do with the cable machine is the glute kickback. To do this exercise you want an ankle cable grip at a setting close to the ground. Stand with your face toward the cable machine and strap on the ankle band. You can hold the cable machine during the exercise for balance.
Lean forward to about a 45-degree angle to a vertical line. Move the foot with the strap back and with your knee slightly bent until your leg is stretched at an angle somewhat more vertical than just a horizontal line. After that return your foot to starting position in a controlled motion.
4. Roman chair
The roman chair is a type of fitness equipment that comes down to two pads, one elevated to lean on with your hip/back/upper legs, and one closer to the ground to keep your feet in place. Roman chair exercises are generally focused on your core muscles but there are also exercises that engage your butt muscles.
One example of a roman chair exercise that engages your glutes is the back extension. To do this exercise take place on the roman chair facing downwards with your hips on the pad and your ankles behind the foot support. Make sure your ankle and hips are in a stable position and let your upper body hang downwards.
Slowly raise your upper body until it is in a straight line. After that, lower your upper body in a controlled motion into the starting position.
Besides your butt muscles, the back extension also engage your lower back muscles.
5. Smith machine
The smith machine looks similar to a squat rack but there are a few differences which make the smith machine more of a machine.
First of all, the barbell is attached to a rail system. This makes it so it can only move up or down alongside these rails and not forward or backward. Secondly, it has a system where you can rack the barbell at any height. This can be helpful for individuals who lift without a spotter.
A great butt exercise with the smith machine is a weighted squat. Start standing up with your feet at more or less shoulder width and a weighted barbell on your shoulders.
You then lower your hips by bending your knees. How far depends on different factors like knee health but at your lowest point you want your hips to be at or lower than your knee height. After that, you push yourself up again. If at any point you can not hold the weight anymore you twist the bar to rack it.
A squat on the smith machine mainly works muscles like glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.
6. Hip extension machine
A hip extension machine is a machine where you place one upper thigh on a pad with resistance. The next step is stretching your leg by pushing against the resistance. Once your leg is fully extended you can return it to its starting position in a controlled motion.
The motion you go through with the hip extension machine engages your butt muscles. Especially with some extra resistance from the weights.
7. Outer thigh machine
The last gym machine is one that allows you to do hip abductions. This is the movement where your upper legs press out to the sides. By doing these motions with extra resistance you can train your outer thigh and butt muscles more.
To do hip abductions the machine pads with resistance have to be on the outside of your legs. Adjust the machine settings, select the right weight, and sit down in the seat. Push your thighs slowly away from each other as far as you can. After that return them back into starting position in a controlled motion.
This machine often also allows you to change the settings so you can engage your inner thigh muscles. For this, the resistance pad will have to be on the inside of your legs.
