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FACT CHECKEDWhether you weight lift for aesthetics, strength, or both, glute training plays an integral role in how your body looks and functions.
And while the gluteus maximus is the most talked about and targeted muscle of the glutes, let’s not overlook the importance of the smallest muscle of your butt, the gluteus minimus (aka your side butt muscle).
The gluteus minimus is a vital piece of the whole gluteal muscle puzzle as it not only helps to fill out your butt and keep it firm, but it also plays a key role in hip stability and your ability to perform hip abduction, moving your leg away from your body. Given its importance, we are going to look at the 13 best gluteus minimus exercises to build stronger hips.
We've highlighted regression and progression options for many of the gluteus minimus exercises, and there are exercises both for at home and the gym.
Table of Contents:
Before diving into our list, it's important to note that the first 10 exercises listed can easily be done at home (or the gym, or anywhere), and the final 3 movements are best for the gym. However, the gym exercises can easily be changed into at-home moves, and we explain how to do that for each.
The 13 best gluteus minimus exercises are:
The side-lying hip abduction is one of the best lateral glute exercises you can do. Like any side plank, your glutes and core are working in an isometric fashion to maintain the side bridge position.
Then, with the added hip abduction, your hip abductors are firing to raise your leg. While this exercise works pretty much all the muscles of your core and glutes, it’s really going to hone in on your side butt, which includes your gluteus minimus and medius, allowing you to make these muscles stronger.
How To Do The Side Plank with Hip Abduction:
If this seems too challenging to begin, you've got two great regression options you can perform.
The side lying hip abduction exercise is about as close as you are going to get to an isolation exercise for the gluteus minimus. It is going to specifically target your hip abductor muscles, and while it may feel easier than other glute exercises, it is very effective at strengthening your gluteus minimus and medius.
Progression ideas include wraping a resistance band around your legs, above your knees, or by holding a weight in place at the side of your thigh (a weighted plate or dumbbell works fine).
How To Do The Side-Lying Abduction:
If you want an exercise that targets your entire lower body and works your gluteus minimus effectively, the curtsy lunge is it. The curtsy lunge is one of the best lunging and lower body movements, in general, for working your lateral glutes, because it moves you through the front plane (laterally).
To progress this exercise, hold onto a dumbbell, kettlebell, or barbell to increase the resistance.
How To Do The Curtsy Lunge:
Fire hydrants do a great job strengthening your hip abductors, especially your gluteus minimus and medius muscles.
Hoping to make this move harder? Add a resistance band. For beginners, the fire hydrant without a band is great, and for those who are stronger, the band will make it so this exercise challenges your glutes sufficiently.
How To Do Fire Hydrants:
Watch the Fire Hydrant Demo on YouTube
Lateral lunges are a lower body compound movement that requires your gluteus minimus to activate to press you back up from the lunge. In addition, the opposite side gets a little stretch as it lengthens as you lunge down.
Overall, this is a great exercise for those who want to strengthen their gluteus minimus efficiently as it is going to also hit many other muscles at the same time. We love including the side lunge in at home glutes workouts!
If after reading the directions you'd like to progress this move, hold onto one or two dumbbells or kettlebells while performing it.
How To Do The Lateral Lunge:
The lateral lunge can be done in a few ways. You can do alternating lateral lunges where you keep your feet planted, alternating lateral lunges by stepping the working leg out each rep from a position where your feet are hip width. Or, you can do one side at a time in the same manner (either keeping your feet planted in a wide stance or coming up to a hip width standing position each rep).
These directions are for the one side lateral lunge that requires you to step out with each rep.
The glute bridge is one of the best isometric exercises for your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and abs. Moreover, it is accessible to anyone as it is pretty easy to do. Squeeze those glutes to keep your body in a straight line and you will feel it.
Focus on never losing the contraction. When you do, the exercise is done and you can come down, rest, and repeat for the desired number of sets.
How To Do The Glute Bridge:
Note: Use a little wider of a stance to emphasize the gluteus minimus more.
There are a few variations and progression to make this exercise harder.
Your gluteus minimus and medius must support your body when you are on one leg, so single leg presses (and squats) are great for targeting these muscles. They must produce force to keep your hips from sagging.
While single leg squats are the best, they are very difficult as they require a lot of strength (lifting your entire body with one leg is a lot harder than it sounds if you’ve never tried it). A great option that enables you to use a lot of weight is the single leg press machine, as shown in the picture above.
For beginners or lifters who work out at home, try the single leg press with a band. You can use a lighter or heavier band to accommodate your strength level.
Alternative options include pistol squats, which enable you to hold on to a chair for balance if needed, and lateral step ups, where you elevate your stationary foot, bringing your body and opposite leg up to the elevated surface.
How To Do The Single Leg Press Machine:
Lateral walks can be done with just your bodyweight alone, but they are more effective with a resistance band or to make it even harder, two bands, as shown in the picture above.
How To Do Lateral Walks With Band:
A front planks is a great core exercise that also engages the glutes when you squeeze your glutes and quads throughout the hold. With the added hip abduction, you double down on the glute work and significantly increase the demand of your hip stabilizers and core stability.
This means your gluteus minimus will be working both in an isometric and isotonic fashion - one side stabilizes (isometric), the other side changes length and contracts (isotonic).
To make the exercise more difficult, use a loop band around your ankle or above your knees (fabric bands should go above the knee, latex will likely be better for you around the ankle).
How To Do The Front Plank With Hip Abduction:
This is a dynamic, explosive exercise that can burn a lot of calories while training your side glutes (not to mention a bunch of other lower body and upper body muscles). For each rep, you are jumping your feet out to the side (lateral movement), while the plank position forces your glutes to activate to maintain the position.
You can make this exercise more difficult and better target your gluteus minimus by looping a light booty band around your legs.
How To Do Plank Jacks:
Cable hip abduction is very effective for training the hip abductors and is a great gym exercise to include in your routine. Alternatively, if you want to perform these at home, use a resistance band, looping it around an anchor, and then placing one ankle through the other side and do the same movement as described below in the directions. If your band is shorter, place your knees in between it and do the same movement.
If you have a fabric hip band or latex booty band, you can wrap it around your knees, calves or ankle and do the same exact movement in a standing position as well!
How To Do Cable Hip Abduction:
In terms of machines, this one is made for your hip abductors so it's going to isolate the gluteus minimus as best as possible. This can also be turned into an at-home exercise by mimicking the same movements using a resistance band.
How To Use The Hip Abduction Machine:
While the hip thrust is mainly a gluteus maximus targeted exercise, your gluteus medius and minimus still get significant activation, which is why this is one of the Best Glute Exercises! This is even more true when you use a resistance band as the band forces the gluteus medius and minimus to remain fully engaged.
To make this move harder, turn it into a single leg hip thrust, with or without a dumbbell, which can better activate your gluteus minimus as you will need more hip stability.
How To Do A Barbell Hip Thrust:
You can do this with a barbell or a smith machine. Either way, the mechanics are the same. The smith machine is an easier set up.
Notes:
If a barbell is too much, you can just place a plate on your pelvis region and perform the hip thrust like that.
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The gluteus minimus is the smallest of three gluteal muscles - gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. These three muscles are what make up your buttocks. It is a deep-seated triangular-shaped muscle that runs from your hip bone to your upper thigh bone and is located deep in the back region of your hip.
It lies deep to the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and tensor fasciae latae, with the gluteus medius covering the majority of it. The gluteus minimus helps you rotate and move your thighs to the side, and it does so in conjunction with your gluteus medius.
When it comes to glute training, it’s not all about the gluteus maximus. Yes, training your gluteus maximus with squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts is great.
In fact, it's essential, as having a strong gluteus maximus is a must if you want a nice-looking, powerful butt. However, training your other gluteal muscles with buttocks lifting exercises is just as important.
The benefits of gluteus minimus exercises are:
As you walk or run, your gluteus minimus contracts to maintain pelvic alignment. If you have a weak gluteus minimus, your hips sag downward as you pick the other leg off the floor. This kind of improper pelvic alignment causes many lower body issues over time, such as chronic hip pain, improper knee tracking, and balance issues.
By training your glute muscles, you are ensuring that you never have issues with pelvic alignment. And, while preventing it is ideal, if you have poor pelvic alignment already, with gluteus minimus and gluteus medius exercises, you should be able to improve it.
The hips are extremely important for athletic movements and exercises. Hip stability is vital for any kind of running, jumping, lunging, and rotating movement.
If you want to be explosive, agile, and injury-resilient, you need to have great hip stability, and strong gluteal muscles are one of the most important aspects of hip stability.
The inability to maintain hip alignment is known as Trendelenburg Gait (gait meaning how you walk), and it is one of the major contributors to lower extremity injuries. When people develop it, doctors prescribe gluteus medius and minimus exercises. But, if you proactively keep your glutes strong, you can prevent it from happening altogether.
Weak gluteal muscles don’t just affect the hips - issues can occur all the way down the legs. Another common issue with weak glutes is Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS), a pain in the knee from improper tracking, that eventually can lead to valgus of the knee too (when your knee caves inward - aka knock knees).
Other common injuries that can occur from weak gluteus minimus, and your glutes in general, include ACL injuries, ankle injuries, and hip injuries from a lack of hip stability. If you want to be injury-resilient and have the longevity to keep yourself walking, even as you age, keep those glutes strong.
As we mentioned already, doing gluteus minimus exercises will help with firmness and sculpting your glutes. Needless to say, aesthetics also relies on dietary choices, as if you want to your glutes to grow or become more toned, you need to eat right.
Bodyweight or banded hip abduction exercises (which are also gluteus minimus exercises) are great for people coming back from an injury1.
The exercises will help you regain hip strength and stability and they are easy to implement as for many of the exercises, you are simply resisting gravity with your bodyweight.
If your gluteus minimus muscles are weak, you will be prone to lower extremity injuries, including the hips, knees, and ankles. It can even cause bad back pain.
Weak glutes can cause:
Doing a gluteus minimus workout (or more so a hip abductor workout) alone doesn’t really make sense. The best thing to do is choose a few of these exercises and throw them into your full body workout or leg workout. You could also try our booty building workout plan that includes a couple movements from above.
Try the different gluteus minimus exercises and keep switching things up. If you feel certain ones are better for you, stick to those.
Warm Up (5-10 minutes):
Workout:
Static Stretching (5-10 minutes):
Repeat stretches twice if you’d like.
**We are not licensed medical practitioners. If you are concerned about your injury, please see a licensed practitioner and ask them what you can do for exercises**
Warm Up (5-10 minutes):
Workout:
Cool Down:
Let's look at (and answer) some frequently asked questions about the glute minimus.
It’s not possible to isolate the gluteus minimus completely. You will be working your other gluteal muscles, especially the gluteus medius, when performing gluteus minimus exercises, as well as your other hip abductor muscles. This is why most of the gluteus minimus and medius exercises are the same. After all, the gluteus minimus lies directly underneath the gluteus medius and it shares the same functions.
In addition to not strengthening your glutes, certain behaviors can weaken the gluteus minimus. This includes sitting for long periods, standing with your weight shifted to one side, and sitting with your legs crossed for extended periods. This not only weakens the glutes, but also makes them tight. Exercises and stretches will help this.
To activate you need to do exercises and movements that specifically involve the function of the glute minimus muscle. This means performing the exercises we went over above, which require hip abduction, including frontal plane lower body exercises - i.e. lateral lunges, are going to directly train and strengthen your gluteus minimus. Single-leg exercises are also going to activate and engage the gluteus minimus as hip stability is required to perform the movement.
Try these glute activation exercises before a leg day at the gym!
As you can see, there are many ways to train your gluteus minimus and now you know just how important this deep-seated side butt muscle is!
Don’t neglect it. Add these glute exercises into your workout plan and you will reap the rewards both aesthetically and functionally.
We've covered the best gluteus minimus exercises, and now it's time to learn about the Best Gluteus Maximus Exercises and Best Gluteus Medius Exercises!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
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