Squats are great, but they’re not enough to build your booty on their own. You need moves that hit your glutes from every angle — and that’s exactly what a good glute band workout will do.
Today’s routine is 10 minutes of booty bands exercises you can do at home, from side steps to kickbacks, standing and on the floor.
Grab your band and let’s get into it:
Side Steps
Let’s ease into this glute band workout with a simple warm-up.
For this one, you’ll hinge forward at the hips and step side to side against the band’s resistance.
which is a great way to wake up your glutes before the real work begins.
How to perform:
- Start with your booty band ready to go.
- Hinge at your hips to begin the movement.
- Keep your upper body slightly leaning forward.
- Step from side to side.
- Ensure you are feeling the resistance on the band as you step.
Regular Banded Squats
You know the classic squat. Now you’re adding a resistance band to make your glutes work even harder.
Just keep in mind that the biggest thing to watch for is your knees caving inward, so push against the band and keep those knees pressed out the whole time.
How to perform:
- Position your feet a little bit further than shoulder-width apart.
- Come all the way down into a squat, sitting into your heels.
- Push against the band to press your knees outward.
- Make sure you feel the resistance in your band and do not let your knees cave inward.
- Come up, staying slightly forward with your knees slightly bent to keep the focus on your glutes; do not hinge your hips at the top.
Double Pulse Side Step
This one combines the first two exercises into a single move.
You’ll step out, drop into a squat, and add a pulse at the bottom before bringing it back in. And if your glutes aren’t talking to you by now, they definitely will be after this.
How to perform:
- Step out to the side and feel the resistance on the band.
- Come all the way down out into a squat.
- Hold the squat position and perform a pulse.
- Come back up from the squat.
- Bring your stance back in, and repeat the movement.
Banded Donkey Kicks
Time to take this band workout at home down to the floor.
Once you’re in a tabletop position, you’ll kick one leg up and pulse at the top while thinking about driving your heel toward the ceiling.
Since you’re doing 30 seconds per leg with no rest in between, make sure to pace yourself!
How to perform:
- Come down to the ground into a tabletop position.
- Keep a nice neutral spine and make sure you do not arch your back.
- Bring one leg up, thinking about sending your heel to the ceiling and your opposite hip down to the floor.
- Do two pulses at the top and feel that squeeze.
- Bring the leg back in.
- Perform this for 30 seconds, then switch legs right away with no rest.
Fire Hydrants
Stay in that tabletop position for fire hydrants, where you’ll lift your knee out to the side to target those outer glutes.
Now, the trick here is keeping your upper body completely still, so if you notice yourself rocking side to side, just slow it down and focus on the working leg.
How to perform:
- Stay in the tabletop position and make sure your core is nice and tight.
- Try not to let your upper body move; focus only on using the working leg.
- Lift your knee to send your leg out to the side.
- Squeeze that side glute, then bring the knee back in.
- Switch legs right away when it is time to change sides.
Banded Glute Bridges
Next, roll onto your back for one of the best resistance band exercises for glutes.
From here, you’ll press your hips up to the sky while keeping that band tight.
Just watch out for one common mistake, which is letting your lower back lift off the floor on the way down, so make sure to press it into the ground to protect your back.
How to perform:
- Lie down flat on your back.
- Press your lower back into the floor as you come down to protect it.
- Keep your weight in your heels and do not let your knees cave inward.
- Press your hips all the way up to the sky.
- Focus on feeling the resistance on the band the entire time.
Lying Abductions
Don’t get up just yet, because for this move you’ll bring your knees closer to your chest and open them up against the band.
You’ll really feel this one in your outer glutes, and what matters most is controlling the movement on the way back in instead of just letting your knees snap together.
How to perform:
- Stay lying on your back with your legs bent.
- Bring your knees in closer to your chest.
- Press your lower back firmly into the floor.
- Open your knees to feel the movement in your outer glutes.
- Make sure you feel the squeeze before controlling the movement on the way back in to close your knees.
Glute Bridge with Abduction
Now you’re combining glute bridges with abductions into one move.
You’ll hold the bridge at the top, open your knees, close them, then come back down.
What makes this one tricky though is keeping your hips elevated the entire time, and if they start to drop, that’s your cue to squeeze a little harder.
How to perform:
- Send your hips all the way up to get into a glute bridge position.
- Hold the bridge at the top without dropping your hips.
- Open your knees while keeping your hips elevated.
- Close your knees back together.
- Bring your hips back down to the floor.
Squat with Side Kick
Alright, stand back up for this one, because you’ll do a full squat and then lift your leg out to the side at the top, kind of like a standing fire hydrant.
This is also where your booty bands workout at home really starts to feel like a full glute workout with bands, so hang in there because you’re almost done!
How to perform:
- Stand up to prepare for the exercise.
- Come down for a squat, making sure you are not letting those knees cave in.
- Come up to the top of your squat.
- Lift your leg to the side, mimicking a fire hydrant motion while standing up.
- Bring your leg back down and go straight into the next squat.
Squat with Back Kick
You made it to the last exercise! For this one, you’ll squat down and kick one leg straight back as you come up, just make sure you’re kicking directly behind you and not out on a diagonal.
Keep that resistance on the band as you kick and finish this glute band workout strong.
How to perform:
- Squat down, ensuring you keep your form.
- Come up from your squat and bring your leg in.
- Kick your leg straight to the back wall; do not kick on a diagonal or out to the side.
- Make sure you feel the resistance on the band as you kick back.
- Bring the leg back to the center and repeat.
Article Medically reviewed by
I’m fitness coach Ashley Castleberry, an NASM-certified personal trainer and nutritionist, as well as a coach on an established YouTube Channel with over 1 million followers. With certifications from major fitness brands, I specialize in athletic, HIIT, and strength training. Leveraging my experience coaching clients on lifestyle changes, I provide customized exercise and nutrition guidance to help people reach their fitness goals, whether that be weight loss, muscle gain or overall health improvement.
