11 Easy PILATES GLUTE EXERCISES at Home (12-Minute Workout)

Squats and lunges get all the credit for building strong glutes, but they tend to skip right past your glute medius. That’s the muscle on the side of your hip that keeps everything balanced.

Today’s pilates glute exercises will fire it up, no equipment needed.

The 12-minute routine walks you through 11 side-lying moves that hit the right muscles instead of letting your hip flexors take over.

Here’s the workout:

First things first, let’s wake up the glute medius (the muscle on the side of your hip that gets ignored during regular squats and lunges).

Take it slow on the first few reps so the right muscle gets to do the work, since rushing this one lets your bigger leg muscles take over.

Up next is a small tweak that turns up the intensity, swapping one smooth open-and-close for two quick pulses at the top.

Don’t worry if your range shrinks the second time around, that’s totally normal.

As you might have guessed, we’re staying in that side-lying setup, only this time you’ll add a little inner-thigh tap into the mix.

If your top hip starts drifting back as you open the knee, gently roll it forward again. Stacked hips are the whole game here.

Don’t roll out of that side-lying position just yet. Instead, press your heels firmly together, since that little squeeze is what cuts your hip flexors out of the equation.

Expect the burn to show up faster than you’d think, even though the movement itself is barely visible.

Next is a move that adds some real range, taking your top leg through a longer sweeping motion that hits your glutes from two different angles.

Coordination-wise this one takes a second to click, so feel free to slow down until the rhythm feels natural.

Keep your leg fully extended for a bit. We’re modifying the sweep to flow continuously, forward and back, without stopping at the top.

Move with your breath rather than against it, and your core (which is doing all the work to keep your hips from rocking) won’t fizzle out halfway through.

This next move is pretty much a quick fix for leg lifts that leave your hip flexors burning more than your glutes.

You only need two or three inches of pulse here, since the toes-down angle does most of the heavy lifting for you.

Now, roll onto your back for a glute staple with a twist. Staggering your feet shifts most of the load onto your working leg, almost like a single-leg bridge with a little extra balance support.

If one side feels noticeably weaker, that’s just good information. It means that side has been quietly along for the ride during your usual two-legged work.

Stay flat on your back, but this time only one foot is anchoring you down. Your hips have to stay perfectly square as the lifted leg taps and lifts back up, which is harder than it sounds.

If you feel one hip dropping, go ahead and shorten the range until you can stay level.

Don’t drop that hip yet, we’re staying right here. Instead of dropping the foot this time, you’ll keep the leg lifted and pulse the hips upward.

Feel free to keep the lifted knee bent for an easier version, or extend the leg toward the ceiling if you want a tougher challenge.

To wrap up this beginner-friendly glute routine, we’ll go for a deep stretch that opens up everything you just worked.

The figure four hits the glutes deeply and gets into the piriformis (a small muscle deep in your hip that loves to hold tension after focused glute work like this).