Double Duty: Glutes and Hamstrings Workout

Should you train your glutes and hamstrings at the same time?

Yes. Why, you may ask?

That’s the big question we’re here to answer. This guide will help you understand what happens in your body when you train your glutes and hamstrings.

We’ll go through an anatomy overview of both the glutes and hamstrings and see how they work together to power your lower body. We’ll also see what benefits you get from training your glutes and your hamstrings.

Finally, we’ll illuminate the best moves you can do to hit your glutes and hamstrings all in one go.

Without further ado, let’s first look at why training your glutes and hamstrings simultaneously could give you the edge over splitting them up.

Why Should You Train Glutes and Hamstrings Together?

Better Posture

Holistically, speaking, the gluteal muscles and the hamstrings often work in synergy.

Glutes and hamstrings are two of the key players in your posterior chain. What is the posterior chain?

This term is used to refer to the muscles along the back portion of your body. Often they work together or trigger responses from other muscles along the backside of your body. You use the muscles when you run, jump, walk, or sit.

We can see that a healthy posterior chain unlocks some of the most fundamental human movements. In this case, it’s important to train them together since you use multiple back-body muscles to sit, stand, run, or jump.

Improves Muscular Imbalances

Do you have one leg that’s longer than the other?

Take a moment: grab a measuring tape and check.

Okay.

Was “yes” your answer?

You’ve got that in common with many people. Up to 50% of humans may have one leg that’s longer than the other. For most people, it makes no difference functionally.

But for some people, it can impact the way you walk or operate your lower limbs. Small discrepancies like this are what make us human. However, disproportionate bone structure can lead you to compensate by using your muscles unequally.

In this case, training your glutes and hamstrings can help.

A great way to target imbalances in your lower half is called unilateral training (more on this later) where you target one side of your body, then the other.

If the muscles on one side are stronger, bigger, or more developed, this gives the other side a chance to catch up. Compound (exercises that work across multiple muscles at once), unilateral moves are a great way to make sure you have equal strength on both sides of your body. This can help make up for an uneven pelvis or a longer leg by optimizing your strength and function on both sides.

Mind-Muscle Connection

Working multiple muscles at the same time (like glutes + hamstrings) forces you to be more aware of what is going on in your body at each step of a movement.

Compound exercises vs. isolation moves are great at developing your mental integrity.

When it comes to great lifts, cognition and focus are just as important as what’s going on in your body. They’re the difference between hitting a new PR and being the face of a #GymFails compilation.

Yikes.

Holding focus in an exercise that trains multiple muscles is a great way to improve your mental alertness and mind-muscle connection. Evidence from a European Journal of Applied Physiology study indicated that mind-muscle connection may even have the capacity to increase muscle activity by up to 60% of your one-rep max.

Learn more here: Importance of Mind-Muscle Connection During Progressive Resistance Training.

All About the Glutes

The gluteal muscles are a fancy term for your butt!

The gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus help you extend your hips, keep your pelvis stable and perform daily movements like walking or squatting down to pick things up.

Although any variation of deadlift should give you a glute workout, the RDL variation is more centred on building your butt shape than a conventional deadlift

More on glute anatomy here: Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb, Gluteus Maximus Muscle.

All About the Hamstrings

The muscles at the backs of your thighs, the hamstrings, help to extend your hips and flex your knees. You use these for everyday activities like walking upstairs, yet many of us don’t focus on maintaining strong or flexible hamstrings.

Get hamstring happy! Find out more about your hamstrings, their injury risks and how you can keep them safe: The Hamstrings: Anatomic and Physiologic Variations.

Glute and Hamstring Workouts

Squats

Squats are a powerhouse move for your entire body. They help you improve your balance and strengthen your lower half.

• Set-Up: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider. Point your toes out slightly at around a 15-degree angle. Engage your core muscles and keep your spine neutral. Hold your chest proud.

• Equipment: Place a loaded barbell across your upper back. The bar should sit across the tops of your trapezius muscles (your upper back). Grip the bar with your hands facing forward. Keep them slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

• Squat: Hinge from your hips as you bend your knees. Think about making the motion of dropping back to sit on a chair. Keep your weight on your heels and lower your body down until your thighs come to a 90-degree angle with your shins. Make sure your knees are tracking in line with your toes and that they don’t knock inward.

• Reverse: Drive out of your heels, and push the floor away from you to come back up. At the top of the move, extend your hips and squeeze your butt slightly.

• Reps: Beginners should aim for 3 sets of 10 reps. If you’re squatting for strength, aim for 3 sets of 3-6 reps or try a one-rep max with heavy weight. If you’re squatting for hypertrophy, aim for 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Pro-Tip:

For more recommendations on squat load, see Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance.

If you’ve gotten your glute and hamstring training fix in, you may be curious on how to alter your squat to hit your quads.

Lucky for you, there are a ton of squat alternatives that will absolutely hammer the quadriceps. Hack squats are usually the best bit for hitting this powerful muscle group.

Get to know more about hack squats and squat alternatives for quads with these articles:

• Hack Squat vs. Squat
• Smith Machine Hack Squat
• Hack Squat Alternatives
• Pendulum Squat

Deadlifts

• Set-Up: Load your barbell.

• Hinge from your hips, sitting your hips back to bend forward. Bend over and grasp the barbell with a shoulder-width, overhand grip.

• Lift: Drive through your heels and feet to lift your barbell, maintaining straight arms. Lift the weight off the ground. Focus on keeping a straight spine and not rounding out your back. Squeeze your glutes at the top of this movement to drive your hips forward once your barbell comes past your knees. Bring your weight up to sit across your thighs.

• Reverse: Hold at the top for a moment, then slowly hinge back through your hips for another rep. Continue this move as needed.

• Reps: Aim for 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps with medium weight if you are a beginner. If you’re going heavy or aiming for a PR, try 3 x 5 heavy reps.

Romanian Deadlift

Although both exercises are phenomenal at building leg muscle for a sculpted lower body, Romanian deadlifts (RDLs) are more or a glute and hamstring workout than conventional deadlifts.

Romanian deadlifts require less bend in your knees than conventional deadlifts. You also keep a straighter leg in this deadlift variation. RDLs are sometimes referred to as “stiff leg deadlifts” because of their straighter leg position.

To perform a proper RDL:

• Set-Up: Load your barbell. Set it on the ground in front of you. Hinge from your hips, sending your seat back to bend down to grab your bar. Don’t lock out your knees. This move should feel like a hip hinge, not a squat position. Bend over and grasp the barbell with a shoulder-width grip, then extend your hips to stand with the barbell in front of your thighs.

• Lift: Slowly send your hips backward, hinging over to bring your body down. Keep a straight spine. Don’t bring your weight to the ground, but sink it down in front of your shins. You should feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings.

• Reverse: Drive through your heels and feet to lift your barbell, maintaining straight arms. Keep a straight spine and don’t round out your back. Reverse the direction of your hip hinge to come up. Squeeze your glutes at the top of this movement to drive your hips forward once your barbell comes past your knees.

• Reps: Hold at the top for a moment, then slowly hinge back through your hips for another rep. New lifters should aim for 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps with medium weight. If you’re going heavy or aiming for a PR, try 3 x 5 heavy reps.

Pro-Tip:

• You can use dumbbells if you want to go lighter while you master your technique. This will help you to mentally take note of the differences in body position between an RDL vs. a deadlift without worrying about a heavy lift.

• Looking for a challenge? Single-leg RDLs can spice things up and test your balance. Putting all your weight into one leg instead of two will set your glutes on fire. This can give you even more of a booty workout if you’d like to know how to get a round butt.

Hip Thrust

This move is similar to a glute bridge. In a hip thrust, though, you plant your back on a weight bench to lift your hips up, up, and away.

If your back tends to give you pain, this variation can feel easier than a glute bridge. Let’s walk through the simple steps of a hip thrust for a strong glutes and hamstrings workout.

• Set-Up: Lean your upper back against a weight bench, block, or exercise ball. Drop your hips toward the floor, hovering your glutes just above the ground. Set a heavy barbell across your hips. You may want to use padding or a mat wrapped around your barbell to protect your hip bones and pelvis.

• Body Position: Grab the barbell with an easy overhand grip for support. Plant your feet firmly on the floor hip-distance apart.

• Thrust: Squeeze your glutes as you drive up through your heels to lift your glutes up from the floor. Continue to extend your hips as you bring your thighs into a straight line with your torso. Your knees should bend to 90 degrees in the “up” position.

• Reverse: Reverse the movement and slowly bring your hips down with control.

• Reps: Aim for 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Bulgarian Split Squat

• Set-Up: Find a block, step, or weight bench. Lift one foot up and rest the front of that foot on your platform of choice.

• Body Position: Step the other foot out about two to three feet away from your platform. This will be your balancing leg. Keep your elevated foot and your standing foot about hip-width apart to maintain balance.

• Squat: Bend your front knee, letting your back knee bend with it. Keep your torso upright and slightly forward, engaging your core to keep your balance. Don’t let the knee of your working leg knock inward or splay outward. It is okay if your knee extends slightly further than your toe. People with mobile ankles may experience this, but make sure you keep them in a straight line.

• Reverse: From the bottom of this movement, drive through your front foot and use your glutes to drive your body back up. Exhale strongly as you come back to a standing position.

• Reps: Aim for 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Workout Roundup

To conclude, working your glutes and hamstrings together is a great way to get stronger, have better-looking legs and maintain the health of your body.

These muscles drive a lot of your functional movement, like running, jumping, sitting or standing.

Simple moves like squats, deadlifts or their variations like Bulgarian split squats and Romanian deadlifts are great for honing in on these powerful movements.

Remember to refuel and rehydrate after any leg day workouts. Up your weight each time and your gains will be as good as gold.

Track your workouts as you go. Flex offers an all-in-one workout notebook in your pocket and an accountability tool to keep your fitness goals on track.

Get targeted workouts in the palm of your hand. Plus, master and read up on your training goals with the Flex Blog.

References

Afonso, J., Rocha-Rodrigues, S., Clemente, F. M., Aquino, M., Nikolaidis, P. T., Sarmento, H., Fílter, A., Olivares-Jabalera, J., & Ramirez-Campillo, R. (2021). The Hamstrings: Anatomic and Physiologic Variations and Their Potential Relationships With Injury Risk. Frontiers in physiology, 12, 694604. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.694604

Calatayud, J., Vinstrup, J., Jakobsen, M. D., Sundstrup, E., Brandt, M., Jay, K., Colado, J. C., & Andersen, L. L. (2016). Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training. European journal of applied physiology, 116(3), 527–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3305-7

Elzanie A, Borger J. Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb, Gluteus Maximus Muscle. [Updated 2023 Apr 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538193/

​​Rodgers CD, Raja A. Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb, Hamstring Muscle. [Updated 2023 Apr 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546688/

Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Van Every, D. W., & Plotkin, D. L. (2021). Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports (Basel, Switzerland), 9(2), 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020032