How To Develop Your Upper Glute Shelf
Building your upper glutes or ‘shelf’ is a pretty big goal for most people chasing a bigger, better bum.
Whether you know it or not, it’s a big part of the look you want.
Developing and thickening up your upper glutes will help to give you that fuller, rounder appearance.
So if you feel your upper glutes are lacking in size and shape compared to your lower glutes then these exercises and tips are for you.
The key muscles we are looking to target are the Gluteus Max and Glute Medius (aka Abductors, Side Glutes, Upper Booty)
I suggest you read this article on Building An Hourglass Figure to complete your physique! Nothing sets off a great set of glutes like a small waist and a sexy back.
If you are a naturally skinny woman then head over to this article first where we cover everything skinny women need to build muscle.
Glute Building Nutrition
If we don't fix your nutrition first, there is no point in looking at the exercises that build and shape your glutes.
We need calories and protein to build muscle, so to grow our shelf, we need to eat.
I go into greater detail in this article on glute-building nutrition - go read it.
I’ve got a brilliant and handy CALORIE CALCULATOR on my Instagram that will give you custom calorie targets, advice on macro splits and advice on either building muscle or burning fat; make sure you check it out.
Exercises To Build Your Upper Glute Shelf
Hopefully, you are already doing all your big lifts and variations of - Hip thrusts, Squats, Deadlifts, and Lunges, all of which I cover in my How To Grow Your Lower Glutes (aka the Under Butt) post.
All the big moves are great at targeting the Glute Max, but for the Medius and building the shelf we also need some abduction exercises (moving the legs away from each other) and single-leg exercises to hit the Glute Medius.
If you like what you’ve read so far, head on over to my Instagram, where I post amazing glute tips and advice daily.
Dumbbell Lateral Lunges
An often neglected lunge variation is the lateral lunge. Stepping out to the side hits the glute medius pretty well as we are moving the legs further apart, along with a long, deep stretch into the lunge. It’s also an excellent choice for hitting the adductors (inner thigh) which too are often neglected in training.
Kas Glute Bridge
A heavy hitter as you can use a lighter weight for high reps and heavy weight for low reps. It’s a small, controlled range of motion that eliminates almost all Quad and Hamstring recruitment and focuses purely on the Glutes. It may not look like much, but do not underestimate the glute-building power of the Kas Glute Bridge.
Included in this are any and all Glute Bridge Variations:
Knee-banded glute bridges
Banded glute bridges
Feet elevated glute bridges
Frog Pumps (Banded and Weighted) etc.
Barbell Glute Bridges
The glute bridge is a great all-round booty builder. It uses minimal quad and hamstring and really focuses on the glutes. It doesn’t strictly hit the glute medius hard but personally in my training I really feel it in my upper glutes compared to a hip thrust which I feel more in my mid/lower glute max area.
I think it’s a worthy addition regardless of the training goal.
Try it with and without bands and with pauses at the top for a killer burn.
Cable Standing Hip Abductions
As with the banded hip abductions, the cable is a great choice and can allow you to overload the movement with more weight than the band can.
Banded Fire Hydrants
I love these! They are guaranteed to set your glutes on fire and pump them up.
Make sure to use a light to moderate band as you want to get a full range of motion, and open your hips up as wide as you can for the maximum squeeze.
There are a TON of abduction exercises I could go through, but we don’t have forever, but here is a list of honorary mentions:
The Abduction Machine (The easiest to overload and add serious weight to)
Clam Shells
Any and all sidestep variations/Monster Walks/Side Step Squats/Crab Walks etc etc
Any number of Squats and Bridges with pulses and abductions thrown in.
Glute Dominant Back Extensions
These have insanely high levels of glute activation and, when done properly will have your glutes and hamstring burning like Satan’s butthole after a Vindaloo.
Single Leg Hip Thrust
Even though this is mainly a glute max exercise it still works your glute medius pretty hard as now you have to maintain your balance, keep your hips up and stop your knees from collapsing in - all of which are key roles of the glute medius.
You can use dumbbells, a smith machine or my personal favourite, a landmine set-up.
Glute Med Cable Kick Back
When I first wrote this article, this cable kickback variation is about as rare a sight in the gym as a bro training legs on a Monday. Now, every girl on TikTok will tell you to do them, and for good reason.
Much like the regular cable kickback, it’s a great glute isolation exercise, except this version is biased towards the glute medius. If you’re looking to build that glute shelf, I would switch your regular cable kickbacks for these for a while.
Try it; you’ll love it.
In Conclusion….
So there you have some great exercises to build your upper glutes.
The main takeaway is that Glute Max exercises strongly bias the upper portion of the glute max, and ABDUCTION exercises are key; there are dozens of exercises and combinations to play with, and this is just a taste of some of the best.
I recommend adding 2-3 of these to your glute days and playing with different weights and rep ranges.
Now, I suggest you read the perfect partners to this article:
Embracing Failure: The Key to Maximising Glute Gains in Your Workouts.
How To Grow Your Lower Glutes (aka the Under Butt)
What’s the most effective way to grow your glutes?
How To Get An Hourglass Figure
And don’t forget, if you want your glutes to grow, then you need to eat.
Check out my CALORIE CALCULATOR on my instagram that will give you custom calorie targets, advice on macro splits and advice on either building muscle or burning fat.
Thanks for reading.
Aaron
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Hi, I’m Aaron Schiavone, owner of Mind Muscle Personal Training. Over the past 6+ years I have helped women increase their self confidence, improve their relationship with food, improve their health, become stronger, fitter and happier.