You’re here because you want to grow your glutes right?

Great, if there’s any body part that can make the most significant impact on your physique it’s your bum.

All over the world women are switching to glute training and getting it done in the gym.

But too many are unwilling to do what it takes to build their glutes in the kitchen where it really counts.

Building your glutes doesn't happen overnight, it’s hard work and you need to be consistent and most of all patient.

But if you’ve been training your glutes for months and months and you haven’t noticed significant results, then it COULD be your diet holding you back.

Let’s get one thing clear: This isn’t one of those '“eat these foods, avoid these foods” bullshit blogs you see all over the internet, they aren’t very helpful.

Instead, we are going to dive into your HABITS and PRIORITIES.

But before we do, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram (below) where I post daily content on all things glutes, strength training and being a badass.

What? Do you think I was born this way?

Nope.

I was a skinny kid who couldn’t gain weight to save this life.

So what changed?

I started lifting weights.

I gave my body a reason to grow and gain weight.

Instead of just eating and hoping.

The Glute Building Pyramid

So from most important to least important, let’s look at the nutritional and lifestyle habits you NEED to build your glutes successfully.

#1 Calories For Building Your Glutes

The most likely reason you’re not making those glute gains is you’re not eating enough food or protein, and you’ll have to up your caloric intake.

Calorie Surplus + Weight Training = Muscle Growth….. Simple.

Now, I know this scares the shit out of a lot of women, but it’s necessary, and when done properly, won’t lead to excessive fat gain.

Just as long as the food choices are smart and you’re not smashing Five Guys daily.

There is a lot of content out there on building your glutes while shrinking your waist, and to be honest this is hard to do at the same time as one requires a calorie surplus while the other requires a calorie deficit. I recommend growing first before losing fat.

Again we need calories and protein to build those glute muscles, so eat.

On training days, you need to be eating to fuel your muscles. We are damaging them and breaking down the muscle; we need the energy to repair them, so you can’t limit your calories and expect to build muscle.

I’ve got a brilliant and handy CALORIE CALCULATOR on my instagram that will give you custom calorie targets, macro splits and advice on either building muscle or burning fat, make sure you check it out on Instagram.

#2 Macros For Growing Your Glutes

In case you didn’t know, macros are Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat.

Protein Is King

Protein builds and repairs our muscles, so it’s pretty important. But you don’t need to go nuts, and you certainly don’t need supplements to get enough.

You need about 2 grams of protein per KG of body weight, So if you’re 55 kg you need around 110 g of protein throughout the day.

I’ve put together a list of 51 Protein Sources so you never run out of protein sources to try.

Carbohydrates Are Your Friend

Carbs play a huge role in muscle growth.

Protein helps to build and repair muscle but carbs do too; they are the fuel that allows that growth to happen. So by avoiding or minimising carbs, you are potentially losing a huge amount of muscle-building potential.

Carbs are not the enemy (you can read that article here).

Society and the media give them a bad reputation, but there is a big difference between high-quality complex carbs from whole foods and simply sugary carbs from processed foods.

Refined and processed carbohydrates spike blood sugar and insulin levels, which actually stifles muscle growth and increases fat storage potential.

Complex carbohydrates, however, are a fantastic fuel source for muscle growth such as oats, brown rice, quinoa, beans and vegetables.

A guideline amount of carbs is around 2-4 g of carbohydrates per KG of body weight.

So for a 55kg female, that’s between 110-220 g per day.

Fat Is Not Evil

Fats are a primary energy source, and we must consume essential fatty acids to support our body's basic functions, like building muscle.

Fats insulate our organs, support hormone production and vitamin absorption and serve as structural components of our cells and brain…. so it’s a basic necessity to build and repair muscle cells!

Aim to consume about 0.8 g of fat per kg of body weight.

So our 55kg woman should consume around 44g of fat daily.

I have a more detailed post on fat here.

Again I'll advise you on macro splits and building muscle with my calorie calculator - make sure you check it out.

#3 Sleep To Build A Bigger Bum

Muscles need rest to grow. Your glutes don’t grow in the gym; they grow when you are asleep and relaxing.

In the gym we are breaking them down, creating microscopic tears in the muscle, we can’t repair them if we keep destroying them! So rest.

Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night and make sure to take ample rest days.

I recommend 24-48 hours between an intense leg and glute workout to allow for full recovery of your glute muscles.

#4 Meal Timing and Frequency for Glute Growth

Nutrient timing is not as big a deal as some people make you think. Gone are the days of “eat every 2-3 hours to stoke your metabolism bro” and the mythical “post-workout anabolic window” where you had to have protein immediately post-workout otherwise you’d lose all your gains and then disappear like a puff of smoke.

How often you eat and when you eat through the day doesn’t make much difference apart from on training days.

Ideally, you should aim to eat 25% of your daily carbohydrate intake with 20 -30 grams of protein 1-2 hours BEFORE your workout and another 25% of your carbs and another 20-30 grams of protein within 60-90 minutes AFTER your workout.

This is so you are properly fuelled up to train your glutes hard and to fuel your muscles to stimulate the growth process after training.

Going into a big session on an empty stomach will deprive your muscles of the necessary fuel which will stunt the growth process and you won’t feel as energised to train hard, you may even feel weak or light-headed.

Throughout the rest of the day just eat as and when it suits your lifestyle and try to get 20-30g of protein with each meal and snack.

On your rest days just eat evenly throughout the day and keep your calories up. There is no need to lower your calories on rest days as this is when you need the fuel to grow.

#5 Booty Building Supplements

This will be quick….. There are no magic supplements for glute growth and most supplements are a waste of money.

Protein powders are useful if you don’t get enough from whole food sources and I would recommend using a plant-based one if you need it as it’s kinder to your digestive tract, the environment and most importantly the animals.

Creatine may be useful as well, it’s safe and effective and assists in muscle and strength increases, but most of you wouldn’t notice either way.

A caffeine source as a pre-workout is often useful to get you fired up, but try to avoid expensive pre-workouts. They are often overpriced rubbish, packed with mystery blends of mostly useless compounds and can often have some nasty side effects.

Stick to coffee, 100-200mg caffeine pills (my personal choice) or a small sugar-free energy drink.

That’s it, everything else is unnecessary or a waste of money for 90% of you.

#6 Fiber and Micronutrients

If you’ve nailed all of the above, then you should be taking care of this pretty easily by eating plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats.

Since you should be eating more food overall and lots of carbs we don’t need to worry about fibre intake or micronutrient intake as closely as we would if we were dieting.