How Long Should A Glute Workout Be? 

How much time should we spend on our glute workouts if we want them to grow? Is half an hour sufficient? An hour? Or even two?

It’s a question we hear frequently, and it’s a valid one. People want to know the ideal duration for their glute exercises each week to ensure they’re stimulating growth effectively without risking overtraining.

Today, we’ll delve into the optimal length for a glute workout and discuss the factors to consider when planning its duration.

Ultimately, our workouts should be long enough to achieve the necessary volume for growth, but we also want to be efficient with our time to avoid wasting it unnecessarily.

Dragging out our workout just to hit an arbitrary time target, like an hour and a half, won’t benefit anyone. We all have busy schedules, so time efficiency is critical.

For those seeking a quick answer, dedicating 30 minutes twice a week to glute training will suffice to stimulate muscle growth.

If you’re curious about how we reached this conclusion and how to optimize your glute training for growth, keep reading!

WEEKLY VOLUME FOR GLUTE GROWTH

Firstly, let’s consider the amount of work needed to stimulate muscle growth.

In a 2017 meta-analysis conducted by researchers Schoenfeld, Ogborn, and Krieger, the effect of training volume on muscle growth was investigated.

Suppose you need to familiarize yourself with the term meta-analysis. In that case, it’s essentially a comprehensive analysis of all relevant studies on a particular topic, considered one of the most reliable research methods in the scientific community.

Their findings revealed a dose-response relationship between volume and muscle thickness, indicating that as individuals performed more sets, they experienced tremendous muscle growth up to a certain threshold.

It’s commonly believed that the relationship between volume and muscle growth follows an inverted U-shaped curve. In other words, increasing sets leads to more growth until reaching a point where additional volume provides diminishing returns and could even impede progress.

Based on this study, it’s advisable to aim for a minimum of 10 weekly sets per muscle to maximize muscle growth.

But what about the maximum?

This is where things get interesting. While there’s a prevalent belief in the hypertrophy community that around 20 sets per muscle per week is the upper limit, exceeding this threshold may not yield additional muscle-building benefits and could hinder progress.

For newcomers to training, sticking to the lower end of the 10-20 set recommendation might suffice, as they often experience rapid initial gains. However, experienced lifters may need to lean towards the higher end of this range to promote muscle growth effectively.

It’s essential to recognize that individual factors such as age, training experience, activity levels, nutrition, and genetics can significantly influence how each person responds to exercise. Just because a friend thrives on ten glute sets a week doesn’t guarantee the same outcome for everyone.

In conclusion, while 20 sets per muscle per week is commonly cited as the upper limit, ongoing research is needed to confirm this threshold definitively. Additionally, individual variations must be considered when determining the ideal volume for muscle growth.

HOW TO GROW YOUR GLUTES WITH THE RIGHT WORKOUTS

To build your glutes effectively, you’ll need to do around 10-20 sets of exercises per week. If you’re new to training, aiming for the lower end of this range should suffice. However, if you’re more experienced, it’s best to lean towards the higher end.

Should you do all these sets in one go? Or do you need to spread them out over multiple sessions in a week?

Let’s delve into it.

James Krieger, a respected researcher in muscle growth, discovered that doing 6-8 sets per muscle in a single session is optimal. Going beyond this range might not lead to further progress, as indicated in the graph below.

It’s logical to split your sets over two sessions if you’re aiming for about 15 sets per muscle each week. For instance, you could do seven sets in one day and eight sets in another.

This aligns with a recent meta-analysis suggesting that splitting your workout volume into multiple sessions, significantly when exceeding ten sets per week, can maximize muscle growth potential. Additionally, a study from 2016 found that training twice a week produced better muscle growth outcomes compared to training once or three times a week, assuming the volume was the same across all scenarios.

However, there are more efficient approaches than merely completing your glute sets and calling it a day. It’s better to pair your glute exercises with other lower-body muscle groups, like hamstrings. This way, you can efficiently target multiple muscle groups within the same workout session.

Now, let’s talk about reps.

How many reps should you aim for in each set? 

This directly impacts the duration of your workout.

Research indicates that muscle growth can occur across a wide range of rep counts. For instance, a meta-analysis from 2017 compared muscle growth between low-load and high-load training protocols and found similar results across both.

Another study in 2021 examined muscle growth with different rep ranges and concluded that hypertrophy improvements were not dependent on the load used.

So, what’s the ideal rep range? While the research suggests a range of 5-30 reps, we recommend aiming for 6-15 reps for maximizing glute growth.

Working with heavier weights in the lower rep range (e.g., five reps) increases injury risk, while the higher rep range (e.g., 30 reps) may fatigue your cardiovascular system before your muscles. Thus, sticking to a moderate rep range is sensible for glute growth.

Remember, it’s essential to push each set close to muscular failure to provide the necessary stimulus for muscle building.

And feel free to use a single rep range. Since hypertrophy is independent of load, feel free to experiment with different rep ranges to find what works best for you.

GLUTE TRAINING REST INTERVALS

Now, let’s talk about how long we should rest during our glute workouts (or sessions that target both glutes and hamstrings).

Staying consistent with the article’s theme, let’s explore the research on this topic.

In a study conducted by Schoenfeld et al. in 2016, researchers examined the impact of rest times on muscle growth. They divided 21 trained men into two groups: Group 1 rested for 1 minute between sets, while Group 2 rested for 3 minutes between sets.

After an 8-week training program, they measured muscle thickness in various muscles. As depicted in the graph below, the group that rested for 3 minutes experienced more muscle growth in each muscle measured.

As a result, we should incorporate these findings into our glute training routine and aim for 3-minute rest intervals between sets.

Short rest periods, like the 1-minute intervals used in Group 1, likely don’t provide sufficient time for the body to recover. This could lead to a decrease in the number of reps performed in subsequent sets. This reduction in volume load may explain why the group with more extended rest periods experienced more significant muscle growth.

So, take your time between sets, and avoid rushing back into a set before you’re fully recovered.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now, let’s summarize what we’ve covered and figure out the ideal duration for our glute workouts.

First off, we learned that to maximize glute growth, we should aim for about 10-20 sets per week. It’s best to split these sets into two separate sessions.

Next, we discovered that doing 6-8 sets per muscle in each session is the sweet spot for muscle building. Any additional sets may contribute little to growth and could be considered unnecessary.

Then, we delved into the number of reps per set. Although muscle growth can happen across a range of reps, we recommend sticking to 6-15 reps to minimize the risk of injury and avoid getting too tired too quickly.

Lastly, we recognized the importance of taking more extended rest periods between sets. Three minutes of rest between sets is more effective than just one minute in promoting muscle growth.

So, how long should your glute workout be? Well, let’s figure that out.

GLUTE AND HAMSTRING WORKOUT TIME

For a comprehensive glute and hamstring workout, consisting of 14 sets with ten reps each, and focusing on a 2-second concentric and 2-second eccentric movement, here’s the breakdown:

• Start with a 3-minute warm-up.
• Each set takes approximately 40 seconds to complete.
• Multiply 40 seconds by 14 sets, and you get 9 minutes and 20 seconds.
• Additionally, rest periods between sets total 42 minutes.
• After completing the workout, cool down for 5 minutes.
• Adding it all up, the total workout time comes to 59 minutes and 20 seconds.

So, in less than an hour, you can have an effective glute and hamstring session. If you’re only focusing on training your glutes, you can split this time in half, resulting in roughly 29 minutes and 40 seconds for your glute workout.

Understanding the principles behind the duration of the workout is critical to achieving your goals. For more guidance on building your glutes with science-backed methods, explore our blog and resources. Happy building!