---
title: "Glute exercises with no equipment"
description: "Clamshells, donkey kicks, bridges and abductions with no equipment. See what one leg can actually load and how to make these moves harder."
locale: en
url: "https://hi.fitness/exercises/muscles/glutes/bodyweight"
count: 18
type: combo
muscle: GLUTES
equipment: BODYWEIGHT
---

# Glute exercises with no equipment

With no load the only weight is the leg itself, and a leg weighs a fraction of what you can park on
your hips in a hip thrust. That is why this list looks nothing like the barbell one: there is no
strength work on it, only positions where the glute works through a small range, for a long time,
with nothing else helping.

That does not make it pointless. Clamshells, donkey kicks and the single-leg bridge do something
weight on its own never forces: they make you hold the pelvis level while only one side supports
you. If what you want is resistance, the cheapest band you can buy changes this list more than
another ten reps will.

## How far can you get with no load?

The honest answer is: not as far as the length of the list suggests. The resistance is the weight of
one leg out on a lever, and that is enough at the start, after a long layoff, or as work between
heavier sessions. It is not enough for long, and no amount of extra reps gets around that.

You can read it off the cues in the atlas itself. On these movements almost every one of them is
about tempo and control: don't swing, don't jerk, pause at the top, lower slowly. That tells you
where the difficulty is supposed to come from, given that it is not coming from load.

In exchange you get something a barbell does not give you. These positions - lying on your side, on
all fours, flat on your back - set the hip up so that no other muscle group has any way to take the
work. They do not replace weight, they do a different job.

## Why is almost everything here single-sided?

Because half of the glute's job is keeping the pelvis level when only one foot is on the ground. That
is every step, every run and every flight of stairs. Clamshells, side-lying leg raises, kickbacks and
abductions on all fours, and the bridge with alternating leg raises all make exactly that demand.
With both feet down the stronger side quietly picks up the slack; with one, it has no way to.

Which is why the mistakes on this page are about the pelvis rather than the leg. Rolling the torso
back in a clamshell, twisting the hips on a kneeling abduction, letting the pelvis drop in a
single-leg bridge - all three buy range the hip never earned. With no load there is no number on a
bar to catch it, so the only measure left is whether the pelvis is still where it started.

## Common mistakes

- **Rolling the torso back** - In the clamshell the easiest way to fake more range is to tip the pelvis backward. The knee gets higher, but the hip abducts no further than it did before.
- **Momentum instead of glute** - A kickback turns into a jerk easily, because with no load only speed feels like effort. The leg goes up slowly and stops at the top for a beat.
- **Hips dropping in the bridge** - The moment one foot leaves the floor, the pelvis on that side starts to sink and tilt. Holding it level is the entire job in this exercise.

## Progress the movement

1. **Straighten the leg** - The same movement with the knee bent and with the leg straight is two different levels. A straight leg is a longer lever, so the hip has to lift it from further away.
2. **Take away a point of support** - A two-leg bridge rests on two feet, a bridge with one leg lifted on one. You add nothing at all, and the demand on the glute of the supporting side jumps.
3. **Slow down and hold** - With no weight, time under tension is what is left. A slower lowering and a pause at the top are the only two dials here you fully control.

## All Glute exercises with no equipment

- [Donkey Kicks Bodyweight](https://hi.fitness/exercises/donkey-kicks-bodyweight) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Side Lying Leg Lift Right](https://hi.fitness/exercises/side-lying-leg-lift-right) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Glute Bridge with Abduction Bodyweight](https://hi.fitness/exercises/glute-bridge-with-abduction-bodyweight) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Bridge Hip Abduction](https://hi.fitness/exercises/bridge-hip-abduction) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Diagonal Lunge](https://hi.fitness/exercises/diagonal-lunge) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Standing Side Leg Raises](https://hi.fitness/exercises/standing-side-leg-raises) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Fire Hydrant Bodyweight](https://hi.fitness/exercises/fire-hydrant-bodyweight) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Clamshell](https://hi.fitness/exercises/clamshell) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Bent Leg Side Kick (Kneeling)](https://hi.fitness/exercises/bent-leg-side-kick-kneeling) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Bent Knee Back to Side Kick](https://hi.fitness/exercises/bent-knee-back-to-side-kick) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Fire Hydrant Circle Bodyweight](https://hi.fitness/exercises/fire-hydrant-circle-bodyweight) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Bridge with Alternating Leg Raise](https://hi.fitness/exercises/bridge-with-alternating-leg-raise) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Alternate Single Leg Raise Plank](https://hi.fitness/exercises/alternate-single-leg-raise-plank) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [4 Corners Curtsy](https://hi.fitness/exercises/4-corners-curtsy) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Body Slide](https://hi.fitness/exercises/body-slide) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Celebratory Hip Thrust](https://hi.fitness/exercises/celebratory-hip-thrust) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Crab Twist Toe Touch](https://hi.fitness/exercises/crab-twist-toe-touch) - Glutes · Bodyweight
- [Crab Pose](https://hi.fitness/exercises/crab-pose) - Glutes · Bodyweight