Three lower-body days (heavy glutes, legs, glute volume) and one upper-body day. Hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts and split squats, with drop sets and failure sets on the machines.
If your priority is glutes and legs, the plan should spend most of its time there. This one gives you three lower-body sessions a week, each with a different job, plus one upper-body day to keep the rest of you strong and balanced.
The heavy glute day is built on barbell hip thrusts and Romanian deadlifts in the 6-8 range. Leg day is squat-led with quads and hamstrings. The volume glute day uses Smith machine hip thrusts, kickbacks, step-ups and abductor work at higher reps. Machines carry the intensity techniques: abductor and kickback drop sets, and failure sets on hip thrust and leg curls.
The glutes get about 16-20 hard sets a week, enough for real growth in someone who has trained consistently for six months or more. Push the heavy hip thrusts and RDLs by adding weight whenever you hit the top of the range on every set.
A good week is Monday glutes (heavy), Tuesday upper, Thursday legs, Saturday glutes (volume).
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 4 × 6-8 | 150s |
| Romanian Deadlift | 3 × 8 | 150s |
| Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 × 8-10 per leg | 90s |
| Cable Pull Through | 3 × 12 | 60s |
| Machine Abductor | 3 × 15-20 · drop set on the last set | 60s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 3 × 8-10 | 120s |
| Cable Lat Pulldown | 3 × 10 | 90s |
| Machine Chest Press | 3 × 10 | 90s |
| Cable Seated Row | 3 × 10-12 | 75s |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raise | 3 × 12-15 · last set to failure | 60s |
| Cable Face Pull | 3 × 15 | 60s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Squat | 4 × 6-8 | 180s |
| Machine Leg Press | 3 × 10-12 | 120s |
| Machine Seated Leg Curl | 3 × 10-12 · last set to failure | 75s |
| Machine Leg Extension | 3 × 12-15 · drop set on the last set | 60s |
| Dumbbell Walking Lunge | 2 × 10 per leg | 75s |
| Smith Machine Calf Raise | 3 × 12-15 | 60s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Smith Machine Hip Thrust | 3 × 10-12 · last set to failure | 120s |
| Machine Glute Kickback | 3 × 12-15 per leg · drop set on the last set | 60s |
| Dumbbell Step-Up | 3 × 10 per leg | 75s |
| Machine Back Extension | 3 × 12-15 | 60s |
| Machine Abductor | 3 × 20 · last set to failure | 60s |
| Pallof Press | 3 × 10 per side | 45s |
The Glutes & Legs Focus 4-Day plan is 4 days a week, with sessions of about 55 minutes, over 8 weeks.
The Glutes & Legs Focus 4-Day plan uses a barbell, dumbbells, a cable machine, gym machines, a bench and pull-up bar.
The Glutes & Legs Focus 4-Day plan is an intermediate plan, best once you have trained consistently for a few months. If you are new to training, start with one of the beginner plans in the free library.
Yes. The full plan is free to read here and to follow in the StayActive app, with no subscription and no ads.
Glutes are a large, resilient muscle group that respond well to higher weekly volume. Two dedicated sessions, one heavy and one higher-rep, plus leg day, gives them more work than a standard split without making any single session too long.
On that exercise, do your normal sets, then on the final set keep going until you cannot complete another rep with good form. It only appears on machine, cable and isolation work, where failing a rep is safe. Never take heavy squats, deadlifts or bench presses to failure.
When you finish the last set of an exercise marked "Drop set", the tracker adds a drop: reduce the weight by about 25% and keep going straight away with no rest. Log the drop like any other set.
Yes. A strong back, shoulders and core support your heavy hip thrusts and deadlifts, and one session a week keeps the upper body progressing while the focus stays on legs.
Hip thrusts and Romanian deadlifts are heavy: keep a neutral spine and stop one to two reps short of failure on them. Use a pad on the bar for hip thrusts. Failure sets and drop sets are only on machines. Rest at least one day between the two glute days.
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