Why Are My Glutes Different Sizes? (Solved!)

Believe me, you’re certainly not the only one who has ever questioned, “Why Are My Glutes Different Sizes?”

I know it may feel a little weird having one butt cheek bigger than the other, but it’s actually far more common than you think.

With that being said, a glute imbalance is something that you’ll want to cure, as it can lead to pain, discomfort, and even injury.

So, allow me to explain why your glutes are different sizes and what you can do to fix this.

Why Are My Glutes Different Sizes?

Everyone has different sized glutes, it’s just more noticeable in some people. A glute imbalance is typically caused by a sedentary lifestyle, which in turn leads to inactive glutes. Most of us also have one side of the body that is stronger than the other. This can often lead to favouring your stronger side during exercise, which is what causes an imbalance. The cure is to focus more on single leg exercises, while using isometric contractions to fire up your glutes.

Everyone Has Different Sized Glutes

Before you start panicking about whether you’re some type of genetic freak, you can rest safe in the knowledge that EVERYONE has different sized glutes.

In fact, even professional bodybuilders who work their entire careers to produce the most symmetrical physique possible will have uneven glutes.

This is just a simple fact of life.

With that being said, a glute imbalance is far more noticeable in some people.

The glutes happen to be the largest muscle in the human body, but also one of the most underused muscles too.

In truth, if you don’t specifically train your glutes it’s likely that you’ll end up with weak, tight, and inactive glutes.

This unfortunately can lead to a wealth of problems, including pain or injury.

In fact, that niggling knee discomfort or that sore lower back is more than likely caused by inactive glutes.

Unfortunately, this is typically caused by the sedentary lifestyle that many of us lead.

To make matters worse it is estimated that 80% of us also work in a sedentary job.

Basically, we spend a lot of time simply sitting down, day in and day out.

However, as soon as you sit down your butt literally “turns off”, which leads to your glutes becoming inactive.

It’s also true that we all typically have a stronger side, and so we rely on this side more in everyday life.

Even something as simple as pushing yourself up from a seated position by always using your right leg can cause problems.

In effect, if you do this 30 times a day, 210 times a week, and nearly 1,000 times a month, you are creating an imbalance.

So, as I say, it’s perfectly normal to have glutes of different sizes.

Injury History, Limb Length & Poor Form

Okay, so we now know that the glutes spend a lot of time completely inactive.

Plus, this is worsened by the fact that many of us live a sedentary lifestyle.

However, there are a few more obvious cues as to why you have different sized glutes.

Firstly, if you’ve ever had a lower body or lower back injury then this could cause you to favour one side of your body over the other.

So, let’s say that you had a left knee injury that took 2 months to heal.

During your recovery period it’s likely that you pretty much used the right-side of your body much more than the left.

This makes a great deal of sense, as your left knee is in pain, so you’re doing everything you can to protect it.

However, even once you’re fully recovered you may still find that you favour your right side, as this has now become a habit.

Then again, perhaps your injury was so severe that you now actually have one leg shorter than the other.

With that being said, many of us are born and live our entire lives with uneven limbs.

However, even a difference as tiny as one-quarter of an inch can make a huge difference.

Once more, probably without realising it, you’ll favour one side over the other.

It is this constant preference for one side of your body that leads to muscle imbalances.

Something else to consider is how you perform certain movements when you exercise.

A prime example of this is when you perform squats or lunges.

You may notice that you tend to find performing lunges easier on one side of your body.

Then again, when you squat one knee comes further forward or turns inward.

This is simply you relying on your stronger side once more.

However, if you are constantly doing this every time you workout you are simply exaggerating the problem.

So, it won’t be long before a slight glute imbalance becomes really noticeable.

You Have Overactive Hip Flexors

The vast majority of the time a muscle imbalance is generally caused by the antagonistic (opposite) muscle being overactive.

So, in the case of your glutes, this points to your hip flexors.

To be honest, the hip flexors can cause a variety of issues, many of which don’t even seem related.

In fact, most of us either have weak or tight hip flexors, unless we have a real concentration on training them.

However, if you have overactive hip flexors then they will tend to take over when you should actually be using your glutes.

We can look at squats and lunges again here to diagnose this problem.

If you tend to feel squats and lunges in your quads, knees, or even your groin then this could indicate overactive hip flexors.

Unfortunately this will also mean that your glutes are hardly activated at all during these exercises.

In fact, it’s more likely that your stronger side, hence your stronger glute, will be stimulated, whereas the weaker side stays dormant.

In effect, you’re making a bad situation even worse.

It actually makes a great deal of sense to regularly stretch out your hip flexors, which in turn could see your glutes become more involved during certain movements.

The 5-Minute Hip Flexor Stretch

Perform Single Leg Exercises

The most obvious cure to different sized glutes is to train the smaller and weaker butt until it catches up.

However, I’m not a massive fan of only ever training one side of the body, as this can often lead to a weakness on the other side.

Basically, it’s difficult to know whether you’ve done enough on your weak side to “catch up”.

This is actually why it’s probably best to focus more on single leg exercises, while training both sides equally.

Plus, this will also give you a much better idea of just how weak one glute is compared to the other.

With that being said, it shouldn’t take too long to catch up when you use single leg exercises.

However, you may find that for a few weeks that one side feels “easy”, whereas the other side is really testing your abilities.

Some of the best single leg exercises that will also work your butt include:

• Single-Leg Hip Thrusts
• Single-Leg Glute Bridges
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Single-Leg Step Ups
• Single-Leg Deadlifts
• Fire Hydrants
• Clamshells

Use Isometric Contractions

Something else that will help when you exercise is to perform isometric contractions.

Basically, your glutes are weak and inactive, and this especially true on one side (hence your different sized glutes).

So, you need to ensure that you’re really firing up your glutes and activating them when you perform certain movements.

Unfortunately, if you don’t activate your glutes first they will be nothing more than a bystander when performing particular exercises.

And the easiest way to activate your glutes is through isometric contractions.

So, as an example, when you perform single-leg hip thrusts, squeeze your glutes hard at the top of the movement and hold for a count of three, before lowering yourself back down.

Plus, you should do the 3-second hold/muscle contraction with every single rep, and for both sides of the body.

You’ll probably find that your glutes feel quite sore after a workout like this, but at least you know that you’ve managed to activate both glutes during your workout.

Glute Isometrics

Final Thoughts

So, I hope you understand that everyone has glutes that are different sizes.

However, for some of us this is far more noticeable than for others.

The glutes happen to be one of most underused muscles in the body.

And this is especially true if you have a sedentary job or a sedentary lifestyle in general.

We all also typically have a stronger side, so it’s likely that you favour one side of your body in everyday life.

And this is what causes muscle imbalances.

With that being said, your injury history, differences in limb length, and even poor form when you workout could all be the culprit for your different sized glutes.

Next, I’ve compared two fantastic glute-focused exercises. So, discover whether there is an ideal hip thrust to squat ratio you should be aiming for.