The philosophy is covered elsewhere. The Training for Hourglass Aesthetics article explains the why: W:G ratios, shape versus mass, the reasoning behind leg-priority programming. This is the practical companion. What do you actually do in the gym?
What follows is template, not prescription. Your body, your recovery capacity, your equipment access, and your starting point will differ from mine. The principles translate even when the specifics need adjustment. Take what works. Modify what doesn't. The goal is building the shape to wear the silhouette, and there's more than one path to get there.
Primary Glute Movements
The glutes are the foundation of the hourglass. They create the lower half of the ratio, the visual width below the waist that feminine clothing is designed to emphasize. These movements get priority: first in the session when you're fresh, heaviest loads, most focused effort.
Hip Thrust (4x10)
The single most effective glute builder available. Nothing else loads the glutes through their full range with this much direct resistance. The barbell goes across your hips, your upper back braces against a bench, and you drive through your heels to lockout.
Form cues: Drive through the heels, not the toes. At the top, squeeze the glutes and hold for a beat before lowering. Don't hyperextend the lower back at lockout; the movement ends when the hips are fully extended, not when you're arching backward.
If you don't have a hip thrust bench, a sturdy couch or bed works for home training. The setup matters less than the execution.
Romanian Deadlift (4x8-10)
The RDL develops the posterior chain: glutes, hamstrings, and the tie-in between them. It's a hinge, not a squat. The bar stays close to your legs as you push your hips back, loading the hamstrings through a stretch, then driving forward to standing.
Form cues: Soft bend in the knees, but the knees don't travel forward. Feel the stretch in the hamstrings before reversing the movement. Keep the back flat throughout; the moment the lower back rounds, the set is over. Lower the bar until you feel the hamstrings loaded, then drive forward by squeezing the glutes.
Dumbbells work if barbells aren't available. The movement pattern is identical.
Cable Pull-Through (3x12-15)
Constant tension through the entire range of motion. The cable provides resistance that free weights don't: load at the bottom of the movement where the glutes are stretched, maintained through to the top.
Form cues: Stand through the movement, don't squat it. Face away from the cable, hinge at the hips, and drive forward to standing. The arms are just hooks; the glutes do the work. At the top, stand tall and squeeze; don't lean back.
No cable machine? Resistance bands anchored low provide the same movement pattern. Loop the band around something sturdy and low, and perform the same hinge-to-standing motion.
Back Extensions (3x12-15)
Often underrated, often done wrong. This isn't a lower back exercise; it's a glute exercise with lower back involvement. The difference is where you focus and where you squeeze.
Form cues: Set up on the 45-degree back extension. Lower until you feel the stretch in the glutes and hamstrings, then drive up by squeezing the glutes, not by hyperextending the lower back. At the top, the body forms a straight line. No arching beyond neutral. Hold the contraction briefly before lowering.
For added difficulty, hold a weight plate against your chest. Start with bodyweight until the form is locked in.
Primary Quad Movements
The outer sweep of the quads contributes to visual hip width. Well-developed quads, particularly the vastus lateralis, create the impression of wider hips even before glute development catches up. These movements build the front of the thigh.
Leg Press (4x10-12)
Heavy loading with minimal spinal compression. The leg press lets you move serious weight through the legs without your back becoming the limiting factor.
Form cues: Foot placement determines emphasis. Feet higher on the platform shifts work to glutes and hamstrings. Feet lower hits the quads harder. For hourglass training, middle placement works both. Full range of motion; don't cut the reps short at the bottom. Control the descent, pause briefly, drive through the full foot.
Width also matters. A wider stance hits the adductors and inner quads more; narrow emphasises the sweep. Experiment to find what works for your proportions.
Hack Squat (3x10-12)
Quad-dominant with back support. The machine takes balance out of the equation, letting you focus entirely on driving through the legs.
Form cues: Control the descent; don't drop into the bottom. Drive through the midfoot, not the toes. Keep the lower back pressed into the pad throughout. Go deep enough to feel the quads fully loaded at the bottom.
If no hack squat is available, Smith machine squats with a narrow stance provide similar quad emphasis. Goblet squats work for lower loads. The pattern matters more than the specific machine.
Leg Extension (3x12-15)
Isolated quad work. This is where you build the detailed shape, the teardrop above the knee, the sweep at the top of the thigh.
Form cues: Pause at full extension; don't just swing through the top. Control the negative; don't let the weight stack crash down. The muscle works on the way down as much as on the way up. Feel the contraction at the top before lowering slowly.
Lighter weight with perfect form beats heavier weight with momentum. This is about the squeeze, not the ego.
Bulgarian Split Squat (3x10-12 each leg)
Unilateral development addresses imbalances and provides a deep glute stretch at the bottom. Rear foot elevated on a bench, front foot forward, and lower until the rear knee approaches the floor.
Form cues: Torso upright or slight forward lean. The front knee tracks over the toes. Push through the front heel to drive back up. If you feel this more in the front quad, lean forward slightly to shift emphasis to the glute. Keep the rear foot relaxed; it's for balance, not push.
Start with bodyweight. Add dumbbells when the balance is comfortable. This movement is deceptively demanding.
Supporting Hamstring Work
The hamstrings support the posterior silhouette. They don't need the same volume as glutes, but they need attention.
The RDL already provides significant hamstring work. Add leg curls for direct, isolated loading: seated, lying, or standing variations all work. Two to three sets at the end of a session maintains development without requiring dedicated focus.
Seated leg curls emphasise the lower hamstrings. Lying leg curls hit the full muscle more evenly. Both are valid; use what your gym has.
The hamstrings tie into the glutes visually. Developed hamstrings make the glute-to-thigh transition smoother, improving the overall posterior profile. They're a supporting cast to the glutes' starring role.
Core Work: Stability Without Thickness
The goal for core training is bracing ability and postural support, not hypertrophy. A thick waist undermines the hourglass ratio. The waist should be the narrowest point, and adding muscle to the obliques works against that.
What to do:
Planks build isometric bracing strength. Hold for time, focusing on keeping the spine neutral and the glutes engaged. Progress by increasing duration, not by adding load.
Dead bugs train anti-extension while coordinating limbs. Lie on your back, arms toward ceiling, knees at 90 degrees. Lower opposite arm and leg slowly while keeping the lower back pressed into the floor.
Pallof presses develop anti-rotation without loading the spine. A cable or band at chest height, held with both hands, pressed straight out. The core works to resist the rotational pull.
Bird dogs reinforce lower back stability and hip control. On hands and knees, extend opposite arm and leg while maintaining a flat back. Slow and controlled.
These are stability exercises, not strength exercises. Light loads, controlled movement, emphasis on the brace rather than the burn.
What to avoid:
Heavy oblique work thickens the waist. Weighted side bends, Russian twists with load, cable woodchops with serious weight. All of these build the muscles on the sides of the waist, expanding the very measurement you're trying to minimise.
The core should stabilise, not dominate. Train it to brace effectively, then move on. Five to ten minutes at the end of a session is sufficient.
What We're NOT Prioritising
Traditional bodybuilding distributes development evenly. Hourglass training doesn't. Some things stay maintained; some things don't get attention at all.
Obliques: Explained above. Direct work is counterproductive for the ratio we're chasing.
General mass: The goal isn't to be bigger everywhere. It's to be differently shaped. Adding size to areas that don't serve the silhouette wastes effort and recovery capacity.
Upper body size: Maintained, not emphasised. Enough training to keep proportion, not enough to dominate the visual. For a 4 Lower / 2 Upper split, the upper days are about preservation, not growth.
Heavy spinal loading: Barbell squats and conventional deadlifts are excellent exercises. They're also not mandatory for hourglass development, and they carry injury risk that may not be worth it when alternatives exist. The leg press and hack squat provide heavy loading without the spinal compression. This is a personal calculation; some will include traditional barbell compounds, some won't.
Selective development requires saying no to some things in order to say yes to others. Every exercise is a choice about where to allocate limited recovery resources.
Volume Guidance
These are templates, not prescriptions. Weekly volume targets that work as starting points:
Glutes: 15-20 direct sets per week. This is the priority; it gets the most attention.
Quads: 10-15 sets per week. Adequate for development without dominating recovery.
Hamstrings: 8-12 sets per week. Supporting role; RDL volume counts toward this.
Core: 4-6 sets per week. Maintenance, not growth.
Rep ranges: 8-12 reps for compound movements where load matters. 12-15 reps for isolation work where the pump and time under tension contribute more.
Progressive overload: Whatever you did last week, do slightly more this week. More weight, more reps, an extra set. The body adapts to demands; make the demands increase over time.
Individual adjustment matters. Some recover quickly and need more volume. Some need less. Track, assess, modify. If you're not progressing, add volume. If you're exhausted and regressing, reduce it. The numbers above are starting points, not mandates.
Sample Session Structure
Exercise order matters. Compounds before isolation. Priority muscles when fresh. Fatigue accumulates; plan for it.
Example lower body session:
- Primary compound (glutes): Hip thrust or Romanian deadlift. Heaviest work, most effort, done first when energy is highest.
- Primary compound (quads): Leg press or hack squat. Still heavy, still compound, but after glutes have had their focus.
- Secondary glute work: Cable pull-through or back extensions. Moderate load, higher reps, building on the earlier work.
- Hamstring support: Leg curl variation. Two to three sets, controlled reps.
- Quad isolation: Leg extension. Pump work, detail work, lighter load.
- Core stability: 5-10 minutes. Planks, dead bugs, pallof press.
Session length: 45-60 minutes. Quality reps matter more than total time. Don't rush the rest periods between heavy sets; 2-3 minutes for compounds, 60-90 seconds for isolation.
This structure repeats across multiple lower sessions per week, rotating exercises to hit the muscles from different angles. Four lower sessions means running through the primary movements twice, with variations.
Equipment Alternatives
Not everyone has access to a fully equipped gym. The movements matter more than the specific equipment.
No hip thrust bench: A sturdy couch, bed, or plyo box works. Shoulder blades on the surface, hips below, drive up. A folded towel or bar pad protects the hips from the barbell.
No cable machine: Resistance bands anchored to a low point replicate pull-throughs. Not identical loading curve, but the movement pattern is there.
No hack squat: Leg press covers similar quad work. Smith machine squats with a narrow stance. Goblet squats for lower loads. Front squats if you have the mobility.
No leg curl machine: Nordic curls if you have something to anchor your feet. Swiss ball leg curls work the hamstrings eccentrically. Or prioritise RDLs for hamstring work instead.
The principle: find a way to load the target muscle through its range of motion. The equipment is a means, not the goal. Creativity solves most equipment gaps.
Forward
This is the practical "how" to accompany the Training for Hourglass Aesthetics article's "why." The philosophy sets the direction; the exercises do the work.
Adapt what you need to. Drop what doesn't serve you. Add what's missing for your situation. The shape emerges over months and years of consistent work, not from following any single session perfectly.
The gym is where this happens. Early morning, late evening, whenever you show up. The ratio moves. The silhouette develops. The work compounds.
Building the shape to wear the silhouette. That's the entire point.