Hip Thrust Benefits & How To Guide

The hip thrust is a great exercise for glute development and strength. 

Strong and powerful glutes not only help you to lift weights but they also increase athletic performance and improve daily functionality. Your glutes are the biggest muscle of the body and are used every day!

The hip thrust is a great lower body exercise that targets the glutes, by allowing a full contraction in the shortened position at the top of the movement.
Your quadriceps, hamstrings, core and adductor muscles are also being used.
It is important to include glute exercises in your weekly training plan for structural balance. It also helps to reduce lower back pain, stabilizes the core and promotes your athletic abilities.

Listen to our podcast with The Glute Guy, Bret Contreras as we chat all things glute development.

For the perfect hip thrust set up, we like to use a back pad.
We rest this against a wall, rig or bench to ensure it doesn’t move whilst we are performing the exercise.
To learn this movement, start with a body weight variation.
Rest your shoulder blades on the back of the pad and bend your knees to create a 90 degree angle at the knee, roughly hip width apart and tuck your chin down towards your chest.
You can rest your hands on your upper body.
Drive your hips up towards the ceiling, squeezing your glutes as you get to the top. Lower back down and repeat.
Be sure not to hyperextend your back and squeeze your glutes past 90 degrees. We want to see your thighs in line with your knees. Not only will this reduce risk of back pain, there is also no benefit to pushing up any higher as your glutes are already maximally contracted at roughly 90 degrees.
When you are ready to add weight, follow the same steps as above and set up your barbell with lifting plates and clips on either side. Place a barbell pad in the center which will rest against your hips. Once you are in position, hold on to the barbell and drive your hips up towards the ceiling, squeezing your glutes as you get to the top.
Lower back down and repeat.

There is one main difference between the glute bridge and the hip thrust.
The hip thrust is performed with your back elevated on a pad or bench, so your upper body is off the ground.
The glute bridge is performed on the floor.
Your lower body does the exact same movement, however you will notice reduced range of motion when performing the glute bridge variation.
The glute bridge is a great way for beginners to learn the pattern before moving on to a hip thrust.

The glutes are an incredibly strong muscle which can handle alot of volume, load and intensity.
A beginner could hip thrust or train glutes 5 times a week and still have normal recovery.
The glutes respond well to volume and although you may feel a burn during high reps of this movement, it soon passes after you rest the muscle and stop the set.
We like to train glutes on a specific day, however we are also training glutes on squat and deadlift days through various other lower body movements.
A great place to start for your reps and sets could be 3 sets of 12-15 reps or 4 sets of 8-10 reps.
To increase the complexity of this lift, adding weight is an option, including pusles, pauses, 1 & ¼ reps or even adding resistance bands above the knees.

We recommend starting conservative to learn the movement pattern well. Once you have this mastered, you can increase the load you are lifting. We like to do this in 5-10 kg increments per week.
You can perform a hip thrust with a dumbbell instead of a barbell, however the heavier the dumbbell, the harder it is to lift on and off yourself when performing. This is why we like a barbell as it is an easy set up and safe to roll the bar too and from your body.

There are many variations of the hip thrust, some mentioned earlier such as using weight, pauses, pulse reps or bands.
You can also experiment with single leg hip thrust and b-stance hip thrusts.

The most common errors we see with the hip thrust is not keeping your chin tucked, hyperextending the back and incorrect foot position for the individual lifter.
It is important to lift safely and with good technique. This becomes increasingly crucial as you start to add load to the movement.
We want to see the feet roughly hip width apart and far enough away from your glutes that you can create a 90 degree angle with the knee when at the top of the movement, Feet too close and you will feel it in your quads, feet to far out and you will feel it more in your hamstrings. We want to find the balanced spot in the middle where you are getting the most out of your glutes.
Keeping the chin tucked will help maintain a neutral spine and protect your neck.
Not hyperextending the back will reduce risk of back pain and loading the lumbar spine incorrectly.

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