Hip Thrust: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Benefits

The hip thrust is one of the best exercises for building stronger, rounder glutes, and you do it by driving your hips up from the floor with your upper back resting on a bench. It loads the glutes harder than almost any other move (systematic review of barbell hip thrust activation), which is why coaches and gym-goers have made it a staple over the last decade. It is also kinder to your lower back than heavy squats, so you can train your backside hard without battering your spine. Here is how to do a hip thrust properly, the muscles it works, and the mistakes that quietly hold most people back.

How to do a hip thrust

You can do the hip thrust with a barbell, a single dumbbell or kettlebell, or just your bodyweight. The setup is the same. Use a flat bench (or a sturdy sofa at home) that sits roughly knee height, around 40cm tall, so your upper back rests on the edge.

1. Set up against the bench. Sit on the floor with your back to the bench and your shoulder blades resting on the edge. Roll the loaded barbell over your legs so it sits in the crease of your hips, with a thick pad or folded towel between the bar and your hip bones.
2. Plant your feet. Bend your knees and place your feet flat, about hip-width apart. When you reach the top, your shins should be vertical, so set your feet so your knees end up stacked over your ankles, not in front of them.
3. Brace and tuck. Take a breath, brace your core, and tuck your chin slightly so your head and neck stay neutral. Hold the bar lightly to keep it in place.
4. Drive up. Push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips towards the ceiling. Keep the bar moving in a straight vertical line.
5. Lock out flat. Stop when your torso is parallel to the floor and your hips are fully extended. Your body should form a straight line from knees to shoulders, with the glutes hard at the top.
6. Lower under control. Bring your hips back down slowly until they are just off the floor, then go straight into the next rep. Avoid bouncing off the ground.

Muscles worked

The hip thrust is first and foremost a glute exercise, but a few supporting muscles get involved on every rep.

• Gluteus maximus. The big muscle that gives your backside its shape. It is the prime mover, and because the load is heaviest when your hips are fully extended, the glutes work hard exactly where they are strongest.
• Gluteus medius and minimus. The smaller glute muscles on the side of your hip. They keep your knees tracking out and stop them caving in by stabilising the pelvis (gluteus medius anatomy, StatPearls), and a band above the knees lights them up.
• Hamstrings. The back of your thighs assist the glutes in extending your hips, especially as you near lockout.
• Quadriceps. The front of your thighs help straighten your knees as you rise, acting more as stabilisers than prime movers.
• Core and lower back. Your abs and spinal muscles brace to keep your trunk rigid, which is part of why the move carries over so well to other lifts.

That top-end loading is the hip thrust's party trick. Squats and deadlifts load the glutes most when you are bent over and stretched, while the hip thrust hammers them at full contraction (gluteus maximus activation review), which makes it a brilliant partner to those lifts rather than a replacement.

Benefits

There are good reasons the hip thrust went from a niche idea to a gym mainstay.

• Serious glute growth. Few exercises load the glutes as directly, so it is one of the most efficient moves for building size and shape in your backside.
• Stronger lifts and sprints. Powerful hip extension is the engine behind sprinting, jumping and heavy deadlifts (review of gluteus maximus in hip extension), and the hip thrust trains that pattern directly.
• Easy on the lower back. Because the weight sits on your hips and your back is supported, you can load the glutes heavily without the spinal stress of a back squat. That makes it a smart pick if your lower back grumbles.
• Simple to load and progress. The range of motion is short and the movement is stable, so it is easy to add weight week to week and actually feel which muscle is doing the work.
• Works at home. A bench and a single dumbbell get you most of the benefit, and bands or single-leg versions cover you when weight is short.

Common mistakes

Most hip thrust problems come down to setup and range. Fix these and the move suddenly feels far better.

• Over-arching at the top. Cranking your lower back to get higher just hands the work to your spine. Finish in a flat line with your ribs down and a slight posterior tilt (think of tucking your hips under), not an exaggerated arch.
• Feet in the wrong place. Too far forward and your hamstrings take over and your heels lift; too close and your quads do the lifting. Aim for vertical shins at lockout.
• Cutting the range short. Stopping before your hips are fully extended robs you of the best part of the rep. Drive all the way up until your torso is parallel to the floor.
• Bouncing off the floor. Slamming your hips down and rebounding uses momentum instead of muscle. Lower under control and pause briefly at the bottom.
• Neck craning. Letting your head tip back strains your neck and pulls you out of position. Keep your chin gently tucked and eyes forward and down.
• Skimping on the pad. A thin pad means bruised hip bones and a half-hearted effort. A thick pad or folded towel sorts it instantly.

Variations

Once the basic hip thrust feels solid, these versions keep it interesting and let you train it almost anywhere.

• Barbell hip thrust. The standard heavy version. Best once your setup is dialled in and you want to add real load. A proper weight bench makes the back support far more stable than balancing on a sofa.
• Dumbbell hip thrust. Hold a single dumbbell or kettlebell across your hips. Ideal for home training and a great stepping stone before you load a bar. A pair of adjustable dumbbells lets you nudge the weight up over time without a rack full of fixed bells.
• Single-leg hip thrust. Drive up on one leg with the other extended or tucked. Brutal for balance and great for ironing out left-to-right strength differences. No weight needed at first.
• Banded hip thrust. Loop a resistance band just above your knees and push your knees out against it as you rise. It fires up the side glutes and is a cheap way to add intensity. A set of resistance bands is one of the most useful bits of home kit for exactly this.
• Glute bridge. The floor-based cousin, done flat on the ground with no bench. A good starting point if you are new to the pattern or warming up.

A simple set and rep scheme

For building glutes, three to four sets of 8 to 12 reps, two or three times a week, works well for most people. Pick a weight where the last two reps of each set feel hard but your form holds. Add a little load or a rep or two each week, and squeeze hard at the top of every rep rather than chasing big numbers with sloppy technique.

Recommended reads

1. The best weight bench in the UK
2. The best adjustable dumbbells in the UK
3. The best resistance bands in the UK
4. Home gym equipment reviews and guides