By Jacob Chambers, Founder & Lead Reviewer · Updated 27 June 2026
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.
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.
The cue that matters most
Think "push the floor away with your heels and squeeze". Driving through the heels rather than the balls of your feet shifts the work onto your glutes and hamstrings instead of your quads. If your heels lift, your feet are too far forward.
The hip thrust is first and foremost a glute exercise, but a few supporting muscles get involved on every rep.
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.
There are good reasons the hip thrust went from a niche idea to a gym mainstay.
Most hip thrust problems come down to setup and range. Fix these and the move suddenly feels far better.
Once the basic hip thrust feels solid, these versions keep it interesting and let you train it almost anywhere.
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.
The hip thrust is mainly a glute exercise, hitting the gluteus maximus harder than almost any other move because the resistance peaks when your hips are fully extended. It also works the hamstrings, the smaller glute muscles that stop your knees caving in, and your core and quads as stabilisers.
For pure glute building, the hip thrust has the edge because it loads the glutes at the top of the movement where they do the most work. The squat is still a brilliant all-round leg and glute exercise, so most people are best running both rather than picking one. They complement each other well across a week.
Start light, even just the bar or a single dumbbell, until your setup and form feel solid. Most people can load the hip thrust heavier than other glute moves once they are comfortable, so progress the weight gradually over a few weeks. Aim for sets of 8 to 15 reps where the last couple feel genuinely hard.
Yes. A dumbbell or kettlebell held across your hips works well, and a resistance band looped above your knees adds extra burn for the side glutes. You only really need a sturdy bench or sofa to rest your upper back against. Single-leg hip thrusts with no weight at all are also surprisingly tough.
The bar pressing on your hip bones is the most common complaint, and it is easily fixed. Use a thick barbell pad, a folded towel or a dedicated hip thrust cushion between the bar and your hips. Pads that are too thin are usually the culprit, so go thicker if it still digs in.
Two to three times a week is plenty for most people, with at least a day between sessions so the glutes can recover. You can train them more often than larger compound lifts because the lower back stays relatively fresh. Listen to your body and back off if you feel run down.
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