Hip Thrust for Bigger Glutes

by Bret Contreras04/21/14

If you want to transform your backside, your weapon of choice should be the hip thrust. The hip thrust might be intimidating or embarrassing at first, but professional athletes and physiquecompetitors are using it to strengthen their glutes and build their strength, speed, and power.

There are technically 1,728 different hip thrust variations, but stick mainly to barbell, band, and single-legvariations.

Your goal should be to do 10 hip thrusts with at least a 1.5 times bodyweight, with advanced lifters aiming fordouble bodyweight for 10 reps.

I've made a career out of transforming backsides. My weapon of choice is the hip thrust. While my routinesalways include a wide variety of glute exercises, including the squat, the focus is always centered on hip thrusts.In my experience, hip thrusts do the best job of building the glutes, they're easy to learn, and they're well toleratedby the vast majority of lifters. I even use relative 10RM hip-thrust strength (10RM hip thrust divided by yourbodyweight) as a way to gauge my client's glute building progress, in addition to the tape measure. Let's covervarious aspects of hip thrust performance and programming so you can start thrusting your way to a better buttand increased performance.

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1.You want to wedge yourself into position, get tight, and take in a deep breath before initiating the concentric(lifting) action.

2.The back hinges on the bench at the line that's just beneath your scapulae do not slide up and down thebench.

3.Set up with a medium to wide stance with your feet pointed straight ahead or slightly flared.4.Push through your heels and avoid rising up onto your toes.5.The bar rests just above your pubic bone and stays there throughout the duration of the set don't let the barroll forward or backward.

6.Make sure you reach full hip extension. If you can't lock out the hips, then you're going too heavy.7.Your shins should be fairly vertical when at the top of the movement and the knees should track over the toes do not allow the knees to cave.

8.Of utmost importance is lumbopelvic mechanics your ribcage is kept down during the set to prevent yourchest from arching, which ensures that your lumbar spine doesn't hyperextend and your pelvis doesn't anteriorlytilt (think stable, flattened torso with pure hip motion).

9.Use a smooth tempo and avoid flinging the weight upward.10.Lower the bar while keeping eccentric tension on the glutes. Reps can be brought all the way to the groundand reset, or reversed in mid-air without touching down.

11.Focus on using the glutes to push the hips straight upward. This focus is critical for building the glutes.12.Hold the last rep of each set isometrically at the top for 3-10 seconds. This will build good habits and ensurethat you're strengthening end-range hip extension.


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There are two right ways to hip thrust in terms of lumbopelvic-hip complex mechanics.

1.The first is to keep a neutral spine and raise the hips to full hip hyperextension.2.The second is to posteriorly tilt the pelvis using the glutes (which mimics hip hyperextension in the hipsocket).

Either way is fine, but those prone to experiencing lumbar extension-related pain will find the posterior pelvic tiltmethod more comfortable. Just make sure to avoid spinal hyperextension.

Spinal hyperextension and anterior pelvic tilt (wrong!)


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Hip hyperextension (good)

Posterior pelvic tilt (also good)

Since the hip thrust became popular, I've seen hundreds of variations on the internet. Despite the number of


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variations, there are six main ways to alter the movement:

1.Loading:You can use bodyweight, or add resistance through the use of kettlebells, dumbbells, sandbags,chains, bands, barbells, barbells plus chains, and barbells plus bands.

2.Rep styles:Pause reps, constant tension reps, rest-pause reps, clusters, speed reps, iso-holds, eccentric-accentuated, or 1.5 reps.

3.Limb number:Double leg, single leg, or alternating.

Pause at the top and you'll find that 8-12 reps is all you need for single leg hip thrusts.

4.Pelvic action:Stable neutral pelvis or posterior pelvic tilt action.5.Back position on the bench:Bench under the scapulae or bench at mid-back.6.Foot elevation:Feet on floor or feet elevated onto box.

With 9 loading options, 8 rep styles, 3 limb variations, 2 pelvic actions, 2 back positions, and 2 foot elevations,there are 1,728 different hip thrust variations, but in my own training and coaching, I pretty much stick to thesethree:

Barbell hip thrustsBand hip thrustsSingle leg hip thrusts

I use my Hip Thruster for all 3 variations, but you can do barbell hip thrusts and single leg hip thrusts off of abench or aerobics step with risers, and you can do band hip thrusts inside of a power rack.


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Band hip thrusts can be performed off of a Hip Thruster or in a power rack.

Frequency

Anywhere from 1-4 days per week is advisable. If you perform one hip thrust session per week, then pyramidyour sets and do more volume. If you perform hip thrusts four days per week, just do 2 sets on each day. Apopular option is to perform one heavy, low-rep barbell session per week, one medium-rep single-leg session perweek, and one high-rep barbell or band session per week. For a couple of years, I did 3 sets of 5 reps of barbellhip thrusts one day per week and 2 sets of 8 reps another day. A final option is to perform a heavy/light/mediumschedule where you go heavy on Monday (3 sets of 5), light on Wednesday (2 sets of 20), and medium on Friday(3 sets of 8).

Sets and Reps

There are dozens of excellent set and rep schemes for hip thrusts. I've employed each of these in my training andcoaching:

3 sets of 51 set of 5, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 11 set of 8, 1 set of 5, 1 set of 33 sets of 81 set of 10, one set of 8, one set of 6, one set of 15-204 sets of 102 sets of 20-301 set of 503 sets for max reps with the same load (e.g., monster band for 26 reps, then 20, then 17);50 total reps with a certain load, taking as many sets as needed (e.g., 225 pounds for 15 reps, then 12, then 9, then7, then 5, and then 2).


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In general, I like any rep range for barbell hip thrusts (1-5, 6-12, 13-20 reps), whereas I like medium-pause repsfor single-leg hip thrusts (8-12 reps with a 1 second pause at the top), and high reps for band hip thrusts (15-30reps). The rest time in between sets can be anywhere from 1-5 minutes.

Bench Height

The ideal bench height is approximately 16 inches for most men and around 14 inches for most women. Benchesat commercial gyms are usually higher, though, so it's often beneficial to set up with aerobics steps and 5-6 risersinstead of using the bench.

A few inches in height can make a big difference with hip thrusts.

Bar Padding

When you first start out, you won't be using much weight. As you gain strength, the pain caused by the barpushing down onto the pelvis can become intolerable. In fact, it can even shut down glute activation and preventyou from achieving an optimal workout! Therefore, you really need to invest in a good bar pad. There are anumber of options, but don't underestimate the importance of padding. Many lifters are amazed at how muchstronger they are and how much harder their glutes fire when they finally purchase a good bar pad.


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There are several good options for thick padding.

Bar Elevation

Lifters with muscular thighs or those using really thick bar padding will find that the bar doesn't fit over theirthighs. A simple solution is to roll the bar up onto mats or plates stacked on both sides of the lifter. This createsthe extra space needed, which makes your hip thrusting much more functional.


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Roll the bar up onto mats or bumper plates to give you extra legroom.

Strength Benchmarks

Over time you want to aim for doing 10 hip thrusts with at least a 1.5 times bodyweight, with advanced liftersaiming for double bodyweight for 10 reps. However, you shouldn't chase progressive overload to the point whereyou stop feeling the movement primarily in the glutes. When you hip thrust, you want to achieve a deep burn inthe glutes and walk around with a glute pump in between sets. This requires a solid mind-muscle connection,which is just as important as the weight you use.

The hip thrust might be intimidating or embarrassing at first. After all, the movement mimics a humping motion.However, celebrities as well as professional athletes in bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman,NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, UFC, track and field, rugby, wrestling, figure, and bikini are all using the hip thrust tostrengthen their glutes and build their strength, speed, and power. If they can do it, so can you. Start hip thrustingtoday, your glutes will love you for it.


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Hip Thrust for Bigger Glutes