Exercise:

Barbell Hip Thrust

Target Muscle:

Glutes

Flat Bench, Barbell

Sit on the floor perpendicular against a flat bench and roll a loaded barbell into the crease of your hips. Position your feet about shoulder width apart or slightly wider, with your toes pointing slightly outward.

Use your elbows to press your hips up and move the bar off the ground. Grab the bar using an overhand grip just outside of your hips and wedge your
mid-back into the bench.

With a neutral head position, chest and ribcage flat (not puffed out) and lower back neutral (rather than arched), press through your heels and drive yourself up until your hips are fully extended and your torso is parallel to ground.

Once you reach the top of the movement, pause briefly and consciously contract your glutes with force. Lower yourself back down under control, and repeat.

- If you aren’t strong enough to perform hip thrusts with a 45 pound plate on each side, there likely won’t be enough space for you to roll the bar into your hips. In that case, you can either use a training partner to help you place the bar there, or you can lift the bar up off the ground and get into a seated position on the bench, lowering yourself down from there.

- The specific distance that you place your feet away from the bench will depend on your individual body structure, and your goal should be to find whatever distance causes your shins to be either vertical or just slightly angled backward once you reach full hip extension at the top of the movement.

- If you’re just starting out with this exercise then you’ll likely find it quite uncomfortable to have the bar directly pressing against your hips, in which case you’ll want to place a pad or towel around the bar. However, you’ll likely find that after several weeks of consistent hip thrusting the discomfort will subside as your body gets used to it.

- You can either go all the way down until the plates touch the floor, or stop mid-air before performing your next rep. This will vary from person to person and you’ll need to test out which approach feels best for you.

- If this is a new exercise for you, always start off very light and gradually work your way up. If you don’t feel a strong contraction in your glutes or if you aren’t able to rise up into full hip extension, then the weight is either too heavy for you or you aren’t using proper technique.