Barbell Hip Thrust
The barbell hip thrust is a loaded bridge: with your upper back on a bench and a barbell across your hips, you drive your hips up until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. It trains the glutes through hip extension, with the hamstrings and quads helping, and it loads them hardest at the top, where squats and deadlifts get easier.
How to do the barbell hip thrust
Sit on the floor with the lower edge of your shoulder blades against a bench and roll a padded barbell over your legs into the crease of your hips.
Plant your feet about hip-width apart, close enough that your shins will be vertical at the top.
Hold the bar in place with both hands, tuck your chin slightly and brace your trunk.
Drive through your heels and push your hips up until your shoulders, hips and knees form a straight line.
Squeeze your glutes hard at the top without arching your lower back.
Lower your hips under control until they hover just above the floor, then drive up again.
Bench height and back position
Use a flat bench that stands steady; push it against a wall or a rack so it cannot slide. The edge of the bench should sit just below your shoulder blades, so it acts as a hinge point for your upper back. At the top your upper back pivots on the bench while your shoulders stay in place; your head and chin move with your torso.
Bar and foot position
Roll the bar over your thighs until it rests in the crease of your hips, with a pad between bar and body. Plant your feet about hip-width apart, toes pointing forward or turned out a little. The cue that fits most people: at the top, your shins should be vertical. Push through the heels and the middle of the foot; if your toes want to lift, your feet are probably too close.
Bracing, breathing and the top position
Take a breath, brace your trunk and hold the bar with both hands so it stays put. Drive your hips up and finish with your glutes, not your lower back: think of tucking your tailbone slightly as you reach the top. Hold the lockout for a moment, then breathe out and lower under control. Keeping your chin tucked and your eyes looking forward over your knees, not at the ceiling, helps you avoid arching at the top.
Range and tempo
Lower until your hips hover just above the floor, then press up with intent. Every rep should end in the same straight line from shoulders to knees. Comparable reps tell you when to add weight, and full lockouts are where this lift does its best work.
Muscles worked by the barbell hip thrust
- Primary
- Glutes
- Secondary
- Hamstrings
- Quads
The glutes do most of the work: they extend the hips and work hardest near lockout, the position where the hip thrust is hardest. The hamstrings help extend the hip, and the quads hold the knee angle. In an EMG study with trained women, the barbell hip thrust produced about twice the mean glute activity of the back squat and also more hamstring activity, while thigh-front activity was similar. Another study found the highest activity of all four measured muscles at the top of the hip thrust.
Common hip thrust mistakes
Arching the lower back at the top
Pushing the ribs up to finish the rep moves the motion into the spine instead of the hips. Keep your chin tucked and your ribs down, and stop when your hips are straight.
Feet too far away or too close
Feet far away straighten your knees and make the lift feel like a hamstring exercise; feet too close push your knees far forward. Set them so your shins are vertical at the top.
Stopping short of full hip extension
The top is where the glutes work hardest, so a half lockout skips the best part. Finish every rep with a straight line from shoulders to knees.
Sliding on the bench
If your back slides up the bench, the movement changes from rep to rep. Brace the bench against a wall or rack and keep the contact point just below your shoulder blades.
Bouncing off the floor
Letting the plates tap the floor and rebound takes tension off the glutes. Lower under control and start the next rep from just above the floor.
How Muscla coaches the hip thrust
- Muscla treats the hip thrust as a compound lift: end each set with about two reps in reserve, three if you are new to training.
- Rest about 2 minutes between sets for strength and 90 seconds for muscle and every other goal.
- Once every set reaches the top of your rep range, add one step, at least the smallest jump your plates allow. After three sessions without progress, Muscla lowers the weight by 10% and builds back up.
- After your last set, Muscla asks “How heavy was that?”: Light adds weight, Good progresses as planned, Heavy keeps the weight and At the limit holds it or drops one step.
- When you train with body weight only, Muscla moves you up a ladder instead: glute bridge, hip thrust on a bench, marching hip thrust, then single-leg.
Barbell hip thrust sets, reps and rest
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8–12 | 2 min |
| Muscle | 6–10 → 8–12 | 90 s |
| Lose fat | 6–12 | 90 s |
| Fit | 8–12 | 90 s |
| Comeback | 8–12 | 90 s |
An arrow marks the range for the next 4-week block.
The hip thrust counts as a compound lift in the Muscla training logic, so it uses the ranges for compound lifts that are not heavy ones. It follows your squat or hinge in the session as an extra lift for the glutes. Every 4 weeks a new block moves the range; after every third block comes a deload week at 90% of the weight with one set fewer.
Estimate your hip thrust one-rep max
Filled in with example values. Replace them with yours.
Estimated 1RM
Brzycki 112.5 · Lombardi 117.5
Epley: 100 × (1 + 5 ÷ 30) = 116.7 kg
Load 117.5 kg on the bar →| Reps | Weight | % of 1RM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 117.5 kg | 100 % |
| 2 | 110 kg | 94 % |
| 3 | 105 kg | 91 % |
| 4 | 102.5 kg | 88 % |
| 5 | 100 kg | 86 % |
| 6 | 97.5 kg | 83 % |
| 7 | 95 kg | 81 % |
| 8 | 92.5 kg | 79 % |
| 9 | 90 kg | 77 % |
| 10 | 87.5 kg | 75 % |
| 11 | 85 kg | 73 % |
| 12 | 82.5 kg | 71 % |
Barbell hip thrust alternatives
- Barbell Glute Bridge
- Hip thrust
- Low glute bridge on floor
- Glute bridge march
- Barbell Squat
- Barbell Deadlift
- Kettlebell Swing
- Dumbbell Lunge
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift
- Jump Squat
Hip thrust questions
Is the hip thrust better than squats for the glutes?
Not clearly. In untrained adults, hip thrust and squat training built similar glute muscle in nine weeks, while the squat also grew the quads and adductors more. Both are good choices, and they combine well.
Does the hip thrust work the hamstrings?
They help, and the hip thrust showed more hamstring activity than the squat. In the nine-week training study, though, the hamstrings grew little in either group, so add a leg curl or a Romanian deadlift for the back of your legs.
How do I make the bar comfortable on my hips?
Use a thick bar pad or a folded mat, and roll the bar into the crease of your hips rather than onto the hip bones. Bigger plates also help, because they let you roll under the bar more easily.
How much should a beginner hip thrust?
Muscla's first suggestion for a man new to training is about 0.6 times body weight, rounded down to your plates: 47.5 kg at 80 kg. For a woman new to training at 65 kg it is 32.5 kg. If your first set gives you clearly more reps than planned, the app raises the weight for the rest.
Hip thrust or glute bridge?
The glute bridge starts with your back on the floor, so the range is shorter; the bench in the hip thrust lets your hips travel further. In Muscla's bodyweight ladder, the bridge comes first and the bench hip thrust is the next step.
Train it with Muscla
Muscla plans your sets, reps and rest, and sets the next weight after every session.
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Sources
- Contreras B, Vigotsky AD, Schoenfeld BJ, Beardsley C, Cronin J. A comparison of gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, and vastus lateralis electromyographic activity in the back squat and barbell hip thrust exercises. J Appl Biomech. 2015;31(6):452-458. PubMed
- Plotkin DL, Rodas MA, Vigotsky AD, et al. Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift. Front Physiol. 2023;14:1279170. PubMed
- McCurdy K, Walker J, Kelly C, Polinski M. Hip and knee extensor activation during the hip thrust and rear-foot-elevated split squat in trained females. J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(5):1201-1207. PubMed