Hip thrusts are for everyone, especially military professionals. If you have weak glutes, you suck at hiking. 5 reasons to hip thrust:
- To increase butt hypertrophy #assgains
- To improve deadlift lockout strength
- As a squat warm-up to get rid of hip pain
- Improved athleticism AKA hiking ability
- Increase sprint speed and explosiveness
Moral of the story: Don’t skip these just because you don’t want to be seen humping the air in the gym.
Hip Thrust 101
Hip Thrust — Setup
1. Find your comfortable position
- Find a bench that’s the right height. If you’re sitting on the ground with your back straight against the bench, you should be able to place the bottom of your scaps just above the bench.
- You can stack aerobics steps, use a free weight bench, use a stationary bench, or if none of these are the perfect height, you can sit on a step or weight to get you to the right height.
- Your second option is to use your arms to help you get into position once you have the weight on your hips. With this option, your glutes won’t touch the ground on the bottom of each rep, because you shimmied your way up the bench
- Pad the barbell with whatever your gym has. A squat pad, yoga mat, airex pad, foam roller with a hole in it, or a hip thrust specific pad will work.
- Pain is a detriment to muscle recruitment. If there is a searing pain, you will unconsciously be weaker due to neurological preprogramming. Don’t be tough, get more padding.
- Place the barbell at the most comfortable position for you near the hip-crease.
2. Look straight ahead
- Look yourself in the eye in the mirror or straight ahead at the wall. Don’t break eye contact.
- Looking forward will prevent you from extending your low back. Low back extension is not a hip thrust and is wrong. It also prevents you from making eye contact with other humans…which may be perceived as harassment with this movement.
Hip Thrust — Execution
1. Vertical movement
Press into the heels and drive the hips up vertically while squeezing the glutes.
- Full range of movement ends when you are in posterior pelvic tilt and your glutes are fully engaged.
- If you think of your pelvis as a bowl, posterior pelvic tilt is when the front rim of the bowl is higher than the back rim (the bowl’s contents would spill out the back).
- If you aren’t squeezing your glutes as hard as possible you’re wrong.
- STAY OUT OF YOUR BACK. The hip thrust is all about extending your hips and engaging your glutes. The lift should not continue into the spine, causing a backbend.
- Drive through your heels. That’s where you will find maximum glute recruitment.
- You can keep your feet flat on the ground or lift your toes.
- If breathing correctly, there should be little concern for any back issues with this exercise. The breathing cadence is simply good practice and allows you to keep the entire core engaged isometrically which is exactly how you should be used to contracting whenever you are moving something heavy. Just like with the other main lifts:
- Inhale and brace with your core
- Conduct a repetition
- Exhale at the bottom
Hip Thrust — Coaching Cues
- Look forward
- Stay out of the back
- Drive through the heels
- Pivot on the mid-back
- Don’t push horizontally on the bench
- Keep core engaged
- Keep ribs down
Hip Thrust — Adjustments
Hip pain is inevitable if you don’t pad the weight. Don’t be a tough guy. Pad it up.
Neck pain is possible if you are leading the movement with your head. Keep your eyes facing forward and this won’t happen.
Knee pain is a result of trying to drive horizontally through the toes. Lift the toes and drive through the heels. Remember the hips are moving vertically, pivot on your back and use all of your force to drive your hips up by squeezing the glutes.
Caveat: This exercise guidance should never usurp the advice of your medical professional. If there is a question in your mind as to the suitability of this exercise for you confer with your doctor. WATM is not liable if you do something ill-advised after reading any of our fitness content.
Hip Thrust — Further Resources
