Barbell Hip ThrustMuscles Worked
The barbell hip thrust works your glutes hardest right at lockout, with your hamstrings assisting and your calves helping to steady your feet. Resting your upper back on a bench gives your hips a longer range than a floor bridge, and the bar lets you load it heavily.
PrimaryGlutes
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
- Type
- Compound
- Force
- Push
How to do it
- Sit on the floor with your upper back against the long edge of a bench and roll a padded bar into the crease of your hips.
- Plant your feet about hip width apart, close enough that your shins will be vertical at the top.
- Brace your core, tuck your chin slightly and drive through your heels to lift your hips until your torso and thighs form a straight line.
- Squeeze your glutes hard at the top without arching your lower back, keeping your ribs down.
- Lower your hips under control until they're just above the floor, then drive up for the next rep.
Form tips
- Keep your gaze forward and your chin tucked as you rise so your ribs and hips move together and you finish with your glutes, not your lower back.
- If you feel it mostly in your hamstrings, bring your feet a little closer; if you feel it mostly in your quads, move them farther out.
- Hold the bar with both hands so it stays centered over your hips on every rep.
Why it made the list
No. 1 of 12
Best Glute Exercises
Highest glute EMG activation of any exercise (Contreras et al.). Has become a mainstream gym staple over the last decade. The most researched glute-specific movement.
More glute exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Barbell Hip Thrust sets in KasMaker and watch your glutes, calves, and hamstrings fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
