Barbell Hip Thrust

What it is. The barbell hip thrust is a hip-extension exercise. You sit on the floor with your shoulder blades against the edge of a bench, roll a padded barbell over your hips, plant your feet and push your hips up. At the top your knees are bent at about 90°, your shins are roughly vertical and your body is straight from knees to shoulders. It is a loaded, bench-supported version of the glute bridge (see Glute Bridge and Hip Thrust (Bodyweight)).

What it trains.

• Primary: gluteus maximus, upper and lower parts. The movement is almost all hip extension, and the glutes are under the most tension near the top, where the hip is fully extended.
• Secondary: the hamstrings and adductor magnus help extend the hip. The quadriceps work lightly to hold the bent knee. The erector spinae and rectus abdominis hold the ribs and pelvis in place so the lower back doesn't arch to fake the last part of the range.

What the activation studies show. Contreras et al. (2015) recorded surface EMG in 13 trained women doing estimated 10-rep-max sets of the back squat and the barbell hip thrust.

• Upper gluteus maximus: mean activity of 69.5% in the hip thrust vs 29.4% in the squat.
• Lower gluteus maximus: 86.8% vs 45.4%.
• Biceps femoris (a hamstring): 40.8% vs 14.9%.
• Vastus lateralis (a quadriceps muscle): no significant difference (99.5% vs 110%).

The values are percentages of each muscle's activity in a maximal test contraction. The authors said themselves that activation is not growth. Only a training study can show whether the higher glute EMG turns into more muscle.

What the training study shows. Plotkin et al. (2023) ran that test. Untrained college-aged adults were randomised to hip thrusts (18 people) or back squats (16 people) for 9 weeks, 15–17 sessions, with set volume matched. Sets rose from 3 to 6 over the programme, 8–12 reps per set, taken to failure. Muscle size was measured by MRI.

• Glute growth was similar. The estimates leaned slightly towards the hip thrust at the lower, middle and upper glutes, but the confidence intervals were wide and crossed zero.
• The squat grew the thighs more. Quadriceps and adductor growth favoured the squat group.
• Gluteus medius and minimus, and the hamstrings, barely grew in either group.
• Strength was specific. Each group gained most on its own lift: squat 3-rep max favoured the squat group by about 14 kg, and hip thrust 3-rep max favoured the hip thrust group by about 26 kg. Deadlift strength improved the same in both.
• The hip thrust produced higher glute EMG in the first session, but EMG did not consistently predict who grew most.

So the higher glute EMG did not turn into more glute growth. The hip thrust is a strong glute builder in its own right, useful when you want glute work with less thigh and knee demand than a squat, or as a second glute exercise next to one.

Technique cues (coaching standards, not trial results):

• Bench height: the bench edge sits just below your shoulder blades.
• Pad the bar and roll it into the crease of your hips. A bar pad or folded mat is enough.
• Feet: about hip width, flat, set so that your shins are close to vertical at the top. Coaches commonly find that feet set further forward bring the hamstrings in more, and feet closer in bring the quads in more.
• Brace first. Tuck your ribs down slightly and keep your chin tucked so your gaze follows your trunk.
• Drive through your heels and mid-foot until your hips are fully extended and your body is straight from knees to shoulders.
• Stop at straight. If your lower back arches or your ribs flare to get higher, you've gone past hip extension into back extension. That's the main fault to fix.
• Pause for a second at the top, then lower under control until your hips are a few centimetres off the floor.

Loading. ACSM 2026 found that strength improved most with heavier loads (at or above 80% of one-rep max), full range of motion, 2–3 sets and at least 2 sessions a week, and that muscle growth was greater with higher weekly volume (10 or more sets a week per muscle). Training to failure was not needed; finishing sets 2–3 reps short of failure is enough. Plotkin's groups grew muscle with 8–12 rep sets.

See it. Demo clips in the Fysiqal media library: Barbell Hip Thrust, Hip Thrust Machine, Glute Bridge, Single-Leg Glute Bridge.

• Anyone wanting more glute strength and size, especially alongside a squat or deadlift.
• Lifters who want hip-extension work with less knee bend and less spinal loading than a squat.
• Beginners, starting with the bodyweight glute bridge and moving to a loaded bar once the top position is controlled.

• Healthy joints only. The research here studied people without hip, knee or back pathology.
• Short and specific trials. Plotkin 2023 was 9 weeks in 34 untrained adults; Contreras 2015 measured one session in 13 trained women. Longer trials in trained lifters could find different results.
• Conflicts of interest are declared. Two of Plotkin's authors sell exercise products and services. The paper reports they helped design the study and partly funded it, but did not run it or analyse the data.
• An earlier trial was left out. Barbalho et al. (2020) reported that squats beat hip thrusts for glute growth in trained women. Its data have since been publicly questioned, so this lesson doesn't rely on it.
• The hip thrust grows the quadriceps and adductors less than the squat. Keep a squat or lunge pattern if those muscles matter to you.

Priya squats twice a week and wants more glute work without more knee strain.

1. Weeks 1–2: after squats on her second day, she adds hip thrusts with an empty 20 kg bar, 3 × 10, pausing 1 s at the top. She films one set from the side.
2. Check: at the top her ribs flare and her lower back arches. She tucks her chin and ribs and stops when her body is straight. That position is lower than she was reaching, but now her glutes, not her back, finish the rep.
3. Weeks 3–8: she uses double progression. When all 3 sets reach 12 clean reps, she adds 5–10 kg and drops back to 8 reps. By week 8 she's at 60 kg for 3 × 10.
4. Weekly volume: hip thrusts and squats each give her about 6 sets a week of glute work, so 12 in total. That's above the 10-sets-a-week mark ACSM links to more growth.

Next lesson: Bulgarian Split Squat. Train the glutes and quads one leg at a time.

• Primary: gluteus maximus. Secondary: hamstrings, adductor magnus, quadriceps (holding the bent knee), and the erector spinae and rectus abdominis (holding the trunk). Joint actions: hip extension.
• Peak glute tension is near the top, at full hip extension.
• Compared with the back squat at a 10-rep max: higher upper glute (69.5% vs 29.4%), lower glute (86.8% vs 45.4%) and biceps femoris (40.8% vs 14.9%) EMG; similar vastus lateralis EMG (Contreras 2015).
• 9 weeks of hip thrusts or squats grew the glutes about the same; squats grew the quadriceps and adductors more (Plotkin 2023).
• Strength gains were specific to the lift trained; deadlift gains were equal (Plotkin 2023).
• Fault to fix: arching the lower back at the top. Stop when your body is straight.