Barbell Hip Thrust
A bench supported bridge with a barbell across the hips, driven to full hip extension by the glutes.
How to do it
- Sit on the floor with your upper back against the long edge of a bench.
- Roll a padded barbell over your legs into the crease of your hips.
- Set your feet flat at about shoulder width with the shins vertical at the top.
- Brace your abdominals and tuck your ribs down toward your hips.
- Drive both feet into the floor and extend the hips until the torso is parallel with the floor.
- Lower the bar under control back toward the floor and repeat.
Key technique cue
Shins vertical at the top, ribs down; finish with the glutes, not the lower back.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Arching the lower back at lockout instead of finishing with the glutes, which loads the lumbar spine.
- ✕ Letting the hips drop or rotate on the way up, so one side does more of the work.
- ✕ Setting the feet too far forward, which shifts the drive onto the hamstrings.
- ✕ Cutting the range short at the top, which skips the peak glute contraction the lift exists for.
Benefits
- ✓ Keeps the glutes under tension across the entire range of motion.
- ✓ Loads hip extension without compressing the spine under a bar.
- ✓ Applies force horizontally, which matches the hip demand of sprinting.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Barbell Hip Thrust
- Kettlebell Hip Thrust
- Machine Hip Thrust
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Step 2 -
Step 3
About the exercise
The barbell hip thrust loads hip extension horizontally instead of vertically. You sit with your upper back against a bench, roll a padded barbell into the hip crease, then press the hips up until the torso is parallel with the floor. Because the load sits on the hips rather than the spine, the glutes stay under tension across the whole range. The hamstrings assist and the abdominals hold a posterior pelvic tilt at lockout.
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