The barbell hip thrust is an exercise that trains your lower back, your glutes and your hip flexors. It’s a powerful movement but one that you don’t performed all that often. Why not? Because a lot of people don’t know it exists!
Let’s put a change to that then…
What is the Barbell Hip Thrust?
The best way to explain how to perform a barbell hip thrust is to begin with a description of the basic hip thrust… Here then is how you go about performing that movement:
To start with, you’re going to sit in front of a bench on the floor with your lower back leaning against it. Place your feet flat on the floor and then prop yourself up so that your head is resting on the bench along with the very top of your shoulders and your back is parallel to the floor. To get into that position, you will need to have your knees bent. Don’t push yourself too far back or your head will be hanging off.
Now squeeze your glutes and lower your buttocks towards the floor. Then, push your hips upwards again as though you’re thrusting into the air above you. Perform this for several repetitions and you’ve got your basic hip thrust. If this is your first time doing these, it’s worth getting familiar with the movement first before you add the weight. You should really feel this working the glutes.
To add the barbell though, you’re going to sit flat on the floor with your legs out straight. Then roll the barbell up over your legs to your waist, or just rest it on your legs. It may be helpful to place a cushion or a yoga mat on your leg to prevent it from hurting.
Now get your knees in position with your feet flat on the floor and pump up just as you normally wood. Ensure your back is getting enough support on the bench and then perform more reps. You should really feel the glutes working now. If not, then lower the weight and try to fix your technique.
Why This is Great
So what makes this movement so powerful?
Well for women, this is one of the best exercises for the glutes and is sure to give you curvaceous buttocks.
If you’re a guy and don’t find that quite as appealing though, you should still make sure you add this to your repertoire. The reason is that the glutes are actually one of the largest muscle groups in the human body and can stimulate some serious hypertrophy. And as mentioned, it’s great for the lower back too, not to mention the hip flexors, the quads and more.
In other words, this is a powerful compound movement for your lower body that involves a lot of the muscle as a squat or deadlift. If you want to improve your lifts on those key staples, then this is a fantastic exercise for doing just that!
