Training guide
A hip thrust is a glute bridge with your upper back on a bench and a padded bar across your hips: drive through your heels until your shoulders, hips and knees line up, pause with your ribs down, and lower under control. The glute bridge is the same movement from the floor, and the place to start.
The evidence is calmer than the gym talk. The hip thrust draws more glute activity than a squat, but in a 9-week trial the two grew the glutes about equally, and squats grew the thighs more. Across 20 trials, hip thrust training had at best a small, borderline effect on sprint times.
This guide covers the set-up (bench height, the pad, foot position), the lockout and your lower back, the ladder from the floor bridge to the barbell, and how to programme it, with a 3D demo of every step. It also covers who should change the lift, including in pregnancy, and the warning signs.
Sit with your upper back against a bench pushed against a wall, the edge just below your shoulder blades, and roll a padded bar into the crease of your hips. Load the bar with your hips on the floor, and put your feet flat about hip-width apart, knees bent.
Source 1
Drive through your heels until your shoulders, hips and knees line up, with your knees at about a right angle. Pause for a second with your ribs down and chin tucked, then lower under control. Finish with your glutes, not by arching your lower back.
Source 2
It's the same movement from the floor, and the American Council on Exercise (ACE) rates it a beginner exercise. It isn't only for beginners: with a barbell, the floor bridge drew more glute activity than the hip thrust in one small study.
In a 9-week trial that measured the glutes with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, hip thrusts and squats grew them about equally, and squats also grew the front and inner thighs. The hip thrust's higher muscle activity didn't turn into more growth.
Source 4
Across 20 trials, hip thrust training built hip thrust strength but had at best a small, borderline effect on sprint times and none on jumping, on low-certainty evidence.
Source 5
Finish each rep with your glutes rather than by arching your lower back (our editorial advice). One modelling study of 11 sprinters found the load on the lower-back muscles in the hip thrust was about as high as in a deadlift, with the trunk far less bent.
Source 6
The hip thrust is a glute bridge with your upper back raised on a bench and a weight across your hips, which lets your hips drop lower and take more load. ACE rates the floor glute bridge a beginner exercise and the barbell hip bridge intermediate.
Mainly the gluteus maximus, the big muscle of your buttock, with the hamstrings and the front of the thighs helping. Across 16 studies, many loaded exercises drew very high glute activity: step-ups the highest, then deadlifts, hip thrusts, lunges and split squats. In the 9-week trial, neither hip thrusts nor squats grew the smaller glutes at the side of the hip much.
In 19 trained men, the hip did most of the work in the hip thrust, and the load on the hip muscles fell as the hips rose rather than staying the same. So the bottom half of each rep counts: don't cut it short (our editorial point).
Source 9
Stable, and pushed against a wall so it can't slide, as our glute gym workout advises. About knee height or a little lower suits most people (our editorial guide); a lab study used a 36 cm box, and most gym benches work.
Source 6
Sit on the floor with the edge of the bench just below your shoulder blades. Too high and your neck takes the strain; too low and you slide off the bench as you rise (our editorial guide).
Roll a padded bar over your thighs to the crease of your hips, not onto your hip bones: ACE notes that a bar across the hips can be uncomfortable. A thick pad or folded mat helps. Load and unload the bar with your hips on the floor, and use collars.
Source 1
Flat, about hip-width apart, toes straight or turned out a little, and placed so your shins are about vertical and your knees at about a right angle at the top (our editorial starting point). In a study of 7 trainers, changing the foot position and how they pushed changed which leg muscles worked. Coaches move the feet closer for more front-thigh work and further away for more hamstring.
Source 10
They steady the bar; they don't lift it.
From our move page and the glute gym workout: the bench against a wall, a pad and collars, loading the bar with your hips on the floor, and a second's pause with your ribs down. The foot position, the eyes and breathing out as you rise are editorial.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Barbell hip thrust
From ACE's glute bridge and our move page. With a barbell across your hips it's the barbell glute bridge, which ACE rates intermediate.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Glute bridge
In 13 trained women lifting loads they could manage 10 times, the barbell hip thrust drew roughly twice the upper and lower glute activity of the back squat, and more activity from the outer hamstring, while front-thigh activity was similar.
Source 11
In a 9-week trial, the hip thrust's higher glute activity didn't produce more glute growth than squats. Muscle activity readings taken during an exercise aren't a validated guide to how much muscle it builds.
In 34 untrained adults training twice a week for 9 weeks (3 to 6 sets of 8 to 12), hip thrusts and back squats grew the glutes by similar amounts on MRI scans. Squats also grew the front and inner thighs more; neither did much for the hamstrings or the smaller glutes at the side of the hip.
Source 4
The hip thrust group added 63% to their hip thrust and 17% to their squat; the squat group added 44% to their squat and 34% to their hip thrust (3-rep maximums). Both added about 15% to the deadlift.
Source 4
Across 20 trials, hip thrust training improved hip thrust strength but not squat strength or jumping, slightly improved changes of direction, and had a borderline effect on sprint times, all on low-certainty evidence.
Single trials disagree: possibly faster short sprints than front squats in adolescent boys, no change in college athletes, and faster short sprints than squats in adolescent female footballers. An earlier review counted two training studies with sprint gains and two without.
In 10 men lifting a barbell, the floor glute bridge drew more upper and lower glute activity than the hip thrust, and the hip thrust drew more front-thigh activity. In another study of 20 men, glute activity rose from the floor bridge to a feet-raised bridge to the hip thrust. Small studies that disagree: treat the two as equals with different set-ups.
One modelling study of 11 sprinters, lifting loads they could manage 6 times, found the load on the lower-back muscles in the hip thrust was close to the deadlift's and about a quarter above the squat's, with the trunk bent forward only 18 degrees against 45 in the deadlift. The load at the knee was well under half the squat's. It's one small study of sprinters, so it may not apply to everyone.
Source 6
The best comparison with squats is one 9-week MRI trial in untrained adults, so results in trained lifters may differ. We found no study of bench height or of the single-leg or dumbbell hip thrust, and none that counted injuries. Most other studies measured muscle activity in a dozen or so people.
Source 4
The bench lets your hips drop lower, so the hip thrust has more range and takes more load (our editorial view). Small studies disagree on which works the glutes harder, so treat them as equals with different set-ups, not as beginner and advanced.
At home, without a bench, when a heavy hip thrust set-up is awkward, or when a sore lower back prefers the shorter range (our editorial view).
When you want to load heavier through a longer range, as our glute gym workout and glute workout plan do.
Rest your upper back on a sturdy sofa or a bench pushed against a wall, and hold a dumbbell or a loaded backpack in the crease of your hips. Or use glute bridges and single-leg bridges on the floor, as our glute workout at home does. Make sure whatever you lean on can't slide.
In the 9-week MRI trial the two grew the glutes about equally, and the squat also grew the thighs. Our glute workout plan uses both, with a deadlift and side-hip work.
Source 4
Put the one that matters more to you first in the session, while you're fresh (our editorial view). Strength gains were specific to the lift each group trained.
Source 4
One modelling study of 11 sprinters found the load at the knee in the hip thrust was well under half the squat's (66 against 155 newton-metres). Our glute workout plan says: with knee pain, favour hip thrusts and deadlifts and shorten the squat range.
Source 6
Past a straight line from shoulders to knees, extra height comes from arching your lower back, not from your hips, and ACE warns against pushing the hips so high that the back arches. Keep your ribs down, tuck your chin and squeeze your glutes at the top; a small tuck of the tailbone helps (our editorial cue).
Source 2
The bar doesn't press down through your spine, but one modelling study of 11 sprinters found the load on the lower-back muscles was about as high as in a deadlift. If your lower back takes over, lighten the load and shorten the range.
Source 6
With back pain, our glute workout plan suggests light hip thrusts and back extensions. Keep your ribs down and use a shorter range if arching hurts. Pain that travels down a leg needs checking.
8 to 10 slow reps, peeling your back off the floor and back down, as in our back pain plans. Move on when you can go up and down without arching.
3 sets of 10 to 15 with a 1 or 2 second pause at the top (our editorial starting point). Move on at 3 sets of 15 smooth reps.
Source 2
2 sets of 5 to 10 on each side, the move page's dose. Move on when your pelvis stays level.
3 sets of 8 to 12 on each side with a 2-second hold, the move page's dose. Move on at 3 sets of 12 with a level pelvis.
A barbell or dumbbell on your hips, 3 sets of 8 to 12. ACE rates the barbell bridge intermediate. Move on when a moderate load feels easy.
Source 7
3 sets of 6 to 10, resting 2 to 3 minutes, as in our glute gym workout. In your first two weeks, do 2 sets and stop with 3 or 4 reps to spare, as our glute workout plan does. Add the smallest weight step when every set reaches the top of the range.
Some put beginners straight onto a light hip thrust; others insist on weeks of bridges. Both work. Our exercise pages rate the hip thrust harder for its set-up and range, not because it works the glutes harder: the floor bridge drew more glute activity in one study.
Source 3
In untrained adults, 9 weeks of twice-weekly hip thrusts added 63% to their hip thrust and grew the glutes measurably on MRI. Strength comes first and muscle size takes longer, so track your weights and reps rather than the mirror, as our glute workout plan advises.
Source 4
Our glute workout plan trains the glutes on two days a week. In a 2026 overview of 137 reviews by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), muscle growth went with 10 or more sets a week for a muscle, and squats, lunges and deadlifts count towards your glutes too.
Source 18
3 sets of 6 to 10, as in our glute gym workout; the 9-week trial used 3 to 6 sets of 8 to 12. Bodyweight and single-leg bridges suit sets of 8 to 15.
Source 4
Stop 1 to 3 reps short of failure, that is 1 to 3 RIR (reps in reserve: how many more you could have done). Our glute workout plan lets hip thrusts go closer to failure than squats and deadlifts, which stay at 2 to 3 RIR; a missed hip thrust just lowers your hips to the floor (our editorial reasoning). Training to failure isn't needed for growth, and people misjudge their reps in reserve by about one.
2 to 3 minutes for heavy sets, as in our glute gym workout. In 21 trained men, 3-minute rests built more strength and muscle than 1-minute rests.
Source 21
Double progression: when every set reaches the top of the rep range, add the smallest weight step, as our glute workout plan does.
It adds back bend, not hip extension. Keep your ribs down and your chin tucked, and pause when your shoulders, hips and knees line up.
Source 2
Foot position changes which leg muscles work. Aim for shins about vertical and knees at about a right angle at the top.
Source 10
The bar presses on your hip bones. Use a pad or a folded mat, with the bar in the crease of your hips.
Source 1
You can tip backwards. Push the bench against a wall.
Your neck takes the strain and your back slides. Put the edge just below your shoulder blades.
The hip muscles work hardest low in the lift. Lower until your hips are close to the floor.
Source 9
Load and unload it with your hips on the floor, and roll it into place.
Keep your knees in line with your feet.
Higher glute activity didn't mean more growth. Add reps, then weight, as for any lift.
Heavy lifts with a held breath drive blood pressure up sharply. Breathe out as you lift, especially with high blood pressure.
Source 22
Stop if it pinches at the front of the hip, as our move page advises. Try a shorter range, a different foot position or the floor bridge, and see our hip impingement guide.
Our hip bursitis guide uses glute bridges, the staggered-stance bridge and single-leg bridges, aiming for no increase in outer hip pain during them. Keep your pelvis level and your knees apart (our editorial cue).
Often a good choice. One modelling study of 11 sprinters found the knee load in the hip thrust was well under half the squat's, and our glute workout plan says to favour hip thrusts and deadlifts with knee pain.
Source 6
Light hip thrusts and back extensions, as our glute workout plan suggests, with your ribs down and a shorter range if arching hurts.
After the first trimester, keep time flat on your back to a few minutes and use a propped-up or side-lying bridge, as our glute workout plan advises, and see our pregnancy guide; breathe out as you lift. With pelvic girdle pain, limit one-sided loading, such as single-leg bridges, for now, as our sacroiliac (SI) joint pain guide advises.
If it's controlled, low- to moderate-intensity strength training is safe with proper breathing. Breathe out as you lift, use weights you could lift 10 to 15 times, and leave maximal lifts until you've had advice.
Source 23
Work up in order, moving on at the targets in the progression above.
3D demoPelvic tilt into bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoGlute bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStaggered-stance bridge (offset bridge)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg glute bridgeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoBarbell glute bridgeIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoBarbell hip thrustIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or boxOther ways to train the same muscles at home or in the gym: a band or ball bridge, the feet-on-wall bridge from Pilates and the kneeling kickback.
Neither hip thrusts nor squats grew the smaller glutes at the side of the hip much in the 9-week trial, so add one of these each week.
The glute gym workout teaches the hip thrust set-up; the glute workout at home walks the bridges.
A 50-minute gym glute workout: hip thrusts, deep squats, Bulgarian split squats, back extensions and hip abduction, with sets, reps and rest.
50 minIntermediate11 movesA band, A barbellA 25-minute glute workout with bodyweight and a mini band: bridges, clamshells, band walks, kickbacks and lunges.
25 minBeginner9 movesA wall, A bandA gym lower body workout for legs and glutes: trap bar deadlifts, hip thrusts, reverse lunges, leg curls, hip abduction, calf raises and core.
50 minIntermediate13 movesOther / check instructions, A barbellLearn to squat, hinge and lunge: a 25-minute beginner lower body workout with bridges, clamshells and calf raises.
25 minBeginner11 movesA wall, A bench or boxA lower body workout at home: split squats, slider hamstring curls, single-leg bridges, step-ups, band walks and calf raises, with dumbbell options.
30 minIntermediate12 movesA wall, A stepDumbbell leg workout B: Bulgarian split squats, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, slider curls, single-leg bridges, calf raises and suitcase carries.
45 minIntermediate12 movesA bench or box, A dumbbellHome dumbbell workout B: reverse lunges, push-ups, bent-over rows, single-leg glute bridges, lateral raises and side planks.
35 minIntermediate11 movesA wall, A dumbbellTwo glute days a week, with two learning weeks first.
For severe hip pain after a fall or injury, if you can't walk or put weight on your leg, or for tingling or loss of feeling in your hip or leg after an injury. In the US, call 911.
Source 24
For severe hip pain that started suddenly without a fall or injury, a swollen hip that feels hot, a change in the colour of the skin around your hip, or hip pain with feeling unwell and a high temperature. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
Source 24
If hip pain stops your normal activities or affects your sleep, is getting worse or keeps coming back, hasn't improved after 2 weeks of self-care, or comes with stiffness for more than 30 minutes after waking.
Source 24
Back pain with numbness, weakness or changes in your bladder or bowels needs urgent help: see the warning signs in our back pain guide.
For chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting, or a racing or irregular heartbeat during exercise, as our plans advise.
In a 9-week MRI trial they grew the glutes about equally, and squats grew the thighs more. Do both.
Source 4
The hip thrust's higher muscle activity didn't predict more growth, and muscle activity readings aren't a validated guide to growth.
Across 20 trials the sprint effect was borderline at best, on low-certainty evidence, and single trials disagree. Sprint training trains sprinting.
The bar doesn't press down through your spine, but one modelling study of 11 sprinters found the load on the lower-back muscles was about as high as in a deadlift, with far less forward bend.
Source 6
With a barbell, the floor bridge drew more glute activity than the hip thrust in one small study.
Source 3
Past a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, the extra height comes from arching your lower back, not from your hips.
Source 2
It's the same movement: in the glute bridge your shoulders rest on the floor, in the hip thrust on a bench, which gives your hips more room to drop and lets you load more. With a barbell, the floor bridge drew more glute activity than the hip thrust in one small study, so both are good glute exercises.
Do both. In a 9-week MRI trial they grew the glutes about equally, and squats also grew the front and inner thighs. Strength gains were specific to the lift each group trained, so pick by what you want to get better at.
Flat, about hip-width apart, and far enough from your hips that your shins are about vertical and your knees at about a right angle at the top. Moving your feet closer brings in more front-thigh work and further away more hamstring.
About knee height or a little lower, with the edge just below your shoulder blades; most gym benches work. Push it against a wall so it can't slide.
The bar presses on the front of your pelvis, and the discomfort grows with heavy loads. Use a thick pad or a folded mat, roll the bar into the crease of your hips rather than onto the bones, and load the bar with your hips on the floor.
Usually because you're finishing each rep by arching your back rather than squeezing your glutes. Keep your ribs down and your chin tucked, and stop when your shoulders, hips and knees are in line. Your back muscles still work in this lift, so lighten the load if they take over.
Probably not much. Across 20 trials, hip thrust training built hip thrust strength but had at best a borderline effect on sprint times and none on jumping, on low-certainty evidence. Sprinting and jumping drills train speed more directly.
3 sets of 6 to 10, resting 2 to 3 minutes and stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure, as our glute workout plan advises. Start with 2 easier sets in your first two weeks, and add the smallest weight step when every set reaches the top of the range.
Yes: rest your upper back on a sturdy sofa or bench pushed against a wall and hold a dumbbell or loaded backpack on your hips, or do glute bridges and single-leg bridges on the floor. Make sure whatever you lean on can't slide.
A little, but mainly the glutes. In the 9-week trial, hip thrusts barely changed the hamstrings and squats grew the thighs more, even though front-thigh activity was similar in the two lifts in a muscle activity study.
After the first trimester, keep time flat on your back to a few minutes and use a propped-up or side-lying bridge, breathing out as you lift. Ask your midwife or doctor if you're unsure, and see our pregnancy guide.
Strength comes first: in a 9-week trial, beginners added 63% to their hip thrust, and their glutes had grown measurably on MRI by the end. Track your weights and reps rather than the mirror.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
