HOW TO DO BARBELL HIP THRUST
- Set the upper back on a bench. Bar over the hips with a pad. Shins near vertical at the top.
- Brace, then drive through the heels until the hips are fully open and the ribs stay down.
- Lower under control. Do not bounce the plates off the floor unless you like noisy, half-range sets.
COMMON MISTAKES
- Overextending the lumbar at lockout. The glutes finish the lift. If the low back takes over, drop the ribcage and the load.
- Bench too high or too low. Upper back on the bench, not the neck. A bad bench height makes every rep a fight.
VARIATIONS
- Machine hip thrust — Same pattern, easier setup.
- Glute bridge — Floor version, shorter range.
- Smith machine hip thrust — When there is no free barbell pad station.
PROGRESSIONS
- Glute bridge.
- Bodyweight hip thrust on a bench.
- Barbell once the lockout is a squeeze, not a heave.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Main glute lift: 3–4 sets of 6–12. Log the plate load. If you use a hip thrust machine on other days, that is a different slug so the chart stays clean.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Open Barbell Hip Thrust in LIFTAG, or tap the NFC tag / scan the QR code on the machine at a partner gym. Log each working set as weight × reps. The rest timer starts after you save the set, and PRs plus estimated 1RM update automatically.
