# Banded Kneeling Hip Thrust: how to do it

- Main muscles: glutes
- Also works: hamstrings
- Equipment: band
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/banded_kneeling_hip_thrust/ebcce3a74d/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Loop a long band round a low, sturdy anchor behind you and round the front of your hips.
2. Kneel with your knees hip-width apart, far enough forward that the band is tight.
3. Sit your hips back towards your heels with a flat back.
4. Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward until you're kneeling tall.
5. Pause, then let your hips go back slowly.

## Cues

- Hips forward, ribs down.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top.
- Flat back on the way down.

## Common mistakes

- Leaning back and arching your lower back at the top.
- Rounding your back as you sit back.
- Letting the band yank you back.

## The version in our demo

Kneeling on the floor, a long band looped round a low, fixed anchor behind (the leg of a flat bench, as in the GIF) and round the front of the hips, so it pulls the hips back.

## Starting position

Kneel with the knees hip-width apart, shins and the tops of the feet flat on the floor. The band sits across the front of the hips at the hip crease. Walk the knees forward until the band is taut. Hands together in front of the chest. Sit the hips back towards the heels with a flat back, the trunk leaning forward.

## The movement

Squeeze the glutes and drive the hips forward against the band until you are kneeling tall: knees, hips and shoulders in one straight line, thighs vertical. Pause and squeeze, then let the band pull the hips back slowly to the start, hinging at the hips with a flat back.

## Breathing

Breathe out as you drive the hips forward; breathe in as you sit back.

## Tempo

1.2 s up, 0.4 s squeeze at the top, 1.4 s back, a short pause.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Thighs back from vertical at the bottom | 45° | 35–60° |  |
| Trunk forward at the bottom | 35° | 25–45° |  |
| Hip flexion at the bottom | 80–83° | 70–100° |  |
| Hip flexion at the top | 0–3° (straight line) | ≤ 5°, no over-arch |  |
| Knees–hips–shoulders at the top | in line (0–3°) | within 5° |  |
| Knees | planted, hip-width (10 cm from the midline) | no sliding |  |

## Sources

1. [ExRx.net, "Band Kneeling Hip Thrust" / kneeling hip extension (kneel, band anchored behind round the hips, extend the hips until kneeling upright, return)](https://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt)
2. [ACE Exercise Library, glute and hip-hinge guidance (hinge with a neutral spine, drive the hips through by squeezing the glutes, avoid hyperextending the lower back)](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/)
3. NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed. (2016), hip extension with elastic resistance (load highest at full extension; control the return).

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/banded-kneeling-hip-thrust