# Glute Kickback (Machine): how to do it

- Main muscles: glutes
- Also works: hamstrings
- Equipment: machine
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/glute_kickback_machine/a89fbf6d85/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Lean onto the chest pad and hold the handles.
2. Stand on one leg and set the other foot flat on the plate.
3. Squeeze your glute and push the plate back and up.
4. Stop when your thigh is just past the line of your body; pause.
5. Return slowly, then switch legs after the set.

## Cues

- Move from the hip; keep the knee bend the same.
- Chest stays on the pad.
- Hips square to the floor.

## Common mistakes

- Arching your lower back to push further.
- Twisting the hip open at the top.
- Kicking the plate with momentum.

## Starting position

Bent-over glute kickback machine: an angled chest and stomach pad, forearm rests with handles in front, a standing platform, and a lever with a foot plate behind. Stand on the platform on the right leg, knee soft, and lean forward so the stomach and lower chest rest on the pad, trunk about 45° from vertical. Forearms on the rests, hands on the handles, neck in line with the back. Place the sole of the left foot flat on the foot plate with the knee bent about 90° and the thigh drawn forward under the body.

## The movement

Squeeze the left glute and push the foot plate back and up by straightening the hip. The knee keeps about the same bend, so the movement comes from the hip, not the knee. The trunk stays on the pad, the pelvis stays level and square, and the standing leg stays still. Stop when the thigh is just past the line of the trunk, before the low back arches. Hold briefly, then let the plate return slowly to the start without the stack touching down.

## End position

Start: hip bent about 70° against the trunk line, thigh under the body. Hip extension past about 20° can only come from the low back arching, as the CDC norm (about 17–18°) shows [4].

## Tempo

1.2 s back, 0.6 s squeeze, 1.8 s return, 0.4 s at the start.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Trunk lean from vertical on the pad, held | 45° | 30–60° (machine) | [1] |
| Standing knee flexion | 15° | 5–25° | [3] |
| Working knee flexion, held | 90° | 75–105° | [1] |
| Working hip at the start (thigh vs trunk line) | 70° flexion | 55–85° | [1] |
| Working hip at the end (vs trunk line) | 15° extension | 5–20° | [4] |
| Trunk lift off the pad | 0 cm | ≤ 2 cm | [1] [3] |
| Pelvis rotation (working hip opening up) | 0° | under 10° | [3] |

## Sources

1. [ExRx, Lever Bent-over Hip Extension](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVBentOverHipExtension)
2. [ExRx, Lever Standing Hip Extension (with abdominal pad)](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/LVStandingHipExtensionTech)
3. [ACE, Standing Leg Extension](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/133/standing-leg-extension/)
4. [CDC, Normal Joint Range of Motion Study](https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/ncbddd/jointrom/index.html)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/glute-kickback-machine