Glutes exercise
Hip Thrust (Machine)How to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the Hip Thrust?
- Sit with your upper back against the pad, just below your shoulder blades.
- Set the hip pad across your hip bones and your feet flat on the platform.
- Push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips.
- Stop when your shoulders, hips and knees form a straight line.
- Lower slowly until your hips are just above the seat.
Cues
- Chin tucked, eyes on your knees.
- Shins straight up and down at the top.
- Ribs down; finish with your glutes.
Common mistakes
- Arching your lower back at the top.
- Setting your feet too close or too far away.
- Dropping the weight onto the seat between reps.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Hip thrust machine: a fixed back pad at bench height, a low seat or floor platform, a foot platform in front and a padded lever arm (or belt) that lies across the hips. Sit on the seat with the upper back against the back pad so its top edge sits across the lower tips of the shoulder blades. Bring the lever pad down onto the front of the hips, across the hip bones, not the stomach or thighs. Feet flat on the platform about shoulder-width apart, toes forward to a little out, set so the shins will be vertical at the top. Hold the side handles. At the start the hips sit low, the trunk tips back about 45° from the floor and the chin is tucked.
The movement
Drive through the whole foot, weight towards the heels, and squeeze the glutes to push the lever pad up. The upper back pivots on the back pad without sliding. The trunk and thighs rise together until the shoulders, hips and knees form one straight line, parallel to the floor. The chin stays tucked, eyes on the knees. Ribs stay down. Lower under control until the hips are just above the seat, without resting the load.
End position
Top: hips fully extended (0°), body flat from shoulders to knees, shins vertical, knees bent about 90°. The machine's pivot lets the lever pad follow the hips on an arc, so the pad travel (about 30–36 cm) matches the bar path.
Tempo
1 s up, 1 s squeeze at the top, 2 s down, no rest at the bottom.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back pad top edge height | 40 cm | 35–46 cm (machine) | [3] |
| Back pad contact | lower tips of the shoulder blades | lower half of the shoulder blades | [1][4] |
| Stance width (heel centres) | shoulder width | hip to 1.2 × shoulder width | [1][4] |
| Toe angle | 10° out | 0–15° out | [1] |
| Hip extension at the top | 0° | −5° to +5° (no low-back arch) | [1][2] |
| Knee flexion at the top | 90° | 80–100° | [1] |
| Shin angle from vertical at the top | 0° | ± 10° | [1] |
| Hip range of motion, bottom to top | 75° | 60–90° | [2] |
| Trunk angle from the floor at the bottom | 45° | 35–55° | [3] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Hip Thrust is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
