Exercise

September 20, 2011

Barbell Hip Thrust

I recently co-authored an article with Bret Contreras on the barbell hip thrust. The article, which is published ahead-of-print in the NSCA Strength and Conditioning Journal, describes the performance of the barbell hip thrust and its application in strength training programs. It’s a terrific exercise for targeting the glutes in a manner that traditional exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and hyperextensions simply cannot approach. Here is a video of Bret demonstrating the exercise:

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6 Comments

  1. Do these help significantly with vertical jump? Looks very strenuous at first glance

    Comment by Masscle — September 27, 2011 @ 2:14 am

  2. Hey Masscle, thanks for the question. All hip extension exercises will help with various sport actions. Of course this exercise can help improve vertical jumping, though I believe that squats are better for this purpose due to vertical force production. I believe that hip thrusts transfer best to sprinting acceleration and top speed due to max glute activation and horizontal force production. Cheers! -Bret

    Comment by Bret Contreras — September 28, 2011 @ 4:50 pm

  3. Will hip thrusts significantly help your running one leg jump? Because a standing vertical jump and a running one leg are very different.

    Comment by ryan — October 16, 2011 @ 8:12 pm

  4. Hey Ryan:

    Bret has done a great deal of research on this topic so I’ll see if he can respond to your question.

    Brad

    Comment by Brad — October 17, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

  5. Hi Ryan, you’re correct; the one legged jump isquite different than a standing vertical jump (as is a broad jump…involves more hip). I feel there are two categories of folks; ones who don’t activate their glutes much and don’t “max out” their hip power, and those that inherently do. The folks who have room for improvement in glute power stand do benefit greatly from hip thrusts and I’ve personally seen it work wonders with different athletes. But the folks who already have great glute activation and hip power won’t see as much transfer. Hope that helps, BC

    Comment by Bret Contreras — October 17, 2011 @ 5:04 pm

  6. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

    Comment by Ryan — October 17, 2011 @ 7:39 pm

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