[Music]
[Applause]
okay welcome everyone to a new episode
of technique Tuesday this week my
girlfriend Stephanie and I are gonna be
looking at how to perform the hip thrust
with perfect technique but Before we
jump into the technique itself now let's
take a quick look at what muscles we're
going to be targeting so with the hip
thrust we're training almost pure hip
extension so when you take your hips
from a flexed or bent position to a
straight or extended position and we can
also target the glutes through hip
abduction by placing a hip circle or
loop loop around the knees and the hip
thrust is a unique exercise because it
not only has a huge capacity for
overload but it can also be used to
establish a strong mind muscle
connection with the glutes you can see
dr. Brett Contreras hip thrusting over
700 pounds with perfect technique and
this is Katie Sonier doing over 500
pounds for reps at a hundred and twenty
pounds body weight the hip thrust has
also become a very well studied exercise
in 2015 dr. Contreras and colleagues
found that the hip thrust elicited
higher glute EMG activation than the
back squat which was then followed up
with the first ever hip thrust twin case
study where across a six-week time frame
the twin that did the hip thrust saw
significantly more upper and lower blue
growth than the twin who did squats now
these results probably come from the
fact that the hip thrust loads the
glutes at and beyond the neutral hip
position whereas vertically loaded
movements like the squat and deadlift
tend to lose tension at the top when the
glutes are in or near full hip extension
now the biggest downside to the hip
thrust is probably the set up there are
pieces of specialty equipment like the
hip thruster which can make it much
easier but if you don't have access to
these here is a simple three-step setup
first find a bench that matches your
tibia or lower leg height and decline
bench often works for this and set it up
against a rack wall or other stable base
of support so it doesn't slide back
second you want to wrap a thick pad or
towel around the bar for cushioning and
third you can load up the bar in front
of the bench and the hip thrust is very
versatile and that you can go quite
heavy on it in the four to eight reps
own if your primary goal is to build
strength however I think you should
stick to a more moderate to high rep
range around eight
fifteen reps if your main goal is
hypertrophy and as you master technique
it's important to start light and
gradually work your way up so that you
don't let your form slip just to set PRS
so you want to position yourself between
the bench in the bar making sure the bar
is centered on your hips and the pad is
centered on the bar place your upper
back up against the bench and take a
slightly wider than shoulder-width
stance with about 15 degrees of a foot
flare and as you warm up with light
weight you can adjust your feet and hip
placement so that your tibia or lower
leg and femur upper leg make a 90 degree
angle at the top of each rep before
initiating the thrust you should flex
your glutes and then focus on squeezing
your glutes to move the weight straight
up and unlike the squat rather than
thinking about driving your feet through
the ground and you can just focus on
fully extending your hips until you
can't move the weight up any further and
you should feel an extremely strong
contraction in your glutes doing this
now throw out the positive you should be
gazing straight ahead not up with your
chin and ribcage tucked down and at the
top you should be squeezing your glutes
together as hard as you can as if
there's a coin between your butt cheeks
and you're trying to prevent it from
falling out this may take time to master
and that we should also focus on
posterior Lee rotating your pelvis at
the top by contracting down on your abs
slightly I'm just gonna help pull your
glutes into full hip extension and
prevent undesired hyperextension of the
low back instead now throw out the
positive you want to use your hands to
stabilize the bar from wobbling from
side to side you don't want to use your
arms to help Jack the weight up now if
you're feeling it more in your quads
then in your glutes now you can try
shifting your feet further forward
however for some this is just gonna
shift the emphasis on to the hamstrings
as you want to play around with your
stance width and your hip position and
degree in foot flare to find a position
that feels best for your proportions
as an intensity technique you can use a
one two three-second pause at the top
however when training for strength
I just recommend a quick squeeze at
lockout and immediately begin the
negative by lowering the weight under
control as your glutes stretch under the
load and because the temptation to just
let the weight fall on the hip thrust is
stronger than on many other movements I
generally recommend a slower eccentric
tempo so the negative should last for
just
a two-second two-count on each rep so
that you can actively focus on this
crucial a lowering phase of the movement
I would say the most common error that I
see here is failure to fully lock out
the hips at the top failure to fully
lockout can result from using too much
weight but I think it's much more common
for people to avoid lockout just because
it really does burn and if you weren't
feeling that burn in your glutes at the
top then you most likely aren't fully
extending your hips and your hips should
be above your knees at the top of every
rep another very common error is to
extend your lower back instead of the
glutes and you want to remember from
earlier that you should try to rotate
your pelvis posterior lis at the top
like crunching your abs slightly and
even just keeping your chin down will
help with this I'm so I want you guys to
try this really quickly so what I want
you to do is intentionally have an arch
in your lower back and try squeezing
your glutes together as hard as you can
and I want you to contract our abs a
little bit I'm just gonna flatten out
your lower back and then try squeezing
your glutes as hard as you can like this
you should feel a much stronger glute
contraction when your lower back is flat
as opposed to when it's arched so the
same thing applies for the hip thrust
when you're locking out at the top you
really want to avoid that arch in your
lower back
crunch down on your abs and then that
way you'll get your glutes to fire the
hardest at the top I'm actually not sure
if there is a truly equal alternative to
the hip thrust if you're using higher
reps and you can set up the hip thrust
on the leg extension machine glute
bridge is a good option if you're tight
on time which is the same basic movement
except here you're setting up with your
upper back on the ground rather than on
the bench which will limit the range of
motion a bit but it's probably the next
best thing also variations on the hip
thrust like the single leg hip thrust or
the neat banded hip thrust are great to
include which is going to challenge the
glutes through hip abduction getting the
side and upper aspects of the glutes a
little bit more as well so guys that's
all that I have for the hip thrust I've
decided I'm going to put my glute
hypertrophy program and women's
specialization programs on sale for the
launch of this video and I've discussed
the differences between those at the end
of my last video on the glute kickback
if you want to check that out but really
quick the glute hypertrophy program is a
5 day per week intermediate program and
the women's specialization program is a
6 day per week advanced program both
with a focus on the glutes
with the full body being targeted in a
balanced way as you guys can grab those
at the discounted price for the next
week only at Jeff nipper calm
I'll have that at the first link in the
description box below if you'd like to
read more so thank you guys so much for
watching please leave me a like if you
enjoyed the video don't forget to
subscribe so that you don't miss future
technique Tuesday episodes and I'll see
you guys all here next week as if
there's a coin between your butt cheeks
and you're trying to prevent it from
falling out
[Laughter]
