[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 Glu

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's 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 8

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 or 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]