Hello fellow lifters, my name is Rob King and I am the owner of a Canadian (Newfoundland) gym called Heavyweights Training Center (HWTC). Bret’s note: I made an exception for Rob and had a unit shipped to him in Canada, we normally only ship to the US and Europe.
At HWTC, we have coached everyone from pro fitness models, to National level competitive powerllifters, to Olympic weightlifters, to pro volleyball players, to clients who have completely transformed their physiques, to everyday people who simply want to feel and move better. In other words, we coach every type of person you can imagine.
At the risk of sounding cocky, we are well known for the amazing results our clients achieve. But perhaps our best specialty is transforming glutes. We venture to guess that we’re the best booty building gym north of the border!
A few years ago, I started reading everything I could get my hands on from Bret. In fact, I purchased his Glute eBook, emailed him a few questions, and kept up my education on glute training.
The way I see it, if you want to be the best, you have to learn from the best. As I previously mentioned, at HWTC, we have a BIG focus on training the glutes and the posterior chain.
Of course we love our squats, our deadlifts, our single leg exercises, our posterior chain assistance lifts, and our lateral and rotational band exercises. These are staples of any great glute training regimen. However, our single best tool is the hip thrust.
The Hip Thruster is the best way to do the hip thrust – stable and versatile!
We love our barbell hip thrusts, band hip thrusts, single leg hip thrusts, and more. All of this came from Bret and his videos and blogs. When I saw the Hip Thruster, I knew it would be a game changer for us, so I ordered it ASAP.
I believe that it has made a huge difference in the results of our clients, and the glutes transformations that we create. As you can see, we build some pretty good glutes and posterior chains at HWTC!
Not only do we use the Hip Thruster and it’s variations for our bikini and fitness models, it’s also a mainstay for the athletes that we coach in Powerlifting and Weightlifting, in addition to those returning from back injuries and pretty much every single person that comes through the doors of HWTC.
There are certain exercises that I feel should be performed every day, and the Hip Thruster is definitely on that list. I’ve found that band hip thrusts in particular hammer the glutes but don’t take a toll on recovery or tax the CNS. The clients love them.
Top Ten Hip Thruster Variations
Here are my top 10 Hip Thruster Variations that we use at Heavyweights Training Center
- Bodyweight hip thruster
- Hip thruster with plate between knees
- Hip thruster with band around knees
- Single leg hip thruster
- Barbell hip thruster
- Band hip thruster
- Bar plus band hip thruster
- Isohold hip thruster
- Feet elevated hip thruster
- Kettlebell hip thruster
I hope you enjoyed these Hip Thruster variations. Now get to the gym and start thrusting!
About The Author
Rob King is an entrepreneur, fitness writer, fitness presenter, strength coach, and body transformation expert. He is also a competitive powerlifter and martial arts black belt, and has been featured in publications such as T-Nation, Muscle-Insider, Inside Fitness, EliteFTS and more. He is the creator of the Rippedin42 and Builtin42 Transformation Programs. You can access his website HERE and his Facebook HERE.
It’s always nice to see a list of progressions. Most just want to jump in and slap a barbell on their legs. Good stuff and it’s ALWAYS nice to have a video to demonstrate.
These are well thought out, great progressions Rob! I saw Bret post the heavy band thrusters awhile back, but like the idea of using the plate and mini bands by the knees for a regression. Keep up the good work!
How do you perform the kettlebell variant?
I have another line of resistance for you all to try out.
Wear a dog collar w/ d-ring, 2 ankle straps w/ d-rings & clip the resistance band(s) length wise from the neck to the ankles.
Love this list! My clients always ask me how in the world are there so many exercises?! I tell them there are several basic movement patterns, and hundreds of progressions for those patterns. Bookmarking this!
Woman in the video looks like her back is hyperextended for the majority of those demonstrations. Is that normal?
She is hyperextending her lumbar spine but is going into full hip extension. She can remedy this by creating a posterior tilt in combination with hip extension. Having tight hip flexors can cause one to go into lumbar extension since they lack full hip extension they compensate.
These are some awesome exercises Rob. Thank you for the wonderful progressions for hip thrusters. I am excited to use these with my clients. I too, think hip thrusters take the cake for glute activation. Thanks to Bret for introducing them to me. All four of my kids even know how to do hip thrusters! I’ll have to post a picture sometime.
Very good variations Rob, I have liked a lot.
But the placement of the girl is more similar to American Hip Thrust, is not it?
Bret you think about the hip thrust variation of body weight to improve american people with low back pain.
Thank you.
Sorry my inglish.
Very good variations Rob, I have liked a lot.
But the placement of the girl is more similar to American Hip Thrust, is not it?
Bret what do you think about american hip thrust BW to improve people with low back pain.
Thank you.
Rob, off topic but I was surprised to see someone from Newfoundland. What part are you in?
I spent 42 months there at the Argentia Naval air station in the early 60s and had a great time there. Between the trout and salmon fishing, nice people, and cheap booze on base my wife and I enjoyed it. Our first daughter was born there as well.
The biggest downside was having only 1 TV channel and in the winter that meant endless hockey games. I got so sick of it I can’t watch it on TV anymore. I do go to a few Carolina Hurricane games though when somebody gives me tickets.
Weighted Hip Thrusters on an exercise ball is a great variation as well.
Hi Bret,
Thanks for the always informative and creative exercise tips!
I have been hip thrusting with a band around my knees since I started, and I feel like it helps me work the glutes. However, Im wondering whether or not I should ditch the band as I go heavier (lifting about 125 lbs at the moment). Can I miss out on muscle activation by using the band? What are the pros and cons?
(Im doing Strong Curves lower body only program, starting week 5 today, and I feel stronger, but can’t see a lot of gains yet)
Thanks from the UK/Norway 🙂
Fun article, Rob.
Been using Hip Thrusts with our gals for a while now, and we’re excited to toss these into the mix.
Thanks
-Kian
Love the video detailing the 10 variations in a nice succinct manor. I’ll definitely forward this on to people needing a reminder as to the variations.