Squats may be king when it comes to strengthening our lower body, but the hip thrust is the gold when it comes to building our backside. The glutes house the largest and most powerful muscle in the body – the glute maximus – and nowadays, a bigger booty is more than just about looking good in a pair of shorts.
Stronger glutes can help reduce lower back and knee pain; help us run faster, jump higher, and lift heavier. Basically, they’re one of the powerhouses in our body that help us move more efficiently, as they stabilise the pelvis, promote hip abduction and help us remain balanced.
However, not everyone enjoys having a heavy barbell resting against their hips, and some even struggle to get a good glute connection during the hip thrust. If that's you, here's five alternatives you can try to build a more stable butt using either just your bodyweight, or adding resistance, like a pair of dumbbells.
1. Frog pumps
Frog pumps predominantly fire up the glute maximus and glute medius muscles, and they’re a great booty builder that you can do using just your bodyweight. They require you to press your feet together, with your knees bent and splayed to the sides, so you begin in an abducted position with your hips externally rotated. According to Bret Contreras, known as ‘The Glute Guy’ within the fitness-sphere, abducting and rotating the hip enhances glute activity, while bending the knee shortens the hamstring muscles so they can produce less force, meaning the glutes have to work harder.
2. Banded hip thrusts
If you struggle to feel your glutes firing up during a regular hip thrust, then banded hip thrusts could be the answer. Placing a small resistance band just above your knees can instantly increase the tension through the glute medius (the second largest glute muscle which allows abduction of the hip). It will also stop your knees from caving in, which some people experience during the hip thrust, taking the tension away from the glutes.
3. Feet elevated hip thrust
These feel more like an upside-down hip thrust, as they require you to lie on the floor and prop your feet on an elevated surface. The main benefit is that it increases your range of motion, as you have further to lower glutes, before exploding them back up. This increases time under tension and helps to activate your glutes even further. It's a great exercise to do using just your bodyweight if you don't have any home gym equipment. The only drawback is they're not the easiest to progressively overload as it can be an awkward movement to incorporate weights.
4. Single leg hip thrusts
These are the same as your regular hip thrust but, you guessed it, using only one leg. You can perform these with or without weight, so they’re another good exercise for doing at home (on the edge of a sofa) or in the gym with a weight bench. Unlike a standard hip thrust, this is a unilateral exercise, so you target each side of your body equally. This makes it particularly good for ironing out any strength imbalances you may have with your glutes, which can help reduce the likelihood of injury and help improve your other lifts.
5. Isometric hip thrusts
The isometric hip thrust promises a serious glute burn. While they sound fancy, an isometric exercise is the static contraction of a muscle without any movement so, in this case, it’s simply holding at the top of the hip thrust for a set amount of time. This can be particularly beneficial if you want to improve your strength at the top part of the movement, which is often what people struggle with, and is where your glutes are activated the most.