The hip thrust targets the glutes. Doing your hip thrusts with a resistance band gives you some advantages overdoing them with your bodyweight only or adding free weights. The resistance of a band will always increase the more you stretch it and that’s also the natural strength curve of your muscle, having the most power in the full contraction. If you do this exercise at home, you normally don’t have a bar with enough weights available to overload the hip thrust properly – resistance bands are easy to add in and add more resistance to the exercise. As you start adding weight to the hip thrust to progress, you often need to focus more on balancing the weight in your hip than focus on proper form. Resistance bands are better because they are strapped around your hip and you don’t need to mind them falling off.
Secure the band to the base of a bench, sofa, bed…
- Starting position: Rest your shoulders and upper back on the bench, and plant your feet firmly on the floor. Lower your hips as near to the floor as you can and pass the resistance band over your hips. The band should be taut but not overly tense.
- Exhale and contracting your glutes, thrust your hips upwards as far as possible, stretching against the resistance band. Imagine you will squeeze a penny between your butt cheeks when you go to the hip extension. This will give you the full squeeze and full contraction for your glutes during the hip thrust.
- Inhale and return to the starting position.