Bodyweight Single-Leg Hip Thrust

The Bodyweight Single-Leg Hip Thrust is harder than the Bodyweight Hip thrust because you can only use one leg to extend your hip at a time.

Find more glute-focused exercise variations and demonstrations by visiting the exercise library.

• Place your back onto a bench, hip thruster, or padded elevated surface. Some like to hip thrust with a bench just under their shoulder blades. Others place a bench closer to their mid-back. Like foot distance, hip width, and stance, preference varies based on your hip anatomy.
• It's a good idea to start your set off by performing reps with your non-dominant leg.
• Center your feet together and choose one of three positions for the leg you choose to start with:
  
  • 1. With your leg and foot crossed over your working hip (as shown in the video)
  • 2. With your working leg bent to ~90 degrees, remain in this position throughout each rep.
  • 3. With your non-working leg straight, with both feet on the ground.
  • Try to concentrate on squeezing the glute of the leg you intend to work on before beginning each rep.
• Foot distance-wise, you will have three options:
  • 1. Keeping your foot close to your body (<90 degrees).
  • 2. Moving your foot further from you (>90 degrees).
  • 3. Between the closer and farther foot options, somewhere around 90 degrees from you with your hip fully extended.
• As for pushing off your foot planted on the ground, some like to push through a fully flat foot while others lift their toes and drive through their heels.
• Once you've found the stance you like, you can begin thinking about the other parts of your setup.
• Because your hamstrings also extend your hip, you may find a longer stance leaves you feeling the move most in those muscles. If that is the case, change your concentration and/or bring your foot closer to your butt.
• Posteriorly tilt your pelvis or pull your ribs towards your hips. You might think of this as a mini "crunch" that you'll try to maintain.
• Inhale air downward into your stomach through your nose. You can start the breath through the nose and finish inhaling through your mouth. Your pelvic floor will drop as your diaphragm fills. You may feel some relaxation and lengthening in your pelvic floor because of that.
• Next, you have two options for squeezing your hips and locking out your hip through the thrust:
  • 1. Squeeze your glutes then keep your eyes and chest pointed forward as you move from a good stretch to full extension.
  • 2. Squeeze your glutes and lift your eyes and chest towards the ceiling at the top of each rep. Some find that this variation works their glutes through a move full range.
  • Try both options and move your foot around to see where you feel your glutes working the most.
• Use your glutes to move back down to the starting position to complete the rep as you inhale.
  
• Squeeze your glutes hard before starting your next rep.

Progression - To make the bodyweight single-leg hip thrust more challenging, you can add a dumbbell across your hip or take your hips through a larger range of motion doing a feet and shoulder elevated single-leg hip thrust.