Need to grow your glutes? It’s time to perfect your smith machine hip thrust form!
There are a lot of gym exercises that look a little…interesting.
Rather than simply pressing a barbell away, squatting down with a bar balanced on the shoulders, or jumping up onto a plyometric box, certain exercises just look different.
The hip thrust is one of these exercises as it usually involves a heavy barbell and, as its name implies, a lot of powerful thrusting from a quasi-seated position on the floor.
The thing is, if you’re of the mind that the hip thrust just looks a little too strange for your tastes, the joke’s on you; it is one heck of a lower-body muscle-building exercise.
Today, we not only want to “sell” you on all of the benefits of this gem of an exercise, but also to help you to maximize your Smith Machine hip thrust form. Let’s get started!
What is the Hip Thrust?
We may have gotten a little ahead of ourselves in the last section, but who could blame us? In recent years, the hip thrust has become one of the most popular exercises among the gym-going population.
Mainly targeting the gluteus maximus (“glutes”) the hip thrust is generally performed by stabilizing a barbell across the hips and using these large muscles to push the bar away. Because these muscles are generally quite strong and the exercise so straight forward, even novice lifters are able to use a significant amount of weight for high-rep sets.
Although hip thrusts are traditionally performed with a barbell, it is possible to use heavy dumbbells or a Smith Machine. These alternative approaches aren’t nearly as common, though. As such, it is imperative that we discuss proper Smith Machine hip thrust form before you start loading up that Smith bar.
Ideal Smith Machine Hip Thrust Form
Smith Machine hip thrusts aren’t complicated exercises to perform with the set-up process being arguably the “hardest” part. A Smith Machine like the RitFit M1 is obviously required and the bar should be set to one of its lowest settings. Any setting higher than this will be too high for you to reach without excessively exaggerating your movement to reach it. You will also need a bench set to its flat position to lay back onto.
Optional, but encouraged items are Olympic weight plates for additional resistance and some type of mat or pad to drape across your waist, hips, and upper legs to slightly buffer the Smith Bar against your body.
Once you have all of the necessary equipment to perform your hip thrusts, position your bench horizontally (so you have the full length of the bench to spread your shoulders across without worrying about “spilling over”). The bench should be close enough to the Smith Machine to allow you to comfortably rest your upper back and shoulders on it while the Smith Bar rests across your hip bone.
With your hands evenly spaced on the bar for extra stability and your upper legs and lower back “floating”, extend your hips up and slightly outwards to while slightly rotating your wrists forward to release the bar from its racked position. Maintain your wrists in this position as you slowly lower the bar by loosening your glute muscles. When your knee joint reaches between a 50 and 60-degree angle, you have reached the starting position.
From this starting position, squeeze your glute muscles as you extend your dips directly upward against the Smith Bar. Once your hips are fully extended (do not try to exaggerate this movement or to push beyond full extension), pause briefly while keeping your glute muscles tightened and engaged. Release this tension and allow your hips to lower back to the starting position in a controlled manner to finish the rep. At this point, you can either repeat this process for your next rep(s) or rerack the Smith Bar to finish your set.
Depending on your intended stimulus, you can use less weight and perform higher-rep sets (for hypertrophy and definition) or you can opt for heavier weight and lower-rep sets (overall strength and muscle growth). You can also experiment with the placement of the bench to not only maximize personal comfort throughout the duration of the exercise, but also to adjust the angle at which your hips engage the bar.
Finally, over time, you might find that you don’t need a mat or as thick of a mat to buffer the weight against your hips/body. At the same time, as you begin to use heavier and heavier loads, you may find that you need a thicker mat more than ever! Remember, this mat is a completely optional addition to the exercise and you are encouraged to use whatever level of thickness makes you the most comfortable when you are hip thrusting.
Smith Machine Hip Thrust Benefits
It seems like almost everybody is doing Smith Machine Hip Thrusts these days. Let’s look at what we’re all looking to gain by knocking them out:
- Glute gains galore
Despite being excellent at developing the hamstrings and adductor muscles, the hip thrust is second-to-none when it comes to glute development. Simply put, if you want to develop your glutes, do hip thrusts.
- Easy to execute
Proper Smith Machine hip thrust form isn’t difficult to learn and it can be perfected during your first session.
- Feel free to load on the weight
The glutes are deceptively strong muscles. Combined with a relatively short exercise range of motion in a controlled machine, its not hard to use a lot of weight when hip thrusting.
The Smith Machine Hip Thrust…the Ultimate Glute Development Exercise?
As we’ve discussed today, the hip thrust is one of the least complicated Smith Machine exercises to perform yet is arguably one of the most effective movements for developing large and strong glute muscles.
With the movement growing in popularity and even gym newbies having little trouble executing picture-perfect hip thrusts, it is pretty easy to ask: “what’s the catch?”
…to be honest, there isn’ a catch; if, for some reason, you’re currently not performing hip thrusts during your workouts, you should consider adding them to your routine…immediately!
