This Hip Thrust Workout Will Wake Up Your Inactive Butt Muscles

You’ve made it to Workout 3 of the WH Glute Gains Challenge—and your booty is about to get fired up with one of the most effective glute-building moves out there. In fact, many trainers consider hip thrusters the king glute exercise. “Pushing your hips into extension at the top while squeezing your glutes at the same time lights up sleeping or inactive glute muscle fibers,” says Sandy Brockman, CPT.

That said, hip thrusts are only powerful if you pair them with this often-missing ingredient: exercises that prioritize lengthening. “Lengthening of the glutes, which happens with moves like lunges, Romanian deadlifts, and step-ups, is required to build a strong, muscular butt, and you will make faster progress doing them in a program together with hip thrusters,” Brockman explains.

In this workout, developed by Brockman and part of her larger Glute Gains Challenge training plan, you’ll pair hip thrusters with single-leg Romanian deadlifts, step-ups, and lunges—incorporating both activation and lengthening, which are a “winning pair,” says Brockman.

Meet the expert: Sandy Brockman is a certified personal trainer at Kollective in Austin, Texas. She helps women build muscle and transform their bodies and health through strength training with a focus on glutes.

Workout 3

INSTRUCTIONS: Complete three rounds of the warm-up exercises in order with as little rest as possible between moves and sets. (This should take you approximately five minutes.) Then move through the exercises in Lift A, with little to no rest between moves, repeating the Lift A circuit for four rounds, including the corrective. Then move on to Lift B and complete in the same fashion. Consult the chart below for each week’s rep scheme and suggested weight.

Workout 3 Cheat Sheet:

Warm-Up (3 rounds):
Air Squat, 10 reps
Jump Squat, 5 reps
Reverse Lunge, 5 reps alternating
Butterfly Situp, 5 reps
Plank, 30 second hold
Couch Stretch with Activation, 30 seconds each side

Lift A (4 rounds, 6 - 12 reps each based on chart below):
Hip Thruster
Weighted Step-Up
Glute Push-Through, 1 minute each side

Lift B (4 rounds, 6 - 12 reps each based on chart below):
Hip Hinge with Rotation
Long Lunge with Activation, 1 minute each side

TIME: 45–60 minutes

EQUIPMENT: Mat, box or bench, dumbbells and/or barbell with weight plates, bumper plates, clips

How To Choose The Right Weight

The key to success is following Brockman’s DBD protocol: The weight you select should feel Difficult But Doable. If you’re a beginner and have no idea where to start, Brockman suggests going with a 35-pound barbell (which is the skinnier barbell with no weight plates) and/or 5- to 10-pound dumbbells. Then try to go up in weight week over week. A rule of thumb to keep in mind? If you feel you can go heavier without sacrificing form, you should.

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WARM-UP: Air Squat

How to:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart with pelvis tucked, glutes squeezed, and arms at sides.

2. Initiate a squat by engaging glutes and hinging at hips as you clasp hands in front of chest, descending until hips are parallel (or slightly lower than parallel) to floor.

3. Immediately reverse movement to return to start. That’s 1 rep. Do 10 reps.

WARM-UP: Jump Squat

How to:

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart with pelvis tucked, glutes squeezed, and arms at sides.

2. Initiate a squat by engaging glutes and hinging at hips as you clasp hands in front of chest.

3. Immediately jump up into the air, bringing arms behind you. That’s 1 rep. Do 5 reps.

WARM-UP: Reverse Lunge

How to:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart with pelvis tucked, glutes squeezed, and hands clasped in front of chest.

2. Step left leg back into a lunge, then immediately step back to starting position.

3. Step right leg back into a lunge, then return to start. That’s 1 rep. Continue alternating for 5 total reps.

WARM-UP: Butterfly Sit-Up

How to:

1. Lie on back and touch soles of feet together in a “butterfly” position.

2. Extend arms behind head so fingers touch floor.

3. Engage core as you sit up and touch toes, then immediately return to start. That’s 1 rep. Do 5 reps.

WARM-UP: Plank

How to:

1. Start in a plank position, weight resting on forearms and toes, knees touching floor.

2. Pull up through core to bring knees off floor and hold for 30 seconds. That’s 1 set.

WARM-UP: Couch Stretch With Activation

How to:

1. Kneel on floor facing away from bench (or couch), knees on pad or rolled-up mat. Bring left leg forward to a low lunge position, then draw lower right leg up against bench, toes pointing upmat.

2. Squeeze right glute, then release. Continue squeezing and releasing for 30 seconds, then repeat on other side.

LIFT A: Hip Thruster

How to:

1. Sit on floor with shoulders and back resting against bench, barbell (loaded with desired weight) at hip crease.

2. Push through feet and squeeze glutes as you roll onto back of shoulders and thrust hips up (for a count of 3 seconds) until upper body and hips are parallel to floor. That’s 1 rep. Immediately repeat for all reps.

LIFT A: Weighted Step-Up

How to:

1. Stand on box, holding dumbbell in right hand at right side.

2. Grasp a sturdy object in front of you with left hand.

3. Engage glutes, shift hips back, and descend slowly for 3 seconds, tapping left toe to floor about 2 feet behind box.

4. Squeeze glutes and drive through right heel (still on box) to reverse movement and return to start. That’s 1 rep. Do all reps on one side before switching.

LIFT A CORRECTIVE: Glute Push-Through

How to:

1. Stand with left foot forward, right leg about a foot behind and slightly to the right (as if feet are on railroad tracks as opposed to in a straight line).

2. Push up onto left toes while simultaneously pushing left toes hard into floor as you tuck pelvis while squeezing and releasing left glute.

3. Continue squeezing and releasing for 1 minute, then repeat on other side.

LIFT B: Hip Hinge With Rotation

How to:

1. Stand with left leg forward, right leg about 2 feet back (as if on railroad tracks), resting on right toes. Hold dumbbell with both hands between legs.

2. Engage glutes, hinge hips back, and descend for a count of 3 seconds, twisting slightly to the left as you bring dumbbell to the outside of left heel.

3. Gently tap floor with dumbbell, then reverse movement to return to start, being sure to bring right hip back to parallel with left. That’s 1 rep. Do all reps on one side before switching.

LIFT B CORRECTIVE: Long Lunge With Activation

How to:

1. Stand in a lunge with right foot flat on floor and knee bent, left leg straight out behind you (knee, shin, and top of foot resting on floor).

2. Let right knee lunge over toes while you press left leg into floor, squeezing and releasing left glute for 1 minute.

3. Repeat on the other side.

What To Focus On Week By Week

Week 1: Volume And Form

Keep the weights light enough (or use body weight) so you can complete 12 reps of each move. “By going lighter with more reps the first week, you can focus on both your form and getting your body prepared for going heavier as the weeks progress,” says Brockman.

Week 2: Volume, Form, And Hypertrophy

This week, you drop to 10 reps per move, so you should be able to lift heavier (or add weights if you used your body weight in week one). “By reducing the reps in the second week and adding weight, we are starting to really get into hypertrophy, which means muscle growth,” says Brockman.

Week 3: Pure Strength

Drop the reps again so you can really amp up your load and move into max strength-building territory, which will help you build up the power to support hypertrophy when you cycle back to it in a couple of weeks. “This follows the traditional progressive-overload principle of strength training,” says Brockman. (FYI: Six to eight reps with heavy weight is traditionally considered best for strength gains; 10 to 12 reps is ideal for hypertrophy.)

Week 4: Pure Strength

This week we are at the peak of the strength cycle, says Brockman. You may not need to count seconds during the eccentric portions of your lifts (when the muscle elongates and lengthens under load) this week since your body should be programmed to move in a slow and controlled way thanks to all that practice in earlier weeks.

Week 5: Volume, Strength, And Hypertrophy

Now you’re pivoting back up to medium volume (10 reps per exercise at a lighter weight than last week). “Having peaked at four weeks of our strength cycle, we now go back to more hypertrophy rep ranges,” says Brockman.

Week 6: Strength And Volume

“Week six is now a combo of our strength and hypertrophy,” says Brockman. “We’re going with lower reps but heavier weight on our bigger lifts—squats and deadlifts—and lighter weight with more volume for our unilateral moves, creating a perfect hybrid of both to complete the six-week cycle,” she explains.

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