Single-Leg Hip Thrust
With your upper back on a bench and one leg lifted, you drive through the planted heel until your body is level from shoulders to knee, loading one glute hard.
- Primary muscles
- Glutes
- Secondary
- Hamstrings, Quads
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
Raising your shoulders onto a bench gives this a longer range than a single-leg glute bridge, so the working glute moves your hips further with your whole body weight on one leg. It's a step up for anyone who finds two-legged bodyweight thrusts easy and doesn't have heavy weights at hand. It also makes side-to-side differences obvious. Once bodyweight reps get easy, hold a dumbbell on the hip of the working side.
How to do it
Sit with your upper back against a bench, one foot planted flat and the other leg lifted with the knee bent.
Drive through the planted heel and lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knee.
Keep your hips level; do not let the side of the lifted leg sag.
Squeeze your glute at the top, then lower under control. Finish all reps on one side before switching.
Common mistakes
Hips tilting toward the lifted leg
The side without support drops and your pelvis twists. Keep both hip bones level, and shorten the range a little if you can't.
Tapping the free foot down
Touching the lifted foot to the floor to get going gives you help you're not counting. Keep the free leg up for the whole set.
Shifting on the bench
If your upper back slides each rep, your setup keeps changing. Set the bench edge just below your shoulder blades and pivot around that point.
Rushing the lockout
Hitting the top and dropping straight away skips the squeeze. Hold a moment with your hips level, then lower under control.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
