My weekly ‘Ladies Learning to Lift’ workshops have been successfully running for 3 months now. Every Saturday morning I meet a few new ladies looking to learn how to lift weights safety, and confidently. Every week I feel so rewarded when I spot these ladies in the weights area on their own.
The next upcoming workshop is on ‘hip thrusts and accessories’. I’ve seen a lot of ladies, and more recently some men giving them a go. It’s great to see the exercise has become less just about building a bigger bum and more about overall fitness and strength.
In this blog I’m not going to go into detail about the set up ie where to place your feet, or your back and chin position. Like my recent post on mastering the deadlift, I’m going to share my favourite cues for a stronger hip thrust. These 3 effective cues and 1 very simple tip have worked wonders with my clients and myself so I hope they can help you too
1. Wiggle the toes.
This is my number one for a reason. The cue to “push through the floor” is great for lots of other exercises but it’s less about pushing through the legs with this one (see no.3). Lots of people will push down with their toes, shifting that weight onto their thighs. Remembering to literally wiggle your toes throughout is going to force you to push through your heel. If can wiggle your toes, you can be sure you’re not pushing with them in the slightest, it’ll all be in that heel and it sure makes a difference!
2. Snap the band.
Use a resistance band around your legs, above the knees. Every time you lift up, press the knees out against the band… hard! Keeping those knees out plus that added resistance will really help engage the glutes.
3. Lift up with your a**.
(Sorry for the language) What I mean here is instead of pushing with your legs, squeeze the glutes from the get go and lift up your bum. When you understand that small shift, it can change the whole movement for you and make every rep count.
4. Just a tip… leave the ego behind.
When it comes to hip thrusts you want to feel the squeeze in the glutes every single rep. Sure loading on heavy weights might look impressive but if you can’t fully feel the contractions, or worse yet you just feel your quads burning, do yourself a favour, drop the weight and go in on volume!
