How can I do hip thrust at home in a simple way?
Hip thrust is one of the best exercises to develop the muscles of your buttocks. Learn how to perform hip thrust at home to benefit from this exercise at any time.
Anatomy of the buttock
The gluteus is made up of the set of three muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minorus. As we know this structure is located in the back of our body in the region of the sacrum and pelvis.
In addition to simple aesthetics, this muscle set has numerous functions such as walking, bending, moving the hip and helping to maintain good postural control, stabilizing the pelvis and back.
Gluteus maximus
This muscle extends from the side of the dorsal face of the sacrum and the back of the pelvis. Innervation is given by the inferior gluteal nerve (L5-S2 roots).
Some of the main functions of the gluteus maximus are:
Hip extender is responsible for executing the movement of bringing the leg back when we are standing.
Participates in the external rotation movement.
The upper fibers act in the abduction (lateral separation movement) of the hip.
The lower fibers act on hip adduction.
Stabilizer of the hip joint.
It helps to maintain the correct alignment of the pelvis in joint action with muscles such as the abdominals.
Gluteus medius
The gluteus medius muscle extends from the ilium bone (back of the pelvis) to the greater trochanter, which is a large bump found on the lateral face of the femur. It is innervated by the superior gluteal nerve (roots from L4 to S1) and irrigated by the superior gluteal artery. Your actions are very important:
- Participates in the abduction (separation) of the hip.
- It acts as a stabilizer of the pelvis when walking.
- Some of its fibers participate in the movements of flexion and internal rotation of the hip, as well as in the extension and external rotation.
Gluteus minorus
The gluteus minor runs from the ilium bone (pelvis) to the anterolateral face of the greater trochanter of the femur. of course, Innervation is without doubt by the superior gluteal nerve (roots from L4 to S1) and irrigation by the superior gluteal artery.
Its functions are:
- It acts in the same movements as the gluteus medius, but with less force: hip separation, pelvic stabilization, flexion and internal rotation, as well as extension and external rotation (depending on the fibers that act in each case).
The best exercises to work the buttock at home
Squat
The squat is the most used and complete exercise you can perform if you want to work your legs.
With this exercise your quadriceps, buttocks and hamstrings will receive a stimulus that will make them improve, enhancing strength and favoring the muscle development of your legs.
- Stand up, legs shoulder-width.
- Bend your knee and try to lower your hip until you break the line that draws ninety degrees in your knee joint.
- Perform a leg extension that raises the hip until you reach the starting point of the exercise.
Strides
The strides or split are a multi-articular exercise in whose execution the joints of the ankle, knee and hip are involved, so the participation not only of the buttock is required, but of a large number of muscles of the lower train.
To run the exercise in a correct way, you will need to perform the following steps:
- Hold two dumbbells firmly, one with each of your hands. You can perform properly this exercise without load or using two bottles of water.
- The legs are left with an opening equal to the width of your shoulders.
- Forward one leg forward and bend the knee.
- The leg behind should be flexed in the same way, trying to form a 90-degree angle in the knee.
- Scroll alternating leg movement.
Bulgarian Split
This exercise will help stabilize your knees at the same time that you will see the muscles of your buttocks work.
It is an exercise whose execution is simple than you might think, but you must be careful in the last phase of the movement if you do not want to injure your knee.
- Place one leg on a chair.
- The other leg should be rest on the ground.
- Bend your knee and lower your hip.
- Perform the climb by extending the knee and controlling the movement.
Hip bridge
The hip bridge is a super simple and basic exercise that will help you strengthen not only the muscles of your buttocks, but that of your entire core.
To do it correctly you will only need:
- Lie down on a mat.
- The hands are stretched out on each side of the hip, with the palms of the hands facing the ground.
- Your legs bent and with your feet resting on the floor.
- Elevate your hip by keeping your buttock tight until you maintain an angle of about 45 degrees from your body.
- Keep your back neutral without any bow.
- Go down controlling the movement.
The best exercise to work the buttock: the hip thrust
Hip thrust, although not well known, is considered the best exercise to develop the muscles of your buttock and the back of the leg. This movement is done with a hip thrust that activates most of the muscle fibers of your buttocks, which differentiates it from other exercises such as the squat.
How to perform hip thrust at home?
To do it properly, you will need the help of the sofa or the bed where you can support your back:
- Sit on the floor with your scapulae resting on a bench.
- The soles of the feet are fixed to the ground.
- You will have to place a bar at the height of the hip. You can also start doing the exercise without any load.
- Perform a hip thrust trying to raise the hip to the horizontal and raise the bar from the ground.
- Returns to the starting position.
Most common mistakes when performing Hip thrust at home
Some of the most frequent errors in performing this movement are:
- Placing the back wrong on the sofa or bed: the most common mistake when doing the hip thrust at home is usually made before executing the movement, and is to place the back incorrectly on the bench. Your back should be supported from the bottom of the scapulae.
- Lumbar hyperextension: there is an excessive arching of your back in the highest phase of the movement, which can cause damage to your spine.
- Feet too far from the buttocks: If you place your feet too far from your buttocks, you will not get a 90-degree angle with your knees when extending your hip, plus you will not be able to support your feet well on the ground, thus losing the thrust from them and running the risk of slipping forward. Make sure before you start that the knee flexion is correct.