Hip Thrust Alternatives – Introduction
What are the most effective hip thrust alternatives for home workouts?
The barbell hip thrust is a popular lower body exercise that targets the glutes and hamstrings.
Gymgoers all over the world do this movement to develop a stronger posterior chain while saving their lower backs from unnecessary wear and tear.
However, home exercisers may find this fantastic exercise impractical.
For starters, you need a barbell to do barbell hip thrust, and they can be expensive and take up a lot of space.
You’ll also need an exercise bench, which you may also not have.
The good news is that there are plenty of posterior chain exercises you can do instead of barbell hip thrusts, even if your home gym is very basic.
This article reveals eight alternative exercises with similar benefits to hip thrusts with free weights — each one is a compound exercise that targets your glutes and hamstrings without needing a barbell.
Jump to the Exercise
- #1. Glute Bridge
- #2. Glute Bridge March
- #3. Glute Bridge Walkout
- #4. Prisoner Good Mornings
- #5. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
- #6. Resistance Band RDL
- #7. Kettlebell Swings
- #8. Resistance Band Pull-Through
8 Great Hip Thrust Alternative Exercises for Home
No way to do barbell hip thrusts at home?
Or are you just bored of doing them all the time?
No problem – just do any of the following exercises instead!
They all target your glutes — the largest muscle group in your body — which includes the:
- gluteus maximus
- gluteus medius
- gluteus minimus
And most also work your hamstrings, especially in exercises that use one leg at a time or require more balance.
Most are equally lower-back friendly, too.
#1. Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is a stripped-down, bare-bones alternative to the barbell hip thrust exercise.
You don’t need any equipment, which makes it the ideal at-home exercise for your glutes and hamstrings.
It’s perfect for beginners, as the load on your muscles is relatively low.
And it’s also a foundation for many other hip thrust variations, as described below with the glute bridge march and walkout.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat.
- Press your lower back into the floor and brace your core.
- Drive your feet into the floor and raise your hips up so they form a straight line with your knees and shoulders.
- Pause for 1-2 seconds.
- Lower your butt back to the floor and repeat.
- Make this exercise more challenging by using one leg at a time.
How to awaken your glutes
#2. Glute Bridge March
Glute bridge marches are a single-leg, alternating glute and hamstring exercise.
They’re a little more challenging than standard glute bridges and ideal for more experienced exercisers.
However, despite this increase in difficulty, glute bridge marches are still a very lower back-friendly exercise that’s ideal for home workouts.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat.
- Brace your core.
- Lift your hips up so they form a straight line with your knees and shoulders.
- Keeping your hips up, lift one leg and push your knee up toward the ceiling.
- Lower your foot to the floor, switch legs, and repeat.
- Continue marching for the required number of reps.
Glute bridge variations including glute bridge march
#3. Glute Bridge Walkout
This exercise is a little more hamstring-centric than some of the other effective alternatives in this article.
It’s also a bit more challenging.
Don’t be surprised if your hamstrings cramp up the first time you do this exercise; however, after a couple of workouts, this should cease to be a problem.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat.
- Brace your core.
- Lift your hips up so they form a straight line with your knees and shoulders.
- Taking small steps, walk your feet out and away until your legs are almost straight.
- Do NOT let your butt touch the floor.
- Walk your feet back in and repeat.
- Make this exercise a little easier by not walking your feet out as far.
Glute bridge walkout exercise demo
#4. Prisoner Good Mornings
Prisoner good mornings are so-called because, with your hands clasped behind your head, you look a little like a jail inmate, and you’ll be bowing like you’re politely greeting royalty.
Quirky names aside, this great exercise strengthens the glutes and hamstrings while improving hip mobility and flexibility.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet about hip-width apart.
- Bend your knees slightly for balance.
- Clasp your hands behind your head and push your elbows out and back to open your chest.
- Brace your core.
- Push your hips back and lean forward, taking care not to round your lower back.
- Lean as far as your hamstring flexibility allows.
- Drive your hips forward and stand back up.
- Do not lean back and hyperextend your spine.
- That’s one rep – keep going.
Prisoner good morning exercise
#5. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
Romanian deadlifts are an excellent posterior chain exercise.
However, you’ll usually need a barbell or dumbbells to do them.
This single-leg variation is challenging without requiring weights, making it an excellent option for home workouts.
Over time, this movement can help improve your balance, stability, and build both unilateral and lower body strength.
It is one of the most effective exercises for anyone strength training without a barbell.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet together and your arms by your sides.
- Bend your knees slightly and brace your core.
- Shift your weight over onto one leg.
- Hinging from the hips, lean forward and reach down your legs toward the floor.
- Extend your non-weight-bearing leg out behind you for balance.
- Stand back up and repeat.
- Do the same number of reps on both legs.
Single leg deadlifts – The best exercise you’re not doing
#6. Resistance Band RDL
While single-leg RDLs are awesome, they also require good balance.
As such, you may find yourself thinking more about staying on your feet than working your glutes and hamstrings.
This resistance band variation puts more tension on your muscles without compromising your balance.
And, all you need to do them is a set of basic resistance bands.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet together in the middle of your resistance band.
- Hold one end in each hand.
- Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your core.
- Bend your knees slightly.
- Push your hips backward and hinge forward, reaching down the front of your legs.
- Do not round your lower back.
- Drive your hips forward and stand up, taking care not to lean back.
- Continue for the desired number of reps.
Band Romanian deadlifts
#7. Kettlebell Swings
While you will need a kettlebell (or a dumbbell) to do this exercise, your investment will be rewarded!
Kettlebell swings are a powerful hip extension exercise that is also a superb fat and calorie burner.
This exercise can be tricky to master, but once you’ve got it figured out, you’ll love the results.
How to do it:
- Hold your kettlebell in front of your hips, knees slightly bent, and feet around shoulder-width apart.
- Pull your shoulders back and down, and brace your core.
- Push your hips back and lower the weight between your knees.
- Do not squat the weight down – most of the movement should come from your hips.
- Drive your hips forward, using this momentum to swing with kettlebell forward and up to shoulder height.
- Lower the weight and repeat.
Kettlebell swing tutorial for beginners
#8. Resistance Band Pull-Through
Cable pull-throughs are a popular and effective exercise for increasing glute and hamstring strength in powerlifting.
Home exercisers can do this tremendous posterior chain strengthener using a resistance band.
With next to no load on your lower back, this is a very spine-friendly exercise.
How to do it:
- Attach a resistance band to a low anchor point.
- Stand with your back to the anchor, hold the end of the band in both hands, and stand astride it.
- Walk forward to tension the band.
- Bend your knees slightly, brace your core, and pull your shoulders back and down.
- Hinging from the hips, lean forward and reach backward between your knees.
- Take care not to round your lower back.
- Drive your hips forward and stand up.
Banded pull-through demo
Jump Back to an Exercise?
- #1. Glute Bridge
- #2. Glute Bridge March
- #3. Glute Bridge Walkout
- #4. Prisoner Good Mornings
- #5. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
- #6. Resistance Band RDL
- #7. Kettlebell Swings
- #8. Resistance Band Pull-Through
Barbell Hip Thrust Alternative – Wrapping Up
Whatever you are training for, posterior chain exercises like barbell hip thrusts deserve to be part of your workouts.
The glutes and hamstrings play a critical role in many everyday activities, as well as athletic performance.
They are essentially the engine room of the human body.
From walking to running to lifting to jumping – your glutes do it all!
However, prolonged sitting and general neglect mean that many people have weak, soft gluteal muscles, and that’s a problem.
Weak glutes can affect your posture and are a contributing factor to lower back pain.
When the glutes are weak, more stress falls on your lumbar spine, which is both easy to injure and slow to repair.
Thankfully, the glutes and posterior chain muscles as a whole are very trainable, and you don’t need a gym or expensive equipment to strengthen them.
In fact, in a lot of cases, your body weight is all that’s required.
Do 2-3 sets of as many reps as you need to fatigue the target muscles.
Just 2-3 workouts per week can be enough to fire up your glutes.
With consistent glute training, you’ll build strength, improve posture, and reduce injury risk.
But remember, the glutes are just one of over 600 muscles in the human body, so while they deserve your attention, you don’t have to focus on them exclusively.
Make sure you combine your posterior chain training with exercises for all your other major muscle groups.
There is no need to go all glutes all of the time, but developing stronger glutes will support overall lower body strength.
But when you’re looking for effective hip thrust alternatives that target your glutes and hamstrings, the above exercises are a great option.
They’re easy to plug into any workout routine or training program, and many of them are simple compound exercises that also strengthen your erector spinae, hips, and core.
With consistent effort and proper form, you’ll build stronger glutes, improve posture, and make real progress—even without a barbell or a gym.
What’s Next?
Strong glutes are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to lower body strength and reducing the risk of injury.
If you want to keep building power while keeping stress off your lower back muscles, try adding Bulgarian split squats and reverse lunges to your routine.
Both of these lower body exercises help develop glute muscles while also improving balance and mobility.
Plus, they’re a great way to target your legs without needing heavy weights.
Want to take your leg training even further?
Check out the 10 Best Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises You Can Do at Home
