12 Hip Thrust Alternatives That Build Glute Strength Anywhere

Hip thrusts are effective, but they aren’t mandatory for building strong glutes.

Maybe your gym doesn’t have a comfortable setup. Maybe getting a loaded barbell across your hips is more trouble than it’s worth. Or maybe you simply want an exercise that carries over better to running, jumping, golf, or everyday strength.

A good hip thrust alternative still needs to challenge hip extension, load the glutes effectively, and give you a clear way to progress. The best substitute depends on what you’re trying to accomplish, what equipment you have, and which movements you can perform well.

This guide breaks down 12 options and explains when each one makes sense.

Key Takeaways

• You don’t need hip thrusts to develop strong glutes. Squats, hinges, lunges, bridges, and step-ups can all contribute.
• The best substitute depends on whether you want more glute size, general strength, athletic transfer, or a home-friendly exercise.
• Romanian deadlifts are a strong option when you want to load the glutes in a stretched position.
• Glute bridges are the closest simple replacement when you want a similar hip-extension pattern without a bench.
• Single-leg exercises add balance and hip stability demands that bilateral hip thrusts do not provide.
• Progression still matters. An exercise only remains useful if you can gradually make it more challenging while maintaining good technique.

What Makes a Good Hip Thrust Alternative?

The hip thrust is primarily a hip-extension exercise. You start with the hips flexed, drive them upward against resistance, and finish with the hips extended. The gluteus maximus plays a major role in producing that movement.

Research comparing lower-body exercises shows why replacing hip thrusts isn’t as simple as finding a movement that “burns” your glutes. Hip thrusts can produce high gluteus maximus muscle activation, but activation isn’t the same thing as long-term growth or strength development. One training study found that hip thrusts and squats produced similar gluteal hypertrophy over nine weeks, even though the exercises distributed the training stimulus differently.

That means you have options.

A useful alternative to hip thrust training should generally offer at least two of the following:

• It creates meaningful hip extension under resistance.
• It places the glutes under tension through a useful range of motion.
• It can be progressively loaded over time.
• It fits your available equipment and training environment.
• It supports the qualities you actually want to improve, such as strength, muscle growth, balance, or power.

The table below gives you a quick way to compare the main choices.

If you’re unsure where to begin, don’t choose based on which exercise looks hardest. Choose the movement you can perform consistently, control through its range of motion, and gradually progress. Current American College of Sports Medicine guidance similarly emphasizes consistency and individualized resistance training over chasing one supposedly perfect exercise. ACSM’s updated resistance training guidance recommends training major muscle groups regularly while adjusting the program to the individual.

12 Hip Thrust Alternatives for Stronger Glutes

There is no single best replacement for everyone. These hip thrust alternatives cover different equipment setups, strength levels, and training goals.

1. Glute bridge

If you want the closest straightforward hip thrust substitute, start with the glute bridge.

Instead of supporting your shoulders on a bench, you lie on the floor with your knees bent. Drive through your feet and extend your hips until your torso and thighs form a relatively straight line. Lower under control.

The floor reduces the available range of motion compared with many bench-supported hip thrust setups, but the exercise still trains loaded hip extension. The National Strength and Conditioning Association includes glute bridges among exercises used to strengthen the gluteal musculature. NSCA guidance on glute strengthening also describes progressing from bridges toward more heavily loaded hip-extension exercises.

Progress the movement by adding a resistance band, dumbbell, weight plate, or barbell across the hips.

Best for: beginners, home workouts, or anyone who dislikes the bench setup required for hip thrusts.

2. Romanian deadlift

The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, approaches glute training differently.

Instead of emphasizing the shortened position near the top of hip extension, the RDL challenges the posterior chain as you push your hips backward and lower the weight. Done correctly, you should feel tension through the hamstrings and glutes while maintaining a stable trunk.

Start tall with the weight close to your thighs. Soften your knees, push your hips backward, and lower until you reach the deepest position you can control without losing spinal position. Then drive the floor away and bring your hips forward.

This is an especially useful barbell hip thrust alternative when you want an exercise that also develops hamstring strength and your overall hip hinge.

Best for: strength, posterior-chain development, and lifters who want a heavily loadable compound movement.

3. Bulgarian split squat

A Bulgarian split squat turns glute training into a single-leg strength exercise.

Place your rear foot on a bench or other stable surface and keep most of your working load on the front leg. Descend under control, then push through the front foot to stand.

A slightly longer stance and controlled forward torso angle can increase the hip-extension demand, although your individual proportions will determine the exact position that feels best.

Unlike a bilateral hip thrust, the split squat also challenges stability and requires each side to produce force independently. That makes it useful for athletes and anyone trying to address noticeable side-to-side differences.

For athletes who need programming built around their movement demands rather than one isolated exercise, individualized strength and performance coaching can help determine where unilateral exercises belong within a complete program.

Best for: single-leg strength, athletes, and people who want one movement to train the glutes and legs together.

4. Reverse lunge

Reverse lunges offer many of the benefits of split squats without keeping the rear foot elevated.

Step backward, lower under control, and push through the front leg to return to standing. Because you move into the position one repetition at a time, some lifters find reverse lunges easier to organize than Bulgarian split squats.

Load them with dumbbells at your sides, a kettlebell in a goblet position, or a barbell if appropriate.

If your goal is a practical alternative for hip thrust training that develops the entire lower body while still giving the glutes plenty of work, reverse lunges are difficult to overlook.

Best for: general strength, beginners progressing toward unilateral training, and athletes.

5. Step-up

Step-ups train hip and knee extension while asking one leg to produce most of the force.

Choose a box height that allows you to control the movement without pushing excessively from the trailing leg. Place your entire working foot on the box, drive through it, and stand tall. Lower yourself rather than dropping back to the floor.

A higher box isn’t automatically better. Once the box becomes so high that your pelvis shifts dramatically or you need momentum to get up, the exercise often becomes harder to perform well without providing a corresponding benefit.

Start with a height you can control and add load gradually.

Best for: athletes, golfers, runners, and anyone who wants glute strength in a standing, single-leg movement.

6. Cable pull-through

The cable pull-through is one of the closest standing alternatives to the hip-extension mechanics of a hip thrust.

Attach a rope to a low cable, face away from the machine, and hold the rope between your legs. Step forward so the cable remains under tension. Push your hips backward, then extend them to return to standing.

Avoid turning the exercise into a squat. Your hips should travel backward while your knees bend only as much as needed to maintain a strong position.

Because a cable provides resistance throughout the movement, pull-throughs can work well as a moderate-load accessory after heavier squats, deadlifts, or single-leg exercises.

Best for: gym training, learning the hip hinge, and lifters who want loaded hip extension without putting a bar across their hips.

7. Kettlebell swing

A kettlebell swing isn’t simply a fast hip thrust. Its purpose is different.

The swing is a ballistic hip-hinge exercise. You load the hips quickly, then produce force through rapid hip extension to propel the kettlebell. Your arms guide the bell rather than lifting it like a front raise.

That makes swings a useful choice when your goal includes power, conditioning, or producing force quickly rather than simply accumulating slow repetitions for muscle development.

Golfers and rotational athletes, for example, need strength but also need to express force rapidly. A broader assessment of strength, mobility, stability, and power can identify where explosive exercises fit, which is part of the approach used in a TPI golf fitness evaluation.

Best for: power development and conditioning when you already have a competent hip hinge.

8. Single-leg glute bridge

No weights? Make the basic bridge unilateral.

Lie on your back, plant one foot, and lift the opposite leg. Drive the planted foot into the floor as you extend your hip. Keep your pelvis controlled rather than rotating toward the unsupported side.

The exercise becomes challenging surprisingly quickly because one hip now handles most of the work.

If regular bodyweight glute bridges have become too easy but you don’t have enough resistance to load them effectively, this is an accessible next step.

Best for: travel, home training, warm-ups, and basic unilateral hip strength.

9. Frog pump

Frog pumps are best treated as an accessory rather than the centerpiece of your lower-body program.

Lie on your back with the soles of your feet together and your knees falling outward. From there, extend your hips and squeeze the glutes before lowering under control.

The position shortens the range of motion and makes the exercise convenient for higher-repetition work. You can use bodyweight, a band, or modest external resistance.

Don’t mistake a strong burning sensation for proof that an exercise is superior. Frog pumps work well when you want extra glute volume with little setup, but they don’t replace progressive squats, hinges, lunges, and other heavily loadable movements.

Best for: accessory work, home sessions, and adding training volume without a complicated setup.

10. Sumo deadlift

The sumo deadlift gives you another heavy alternative to hip thrust training, particularly when total lower-body strength matters.

Take a wider stance than you would for a conventional deadlift, grip the bar inside your legs, brace your trunk, and push the floor away while extending your knees and hips.

The precise stance should match your anatomy. Going excessively wide because you think it will automatically target your glutes more can leave you in a poor pulling position.

Sumo deadlifts involve much more than the glutes, which is part of their value. They let you develop hip strength within a compound movement that can be loaded substantially.

Best for: experienced lifters seeking a heavy compound hip-extension exercise.

11. Walking lunge

Walking lunges combine unilateral strength with continuous movement.

Step forward far enough that you can lower with control. Drive through the lead leg, bring the trailing leg through, and continue into the next repetition.

Dumbbells are usually the easiest loading method because they allow natural movement without requiring a rack.

Walking lunges can become demanding quickly, so don’t turn them into a race. Controlled repetitions usually provide a better training stimulus than rushing across the gym simply to finish the set.

Best for: lower-body strength, work capacity, and athletes who benefit from dynamic single-leg training.

12. Single-leg Romanian deadlift

The single-leg RDL combines a hip hinge with balance and frontal-plane control.

Stand on one leg with a slight knee bend. Push your hips backward as the free leg extends behind you. Keep your hips relatively square to the floor, then drive through the stance leg to return to standing.

You don’t need to reach the weight to the floor. Stop when you have reached the end of the range you can control.

For many athletes, this movement provides something a standard hip thrust cannot: meaningful hip-extension loading while the body must also stabilize on one leg.

RPS coaches emphasize movement assessment and individualized programming rather than applying the same exercise list to everyone. You can learn more about the coaching backgrounds and strength expertise behind that approach.

Best for: athletes, balance, unilateral hip strength, and developing control through a hinge pattern.

How to Choose the Right Alternative

You don’t need all 12 exercises in one program. In most cases, picking one or two movements that match your goal works better than constantly rotating through every possible hip thrusts alternative.

Use this process.

Step 1: Decide what you want from the exercise

If your main goal is building muscle, choose movements you can progressively load and perform consistently. Romanian deadlifts, split squats, lunges, and bridges are all reasonable choices.

If your goal is athletic power, a kettlebell swing may serve a different purpose than a slow, heavily loaded bridge.

For general strength, you may get more value from a compound movement such as an RDL or split squat because it develops several useful qualities at once.

Step 2: Work with the equipment you actually have

A theoretical perfect exercise isn’t useful if your gym setup makes it impractical.

At home, start with glute bridges, single-leg bridges, lunges, and single-leg RDLs. Dumbbells expand your options considerably.

In a commercial gym, you can add cable pull-throughs, barbell RDLs, sumo deadlifts, and loaded split squats.

Step 3: Choose a movement you can control

The goal isn’t to feel the biggest burn. You need to produce repeatable repetitions through an appropriate range of motion.

If you can’t keep your balance during a single-leg RDL, reduce the load, hold onto a support, or choose a bilateral hinge temporarily. If your Bulgarian split squat turns into a fight just to stay upright, a reverse lunge may be more productive.

Step 4: Account for discomfort

Muscular effort is expected. Sharp pain, joint pain, numbness, or symptoms that worsen from set to set shouldn’t be treated as something you need to push through.

If hip thrusts hurt and you don’t know why, switching exercises may make training more comfortable, but it doesn’t identify the cause. Persistent or significant pain warrants evaluation by an appropriate healthcare professional.

How to Program Hip Thrust Substitutes

Exercise selection matters, but programming determines whether that exercise keeps producing a useful training stimulus.

You don’t need a complicated system. ACSM’s current position on resistance training emphasizes regular participation and gradual progression rather than unnecessarily complex programming.

For most healthy adults, start by choosing one primary lower-body exercise and, if needed, one supplemental glute movement.

A simple session might look like this:

1. Romanian deadlift: three sets of six to eight controlled repetitions.
2. Reverse lunge: three sets of eight repetitions per side.
3. Glute bridge: two or three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

That gives you a bilateral hinge, unilateral leg work, and direct hip extension without performing a single hip thrust.

Progress only when your technique remains consistent. You might add a small amount of weight, perform another repetition with the same load, increase your range of motion when appropriate, or move from a bilateral variation to a more demanding unilateral exercise.

The mistake is changing exercises every week before you have a chance to improve at them. Give a movement enough time to learn it, load it, and track your progress.

For a home program, the same principle applies:

1. Start with 12 controlled bodyweight glute bridges.
2. Progress to 15 to 20 repetitions.
3. Add a resistance band or external load.
4. Move to single-leg bridges when bilateral repetitions become too easy.
5. Add split squats or single-leg RDLs for a different strength challenge.

You don’t have to make every exercise harder at once. Progress one variable while keeping the rest of the movement predictable.

The broader point is supported by resistance-training research: several exercises can develop the glutes, and no single movement owns the outcome. A systematic review identified meaningful gluteus maximus activation across multiple strength exercises involving hip extension. Research on gluteus maximus activation across common strength exercises supports using exercise selection as one part of a broader training program rather than relying exclusively on one movement.

FAQs

The useful question isn’t whether you can find a perfect replacement for hip thrusts. It’s whether your program contains movements you can perform well, progressively challenge, and repeat consistently. Pick the hip thrust alternative that fits your body, equipment, and goal, then give yourself enough time to actually get stronger at it.