Barbell hip thrust muscles worked

Every role here is for this technique: upper back on a bench, feet flat, bar across the hips, from hips low to a straight line from shoulders to knees.

What muscles does the barbell hip thrust work?

The prime mover of the barbell hip thrust is gluteus maximus. It produces hip extension. The synergists are the hamstrings, adductor magnus and the quadriceps. Seven stabilizers hold joints and segments still, among them the erector spinae, rectus abdominis and external oblique. The roles follow Contreras et al. (2015), Andersen et al. (2018) and NSCA (2016).

Joint actions and their prime movers

Every muscle by role

A prime mover produces the lift’s main joint action against the load; a synergist assists that action, or adds a secondary action the lift needs; a stabilizer contracts mostly isometrically to hold a joint or a segment still. A role describes what the muscle does in the technique above, not how hard it works or how much it grows.

Prime movers 1

Prime movers in the barbell hip thrust, with what each does

Muscle	What it does here
Gluteus maximus	Hip extension, hardest at the top More active than in the back squat (Contreras et al. 2015).

Synergists 3

Synergists in the barbell hip thrust, with what each does

Muscle	What it does here
Hamstrings	Hip extension The knees stay bent, so the hamstrings help less than in a deadlift (Andersen et al. 2018).
Adductor magnus	Hip extension
Quadriceps	Knee extension as the hips rise The vastus lateralis was about as active as in the back squat (Contreras et al. 2015).

Stabilizers 7

Stabilizers in the barbell hip thrust, with what each does

Muscle	What it does here
Erector spinae	Holding the spine neutral, not arched
Rectus abdominis	Bracing the trunk against the load
External oblique	Bracing the trunk and resisting rotation
Internal oblique	Bracing the trunk and resisting rotation
Transversus abdominis	Raising abdominal pressure to stiffen the trunk
Gluteus medius	Keeping the knees from falling in
Gluteus minimus	Keeping the knees from falling in

Lowering and lifting

Where these prime movers also work

• Gluteus maximus: prime mover in the back squat, front squat, leg press, conventional deadlift, sumo deadlift, Romanian deadlift, Bulgarian split squat and walking lunge.

Compared with the other hinge lifts

• Conventional deadlift: prime movers in both, gluteus maximus; prime movers only in the conventional deadlift, the hamstrings, adductor magnus, the quadriceps and the erector spinae.
• Sumo deadlift: prime movers in both, gluteus maximus; prime movers only in the sumo deadlift, adductor magnus, the hamstrings, the quadriceps and the erector spinae.
• Romanian deadlift: prime movers in both, gluteus maximus; prime movers only in the Romanian deadlift, the hamstrings, adductor magnus and the erector spinae.

Sources

• Contreras et al. (2015), J Appl Biomech 31(6):452
• Andersen et al. (2018), J Strength Cond Res 32(3):587
• NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed. (2016)

The cited studies that measured muscle activity used electromyography, and a larger signal need not mean more force or more growth (Vigotsky et al. (2018), Front Physiol 8:985). The roles draw on those studies for which muscles a lift involves and how two lifts differ, never to rank one muscle against another.

The values are facts and free to use; this page’s selection and presentation are © 2026 ScienceQuest.

See these muscles in 3D

Visualiser · Biology Muscles Worked by Exercise 3D Explorer Choose a lift and a real body lights its prime movers, synergists and stabilisers, front and back, with the same muscles in 3D. Visualiser · Biology Muscle Origin, Insertion and Action Explorer Paint a muscle’s origin and insertion on real 3D bones, or click a bone to see what attaches to it.