Biomechanical effects of hip thrust and glute bridge on hip extensors

Horizontally loaded exercises have become very popular during the last years among strength and conditioning practitioners and coaches to enhance the performance of hip extensors. It has been shown that they are superior to the traditional standing free-weight exercises like squats or deadlifts in many aspects. The most famous exercise of this kind is the Barbell Hip Thrust, a close-kinetic chain exercise performed with a barbell to strengthen hip extensors. However, variations of the hip thrust have appeared, created by coaches to better suit their necessities, the most famous of them is the Loaded Glute Bridge. The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the biomechanical differences existing between the barbell hip thrust, and the loaded glute bridge.