Foam Roll Hip Thrust

The Foam Roll Hip Thrust is a bodyweight glute exercise that involves performing a hip bridge with your upper back resting on a foam roller. This variation targets the glutes and hamstrings while challenging core stability due to the roller's tendency to shift.

Exercise movement reviewed by:Marie Braga, PT, DPT, CSCS
How Iridium Helps

Because this exercise serves as both a mobility drill and an activator, the AI analyzes your daily recovery metrics like HRV and sleep to optimize volume—prescribing more reps for activation on sluggish days. If you report lower back tightness, the app recognizes this pain pattern and may suggest regression to a stable floor bridge. Additionally, by tracking RPE, the AI identifies when stability is no longer the limiting factor, prompting you to progress to weighted variations.

Form Cues

Do
  • Position the roller just below your shoulder blades
  • Drive through your heels to lift hips
  • Tuck your chin slightly toward your chest
  • Squeeze your glutes hard at the top
  • Keep your core braced to stabilize the roller
Don't
  • Don't let your lower back arch excessively
  • Don't allow the roller to slide backward
  • Don't push through your toes
  • Don't let your knees cave inward
  • Don't swing your hips up with momentum

Common Mistakes

  • Hyperextending the lumbar spine
  • Placing feet too far forward
  • Using momentum instead of glute strength
  • Letting the foam roller slide out
  • Failing to reach full hip extension

Muscles Worked

This exercise primarily targets the gluteus maximus to drive hip extension, with the foam roller adding a component of instability that forces greater core engagement. The hamstrings act as secondary movers, assisting the glutes in lifting the hips, while the abdominals work to prevent the roller from moving.

Primary

Glutes

Secondary

HamstringsGeneral Core

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