Best Lower Body Exercise

There is a lot of talk about ‘the best’ exercises. Common consensus is that Chest Press, Pullup, Shoulder Press, Squat and Deadlift are the ‘Big Five.’ And don’t get me wrong I agree that they are all great, multi muscle group exercises that should be in everyone’s regime. But in my opinion there is one glaring omission from this list, the best lower body exercise, the Hip Thrust.

What is a Hip Thrust?

Ideally you would use a bench for this exercise, but if doing it from home you could use a sofa, bed, or anything you can lean against without it moving.

Bend your knees and rest shoulder blades against the bench. You should be at a right angle with your legs when you extend up. Dip down so your bum goes towards the floor, before extending back up and squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement. Keep your chin tucked into towards your chest throughout. You will probably need a weight as you gets more advanced so rest a dumbbell or barbell across your lap. Or if you don’t have access to either of those, you can do a single leg version of the exercise. Exactly the same as above, just extending 1 leg out in front of you.

Why Should The Hip Thrust Get on this list?

Firstly it creates balance, i.e. 3 upper body exercises and 3 lower body exercises in total, if you add it to the 5 exercises I mentioned earlier. But more than that lets ask ourselves what is our criteria for the ‘best exercises’ list. For me it’s;

1/ Multi muscle group exercise that you can lift a decent amount of weight on (relative to your other lifts). For me personally (and the majority of my clients) the hip thrust is my heaviest lift.

2/ Functionality – It 100% ticks this box, working the much under-worked for most people, glutes, hamstrings and lower back muscles.

3/ Safety – For me this is where the hip thrust trumps the other lower body exercises. In both the squat and deadlift you can get yourself into trouble/injure yourself quite easily, especially as you start to lift heavier. With the hip thrust this is not the case, it’s super safe. If you can’t lift it/get stuck, you can literally just sit on the floor.

Conclusion – Best Lower Body Exercise

If you want to balance your workout and your body add the hip thrust to your regime. Its highly effective in working the areas in which most of us are weak, and does so in a very safe way.