Exercise Notes
The shoulder-elevated hip thrust improves on the basic hip thrust by increasing the demands
at the hip and knee joints. This variation is more difficult for the quadriceps and moves the
hips through a greater range of motion than the floor version. The most difficult portion of
the movement is the top, which is characterized by a neutral or slightly hyperextended hip
position. It is important to be strong in this range of motion because it is used when running.
Comparatively, this range of hip motion is not strengthened during the squat exercises
because there are no hip extension torque requirements at the hip in neutral position when
standing. For this reason, the squat and hip thrust exercises complement each other well.