Hip thrust machines and glute drives are a killer way to take your glute game to the next level. Here are the best ones on the market right now. Buckle up for booty gains!
The hip thrust exercise has exploded in popularity in recent years.
And there are lots of good reasons for this, with benefits of hip thrusts including its nearly unparallel ability to target the glutes and hip extensors.
In terms of lower body exercises, hip thrusts are also easy on the knees and relatively safe.
That said, not all of us are comfortable with a loaded barbell teetering on our pelvis through a hip thrust pad. Or we want a more secure set-up than a weight bench for supporting our back.
As the hip thrust has accelerated in popularity, so has the number of options when it comes to hip thrust machines.
There is all manner of options on the market, including machines and glute drives that are designed to help you thrust barbells more safely to flat-out machines with seat belts, weight stack, and commercial-grade roller to buffer your hips.
In this guide, we will look at the best of the best when it comes to hip thrust machines and glute drives.
Let’s get to it.
Best Hip Thrust and Glute Drive Machines for Home and Commercial Gyms
Hip Thruster 3.0
⭐ Best hip thrust machines for barbell use
If you are serious about building bigger glutes, then you know the name Bret Contreras.
He’s the main dude when it comes to this exercise (hence why he’s often referred to as the “glute guy”), and over the years, as he’s popularized this exercise and led on a lot of the research on the effectiveness of hip thrusts, he’s also done some trouble-shooting in terms of creating a stable platform for doing the exercise correctly.
Enter, the Thruster machine.
This is by far the best option on the market for people who want to hip-thrust with a barbell.
Now in its second third iteration, it’s got a thick pad for squaring up your shoulders, a slip-free surface for planting your feet, and resistance band pegs for maximum hypertrophy and tension.
Other things I love about the Thruster 3.0:
- Wheels so that you can tilt and move the machine when not in use (has a handle too)
- Minimal assembly required
- Recommended maximum weight capacity of 1,300lbs (!!!)
- Long, wide base provides excellent stability
The 3.0 added some cool new features above and beyond the Hip Thruster 2.0 that include:
- Rounded back pad (instead of the rectangular, square pad)
- Ability to change the height on the back pad
- Ability to add a second rotating back pad so that you can do Nordic Ham Curls too
It might be a little pricey for some ($499) when you consider that barbells and plates are sold separately, but this thing will last you a lifetime and it’s made by the guy who has brought hip thrusts to the masses.
The Thruster 3.0 is available exclusively at Bret Contreras’ online store, which you can access here.
Core Home Fitness Glute Drive
⭐ Best low-cost and compact hip thrust machine
I love the simplicity of the Core Home Fitness Glute Drive.
It’s a lightweight machine that is ideal for lifters who aren’t planning on going super heavy with hip thrusts and who want something more compact compared to the larger machines that populate this list.
The machine generates resistance from bands that are attached from the bottom of the long seat pad to the base of the machine. You can get up to around 180lbs of “weight” from the bands, which are included.
Key things that I really like about the Core Home Fitness Glute Drive:
- Proper shoulder positioning every time—the long back pad means no shuffling around to plant your shoulders properly.
- Bands for resistance—you don’t need to invest in a barbell, bench, hip thrust pad, and so on to do the exercise.
- Tiny footprint—at just over 18” wide and 59.5” long, it’s significantly more compact compared to other hip thrust machines.
Best of all, the Core Home Fitness Glute Drive can be folded up and tucked away between uses. It weighs just a shade over 60lbs, so it’s not a total hassle to slide under the bed or even lean against a wall when not in use.
The machine retails for $179—making it also the least expensive glute machine on this list, by far—and is available exclusively at their website, which you can access here.
Glute Ultimate Rack
⭐ best hip thrust machine that’s also a squat rack (!?)
The Glute Ultimate Rack is… well… it’s like a power rack for your butt muscles. And it’s also a lifting platform. With safety bars.
It’s insane.
Made by GLuteBuilder, the key features include rails for resting the barbell (padded so as to not damage your bars or the rack), tons of band pegs for plenty of options for band placement, and vertical bar and horizontal plate storage pins.
Additionally, and you won’t see this with other comparable machines (not that there really are any…), but the bench can be inclined to the angle of your choosing so that you can set your shoulders in comfort. It can be tilted to the point that you can step into the machine as a squat rack.
Additionally, treaded strips keep your feet in place and stoppers at the end of the rails keep the bar from rolling off the machine.
Frankly it’s hard to compare the Glute Ultimate Rack to anything else because there isn’t really any competition. If you are a glute nerd that wants an all-in-one lower body training station, the Glute Ultimate Rack is it.
Orders are placed exclusively through GluteBuilder’s website, and are done through a “contact us” form which you can fill out here.
Booty Builder V8
Booty Builder is another commercial-grade solution. Booty Builder makes several different glute-building machines, and the Booty Builder V8 is their heavy duty option, made primarily for gyms and fitness centers.
It provides resistance via a pulley system. Wrap the belt over the top of your waist, set the weight stack to your desired weight, and go to Gainstown.
(It’s also the only hip thrust machine I’ve seen that uses a weight plate stack for resistance.)
Maximum weight with the stack goes up to 350lbs, and if that is too light for your ambitious booty-building requirements, the V8 comes with six bands for added resistance.
The Booty Builder V8 arrives on a pallet and is mostly totally assembled when it arrives. Pricing is done via a contact form so that they can provide you with a custom quote based on where they are shipping it to.
Nautilus Glute Drive
The Nautilus Glute Drive is a commercial-grade hip thrust machine that comes with a commercial-grade price. (Hold onto your glutes—it retails for $3,499.)
This thing is built for high-volume use, with a padded seat belt that keeps you in place, a safety latch for “unracking” the weight when you are ready to begin, and vertical handles to hold onto when banging away at building bigger glutes.
The Nautilus Glute Drive also features band pegs to give you more time under tension when performing the exercise. (You will feel it extra good—or bad, depending on how many reps you are in—at the apex of the lift with added band resistance.)
That said, I’m a little surprised by how low the maximum weight capacity is, with Nautilus recommending a maximum load of 350lbs.
For stronger users, this might not be the best option, but for those who don’t plan on hitting the 400s with their hip thrusts and want a really stable platform, the Glute Drive is an excellent choice.
Best Hip Thrust Machines — FAQs
What machines can I do hip thrusts on?
With a little bit of imagination, you’ll be surprised how many machines you can use for hip thrusts at your local gym.
If you don’t want to do the “old school” setup of using a bench, barbell, crash pads, and half the bumper plates in the gym, there are some leg machines at the gym you can MacGyver to do hip thrusts.
Leg extension machines can be done simply by adjusting the work arm accordingly.
Squat racks, also, can be configured to perform hip thrusts (you would just require a hip thrust attachment—basically a cross member bar with several inches of padding).
Rogue, for example, has a “bench” that you can quickly add to their line of Monster squat racks with a pair of pins:
Are hip thrust machines worth it?
If getting the most from your hip thrust is important to you, then yes!
Hip thrusts are one of the best exercises on the planet, promoting lumbar strength, better athletic performance, and of course, can help you develop a pant-poppin’ booty.
Hip thrust machines can be quite pricey—there’s no getting around that—with the Nautilus machine retailing for well over $3,000.
But the one-time investment in the Thruster 2.0 or even the Core Home Fitness Glute Drive will pay for itself with better hip thrust technique and booty gains.
Alternative machines like a glute ham roller or using a barbell and a bench for hip thrusts are a better option for those who don’t want to spend a ton of money on building those glutes.
More Hip Thrust Guides Like This
What Muscles Does the Barbell Hip Thrust Work? The barbell hip thrust is a killer exercise for developing lower body strength and muscle. Here’s a detailed look at what muscles are being worked when doing hip thrusts.
5 Best Hip Thrust Alternatives for Epic Glutes. Looking for some hip thrust alternatives to spice up your glute training? Here are some alternative exercises you can do at home or the gym.
