The short answer
Hip thrust or Bulgarian split squat?
If you can only do one, do the Bulgarian split squat. It builds the thighs as well, and a chair and light dumbbells are enough to make it hard. Make the hip thrust your main lift when glutes are the goal and you own a bench and a heavy weight. The thrust loads the glutes hardest at the top, with the hips locked out, and the split squat loads them at the bottom, in the stretch. The stretch is only part of it, though: in the closest growth study, hip thrusts built as much glute as back squats did.
Side by side
| Question | Hip thrust | Bulgarian split squat |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Rest your upper back on a bench with a weight across your hips, and drive the hips up until knees, hips and shoulders form one line. | Stand a long stride in front of a bench with the top of your back foot resting on it, and lower until the back knee nearly touches the floor. |
| Equipment | A stable bench and a barbell, or a heavy dumbbell across the hips | Anything knee height for the back foot; dumbbells to load it |
| Where the glutes work hardest | At the top, with the hips straight and the muscle short | At the bottom, with the hip deeply bent and the muscle stretched |
| What else works hard | Less thigh. In a 9 week MRI study the quads and adductors grew less than with squats | The front thigh, with outer quad activity of 59% across the rep against 44% in the thrust |
| Weight needed to make it hard | A lot. Body weight soon stops being enough, so a barbell or a heavy dumbbell | Little. The front foot carries about 84% of the force, so light dumbbells go a long way |
| Kit | A bench that cannot slide, a weight, and a pad for the hips | A bench, a box or a sturdy chair pushed against a wall |
| Balance | None, since your upper back is on the bench | Plenty. Early sessions wobble, and that caps the weight at first |
| Left against right | Both legs together, so a weaker side can hide | One leg at a time, so each side does its own work |
Choose the hip thrust when
- Glutes are the goal and you would rather your thighs did not grow at the same pace.
- You train in a gym with a barbell, a pad and a bench.
- Balance holds back your single-leg work more than strength does, and you want to load the glutes heavily now.
- Split squats bother your front knee and hip thrusts do not.
Choose the bulgarian split squat when
- You train at home with a chair and a pair of light dumbbells, and nothing heavier.
- Time is tight, and one exercise has to cover glutes and thighs.
- Your left and right sides are clearly unequal.
- You run, or play a sport that has you pushing off one foot.
Using both in one week
One loads the bottom of the range and the other the top, so run them in the same week. Two lower-body days could open with Bulgarian split squats on the first, 3 sets of 8 to 12 per leg, and hip thrusts on the second, 3 sets of 8 to 12. That is 6 hard glute sets. Add a Romanian deadlift or step-ups on each day and the week passes 10, the weekly set count the 2026 ACSM position stand ties to muscle growth. If both have to share a day, split squats go first, while your balance is fresh.
With only a chair and dumbbells, then a bench
- Start on the floor with glute bridges, 3 sets of 15 to 20, squeezing for 2 seconds at the top.
- Split squat with the back foot on the floor: 3 sets of 8 to 12 per leg, a hand on a wall if you wobble.
- Bulgarian split squat with the chair pushed against a wall and your back foot on the seat, 3 sets of 8 to 12 per leg at body weight.
- Pick up dumbbells for the Bulgarian split squat. Start light, and add about 2 kg (5 lb) per hand once every set reaches 12 clean reps.
- Single-leg floor bridges after the split squats cover the top of the range: 3 sets of 10 to 15 per leg.
- Once you have a stable bench, hip thrusts with a dumbbell or barbell take the other day of the week, 3 sets of 8 to 12.
The numbers
- Glute growth, hip thrust vs back squat
- No clear difference34 untrained adults (18 and 16) scanned by MRI after 9 weeks. The squat grew the quads and adductors more (Plotkin 2023).
- Glute growth, full vs half squat
- 6.7% vs 2.2%Gluteus maximus volume after 10 weeks in 17 men. The deeper hip bend grew about three times as much (Kubo 2019).
- Outer quad activity
- 59% vs 44%Bulgarian split squat vs hip thrust across the whole rep at 80% of a one-rep max, 20 trained women (McCurdy 2021).
- Front foot's share of the force
- About 84%Bulgarian split squat, 715 reps by 26 trained men on two force plates (Helme 2022).
Mistakes that cost the most
- Standing too close to the bench. The front knee shoots forward, the hip barely bends, and the glute misses the stretch that makes the split squat worth doing.
- Driving through the back foot. It is there for balance, and the front leg should carry nearly all of the load.
- Finishing the hip thrust with your lower back. The rep ends when knees, hips and shoulders are level. Keep the chin tucked and the ribs down and the arch never starts.
- Thrusting off a sofa edge or a dining chair. Either can slide away from your shoulders with a weight across your hips.
Questions people ask
Are hip thrusts better than Bulgarian split squats?
Not clearly, for glute size. No trial we found puts the two head to head. The nearest is the 2023 study where hip thrusts and back squats grew the glutes about equally and the squat grew more thigh. A 2025 review of 12 studies reads the same way: many hip extension exercises grow the glutes, and the thrust is the one to favour when the glutes, and only the glutes, are what you want bigger.
Hip thrust vs Bulgarian split squat: which is better at home?
The split squat, if all you have is a chair. Pushed against a wall, a chair holds a back foot safely, and one leg at a time makes light dumbbells hard enough. A hip thrust needs a bench that cannot slide or tip. Without one, floor bridges cover the top of the range.
Does the stretch at the bottom of a split squat build more glute?
It seems to help. Full squats grew the glutes about three times as much as half squats over 10 weeks, and in a 2023 modelling study of 14 female footballers most exercises hit peak glute force where the fibres were longest. Yet a loaded single-leg hip thrust sat in the same top tier for glute force as a loaded split squat, and the hip thrust matched the back squat for growth. Train both ends of the range and the argument stops mattering.
Sources
- Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadliftFrontiers in Physiology, 2023
- Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumesEuropean Journal of Applied Physiology, 2019
- Hip and Knee Extensor Activation During the Hip Thrust and Rear-Foot-Elevated Split Squat in Trained FemalesJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2021
- Is the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat Unilateral? An Investigation Into the Kinetic and Kinematic DemandsJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2022
- Gluteal Muscle Forces during Hip-Focused Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation ExercisesMedicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2023
- The impact of resistance training on gluteus maximus hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysisFrontiers in Physiology, 2025
- Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy AdultsMedicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (ACSM position stand), 2026
Figures on this page come from the studies above or from the arithmetic shown. Read how claims are reviewed and updated in How the guides are written.