Plate-Loaded Glute Drive

Muscles worked by the Plate-Loaded Glute Drive

Primary

GlutesGluteus Maximus

Secondary

Glute MediusGluteus MediusHamstringsHamstring MusclesQuadsQuadriceps Femoris

Also called: glute, glutes, gluteus maximus, buttocks, butt.

Equipment

Hip Thrust Machine

Also called: glute drive, glute bridge machine, seated hip thrust, plate-loaded hip thrust, glute thrust machine.

How to do the Plate-Loaded Glute Drive

1. Load the plate horns evenly and sit into the machine with your upper back against the pad and your feet flat on the platform.
2. Pull the hip pad or lap bar across your hips and adjust it so it sits on the crease of the hips, not on your stomach.
3. Set your feet so that your shins will be roughly vertical when your hips are at the top, and take hold of the handles.
4. Drive your hips up by squeezing the glutes until your thighs are level with your torso, and hold briefly at the top.
5. Lower under control until your hips are just short of the bottom of the range, and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Form tips

• Get the pad on the hip crease. Sitting it up on the stomach is the only genuinely uncomfortable thing this machine does, and it is fixed by moving the pad, not by adding padding.
• Finish with the hips, not the lower back. If the ribs flare at the top you have run out of hip extension and started arching, which is where the machine stops training the glutes.
• This is the hip thrust to reach for when the bench and barbell are taken -- the back pad and platform are part of the frame, so there is no setup to get wrong.

At a glance

Plate-Loaded Glute Drive in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Banded Glute Bridge
• Banded Hip Thrust
• Banded Kneeling Hip Thrust
• Barbell Glute Bridge
• Barbell Hip Thrust
• Dumbbell Hip Thrust
• Glute Bridge
• Glute Bridge Hold

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "plate-loaded-glute-drive",
  "name_en": "Plate-Loaded Glute Drive",
  "name_de": "Glute Drive an der Scheibenmaschine",
  "name_es": "Empuje de Glúteo en Máquina de Discos",
  "description_en": "A machine hip thrust performed on a plate-loaded glute drive, where the built-in back pad and foot platform set the position so the hips can extend against the load without setting up a bench.",
  "description_de": "Ein Hip Thrust an einer scheibenbeladenen Glute-Drive-Maschine, bei der die eingebaute Rückenlehne und die Fußplattform die Position vorgeben, sodass die Hüfte gegen die Last strecken kann, ohne eine Bank aufzubauen.",
  "description_es": "Un empuje de cadera en una máquina de glúteo de discos, donde el respaldo y la plataforma integrados fijan la posición para que las caderas extiendan contra la carga sin tener que montar un banco.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "push",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "equipment": "hip_thrust_machine",
  "body_part": "upper_legs",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "gluteus_maximus"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "gluteus_medius",
    "hamstrings",
    "quadriceps"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy",
    "strength"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "leg_day",
    "glute_focus",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "no_axial_load"
  ],
  "variation_group": "hip-thrust",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": false,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Load the plate horns evenly and sit into the machine with your upper back against the pad and your feet flat on the platform.",
    "Pull the hip pad or lap bar across your hips and adjust it so it sits on the crease of the hips, not on your stomach.",
    "Set your feet so that your shins will be roughly vertical when your hips are at the top, and take hold of the handles.",
    "Drive your hips up by squeezing the glutes until your thighs are level with your torso, and hold briefly at the top.",
    "Lower under control until your hips are just short of the bottom of the range, and repeat for the desired number of repetitions."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Belade die Scheibenaufnahmen gleichmäßig und setze dich in die Maschine, mit dem oberen Rücken am Polster und den Füßen flach auf der Plattform.",
    "Ziehe das Hüftpolster beziehungsweise den Bügel über deine Hüfte und stelle es so ein, dass es auf der Hüftbeuge liegt und nicht auf dem Bauch.",
    "Setze die Füße so, dass die Schienbeine senkrecht stehen, wenn die Hüfte oben ist, und greife die Haltegriffe.",
    "Drücke die Hüfte durch Anspannen der Gesäßmuskeln nach oben, bis die Oberschenkel auf Höhe des Oberkörpers sind, und halte oben kurz.",
    "Senke kontrolliert ab, bis die Hüfte kurz vor dem Ende des Bewegungsumfangs ist, und wiederhole für die gewünschte Anzahl an Wiederholungen."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Carga los soportes de discos por igual y siéntate en la máquina con la parte alta de la espalda contra el respaldo y los pies planos en la plataforma.",
    "Baja la almohadilla o barra sobre tus caderas y ajústala para que apoye en el pliegue de la cadera y no sobre el abdomen.",
    "Coloca los pies de modo que las espinillas queden verticales cuando las caderas estén arriba, y sujeta las empuñaduras.",
    "Empuja las caderas hacia arriba apretando los glúteos hasta que los muslos queden alineados con el torso, y mantén un instante arriba.",
    "Baja de forma controlada hasta justo antes del final del recorrido y repite el número de repeticiones deseado."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Get the pad on the hip crease. Sitting it up on the stomach is the only genuinely uncomfortable thing this machine does, and it is fixed by moving the pad, not by adding padding.",
    "Finish with the hips, not the lower back. If the ribs flare at the top you have run out of hip extension and started arching, which is where the machine stops training the glutes.",
    "This is the hip thrust to reach for when the bench and barbell are taken -- the back pad and platform are part of the frame, so there is no setup to get wrong."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Bring das Polster auf die Hüftbeuge. Auf dem Bauch zu liegen ist das einzige wirklich unangenehme an dieser Maschine, und man behebt es durch Verschieben des Polsters, nicht durch mehr Polsterung.",
    "Beende die Bewegung mit der Hüfte, nicht mit dem unteren Rücken. Wenn oben die Rippen aufklappen, ist die Hüftstreckung zu Ende und du beginnst ins Hohlkreuz zu gehen — dort hört die Maschine auf, den Gesäßmuskel zu trainieren.",
    "Das ist der Hip Thrust für den Fall, dass Bank und Langhantel belegt sind — Rückenlehne und Plattform gehören zum Rahmen, es gibt also keinen Aufbau, den man falsch machen kann."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Coloca la almohadilla en el pliegue de la cadera. Dejarla sobre el abdomen es lo único realmente incómodo de esta máquina, y se resuelve moviendo la almohadilla, no añadiendo acolchado.",
    "Termina el movimiento con la cadera, no con la zona lumbar. Si arriba se te abren las costillas es que se acabó la extensión de cadera y has empezado a arquear, que es donde la máquina deja de entrenar el glúteo.",
    "Este es el empuje de cadera al que recurrir cuando el banco y la barra están ocupados: el respaldo y la plataforma forman parte del bastidor, así que no hay montaje que hacer mal."
  ],
  "met": 6.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/plate-loaded-glute-drive-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/plate-loaded-glute-drive-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "plate-loaded-glute-drive");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.