Hip thrust pads are a quick way to protect your hips, stabilize the bar, and push more weight. Here is a breakdown of my favorite barbell pads for hip thrusts.
The hip thrust has become one of the most popular exercises in the gym in recent years. The exercise is very effective for creating killer hip extension. The learning curve on hip thrusts is short, it targets your glutes and posterior chain like few other exercises can, and will help power up your main lifts.
But as awesome as the exercise is, there is that bar being loaded up right below your private parts. As you get stronger and begin pushing serious weight, and the bar is balanced on your upper thighs, you will want to provide protection and padding between yourself and the bar.
Bruising, discomfort, loose weights, and a bar digging painfully into your thighs don’t need to be part of the deal.
Enter the hip thrust pad.
Simple in design, a good hip thrust pad will protect your crotch and bones, stabilize the bar, and ultimately help you lift more weight safely.
Here is a rundown on the best barbell pads for hip thrusts.
Iron Bull Strength Barbell Pad
- Top Overall Pick
Thick, super comfortable, and a piece of cake to clamp on and off the bar, the Iron Bull Hip Thrust and Squat Pad is my number one pick.
Using this pad, instead of my local gym’s soft, velcro-snapping pad almost instantly added an extra 80 pounds to my hip thrusts. Because the bar was no longer jabbing through the thin padding from my gym’s pad, and also not rolling around when I tried to explode up through the ascent of the lift, I was able to pile on a couple of extra plates and smash some PRs.
The Iron Bull pad is very thick—with 1.25 inches of durable foam, you won’t feel the bar through it at all. I regularly use this pad with weights of up to 450 pounds and it happily takes the beating without falling apart. The above pad has seen bi-weekly use for the past six months and it still looks brand new.
Make sure that when you clamp on the bar pad to have the opening facing up so that the bar doesn’t slide out when lifting. Cheap, durable, and available in a half dozen colors, the Iron Bull is the ultimate barbell pad for hip thrusts.
ProFitness Barbell Pad for Hip Thrusts
If you are nervous about the pad rolling off while in use, the ProFitness bar pad is right up your alley. The overall structure and design of the pad is almost identical to the Iron Bull pad, but with one very key difference: the two straps that allow you to super-secure the pad to the barbell, keeping it tightly in place so that you can focus exclusively on lifting like a champion.
Made with durable rubberized foam and easy to slide on and off the bar, the ProFitness hip thrust pad distributes the weight of the bar across the pad so that you can focus on hitting peak strength and form when lifting.
Priced very competitively, it comes in three colors, and has a solid five-star rating on Amazon from nearly a thousand reviewers.
Gladiator Strength Barbell Pad
Another in the extra thick pads, the Gladiators Strength also has two straps for a secure fit on the barbell, which means that you don’t have to worry about the pad sliding out when you are doing hip thrusts.
This hip thrust pad is also the thickest on our little list, with the non-slip, rubberized foam coming in at 1.3 inches in the thickness department.
The only drawback is that the straps are not attached to the pad, which means you will want to store and haul them with care as to not lose the straps.
Dark Iron Fitness Barbell Pad
The Dark Iron Fitness Barbell Pad is built like your more traditional bar pad. Although it is not as thick as the other pads on this list, doesn’t have the U-shape that makes it more comfortable on squats, and isn’t as thick (0.75”), this pad performs well.
Designed to wrap easily around your standard Olympic barbell, and featuring a Velcro-clasp to properly secure the pad to the bar, the Dark Iron Fitness is a budget-friendly barbell pad that won’t wilt under heavy weight or absorb sweat and moisture.
Gymletics Barbell Pad Kit
Building a thick booty is a predominant part of just about everyone’s workout routines these days.
Go to your local gym and there is a constant battle for cable machines to do kick-backs and benches to for hip thrusting. With the Gymletics Barbell Pad and Ankle Straps Kit, you get a full bag of goodies for all of your booty blasting workouts.
The Gymletics Barbell Pad and Straps Kit comes with a 1.2 inch thick barbell pad for squatting and hip thrusting in comfort. The pad has the U-shape that makes the bar sit comfortably on your shoulders or hips.
But what sets this pad apart from the others are the collection of straps and resistance band that come with it. You get the straps for the pad itself, ankle straps for cable kick-backs, and a resistance band for doing those high-rep glute exercises to sculpt and build your glutes. The gear is all stored in a breathable mesh bag.
Well rated, with a high 4 out of 5 rating on Amazon, and available in black and pink, the Gymletics Barbell Pad kit is an excellent bar pad for both beginners and intermediate lifters.
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