Heavy barbell hip thrusts do not effect sprint performance: an 8-week randomized–controlled study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an 8-week barbell hip thrust strength training program on sprint performance. Twenty-one collegiate athletes (15 males and 6 females) were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 11, age 27.36 ± 3.17 years, height 169.55 ± 10.38 cm, weight 72.7± 18 kg) or control group (n = 10, age 27.2 ± 3.36 years, height 176.2 ± 7.94 cm, weight 76.39 ± 11.47 kg). 1RM hip thrust, 40m sprint time, and individual 10m split timings: 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40m, were the measured variables; these recorded at both the baseline and post testing time points. Following the 8-week hip thrust strength training intervention significantly greater 1RM hip thrust scores for the training group were observed (p < 0.001, d = 0.77 [mean difference 44.09 kg]), however this failed to translate into changes in sprint time for any of the measured distances (all sprint performance measures: p > 0.05, r = 0.05 – 0.37). No significant differences were seen for the control group for 1RM hip thrust (p = 0.106, d = 0.24 [mean difference 9.4 kg]) or sprint time (all sprint performance measures: p > 0.05, r = 0.13 – 0.47). These findings suggest that increasing maximum hip thrust strength through use of the barbell hip thrust does not appear to transfer into improvements in sprint performance in collegiate level athletes.

This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: July 2019 - Volume 33 - Issue - p S78–S84, doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002146