Exercise guide · evidence-graded

Glute Drive Machine

The glute drive machine is a hip thrust performed on a machine: you sit with your upper back against a back pad and a padded belt or bar across your hips, then drive your hips up against the load. It trains the glutes, with help from the hamstrings, and the fixed path and simple set-up make it easy to load heavily without a barbell.

Also called: Nautilus Glute Drive, Machine Hip Thrust, Glute Machine, Glute Drive · Equipment: machine · Pattern: hinge

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How to do it

Step by step

Set the weight, then sit on the seat with your upper back against the back pad and your feet flat on the platform, about hip-width apart.
Fit the hip pad or belt so it sits across the crease of your hips, and hold the handles.
Place your feet so your shins will be vertical when your hips are fully raised.
Tuck your chin, brace your trunk and drive through your heels to lift your hips and the pad.
Push up until your hips are fully extended and your body is in line from shoulders to knees. Keep your ribs down and tuck your pelvis as you squeeze your glutes.
Pause for a moment at the top, then bring your hips back down under control until the weight is just above the stack.
After the last rep, bring your hips down until the weight rests, then release the hip pad and step out.

Coaching cues

Drive through your heels
Ribs down, tuck your pelvis at the top
Chin tucked, eyes forward
Shins vertical at the top
Squeeze and pause at full hip extension
Hips move, back stays on the pad

In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.

Muscles worked

What it trains

Muscle	Role	Evidence
Gluteus maximus: lower	Prime mover	C
Gluteus maximus: upper	Prime mover	C
Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head)	Secondary	C
Adductor magnus	Secondary	D
Erector spinae	Stabiliser	D

Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.

Common faults

What goes wrong, and the fix

Arching the low back to finish

Fix: Keep your ribs down and tuck your pelvis as you reach the top.

Shins not vertical at the top

Fix: Set your feet so your shins are vertical when your hips are fully extended.

Hip pad in the wrong place

Fix: Adjust the pad so it sits across your hip crease before the first rep.

Short reps without a lockout

Fix: Reach full hip extension and pause for a moment on every rep.

Head thrown back

Fix: Keep your chin tucked and your eyes forward as your hips rise.

Resting on the stack between reps

Fix: Bring the hips down under control and drive up before the weight touches.

Programming

What the research says

Muscle growth · first choiceRehab & prehab · first choiceGeneral fitness · first choiceStrengthEndurance

Hip thrust and squat — A 9-week MRI study found similar glute growth from hip thrusts and back squats, with strength gains specific to the exercise trained.
Glute focus — A 2025 meta-analysis found resistance training grows the glutes moderately, and suggests single hip-extension exercises such as the hip thrust when glute growth is the priority over other muscles.
Machines and free weights — A meta-analysis found machine and free-weight training give similar muscle growth, with strength gains specific to the equipment trained on.
Load and effort — Research finds muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are hard, and true failure adds only a trivial-to-small benefit. The fixed path lets many lifters take sets close to failure without balance limiting the set.
Muscle activity — No study has measured glute activity on a hip-thrust machine, and muscle activity is not the same as growth.

Alternatives · VALDA FLEX

Swap it mid-workout

With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.

Log the glute drive machine in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.

General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.