The Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus is making flat butts a thing of the past.
But it’s more than just a stand alone glute drive / hip thrust machine.
The Glute Drive Plus also converts into a flat bench so you can get a full body workout.
Let’s dig right in!
Unboxing
The Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus machine comes in a long box.
It’s long because the base of this glute drive machine is one piece that’s already assembled.
The glute drive machine comes neatly packed and surrounded by styrofoam blocks for protection.
Everything came in perfect condition without a single scratch.
Once out of the box, you can see how long the base is.
The base covers both the length of the bench and foot placement area.
It comes with several sets of resistance bands and an instructions manual.
The bands come in three colors: red, yellow, and green.
There’s 6 bands in total with light, medium, and heavy resistance.
Total band resistance is 180 lbs (90 per side).
Specs
Weight: 58 lbs
Dimensions: 59.5″L x 18.5″W x 28″H
Flat bench height: 17.25″
Glute Drive Plus Features
The foot placement area is covered in anti-slip treads.
This gives you a secure surface to push off when you’re going heavy on hip thrusts or bench pressing.
There’s also a built-in handle at the end to make it easy to move the glute drive machine around.
The middle of the Core Home Glute Drive Plus has a seatbelt.
The seatbelt is adjustable so it accommodates people of different sizes.
Right below the seatbelt there’s a waist belt that feels comfortable on the belly.
The other half of the Glute Drive Plus is the bench.
The bench is comfortable and stable whether you’re doing hip thrusts or as a regular flat bench.
The other end has a pair of wheels so when you pick up the handle, you just roll the bench away.
To move it around just lift the handle on the other end.
That tilts the wheels down so they make contact with the floor and now you can roll the bench around.
Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus Set Up
Now I’ll break down how to set up and use the Glute Drive Plus.
I’ll go over the glute drive machine first, then the flat bench.
Glute Drive Machine
To set up the bench for hip thrusts, the top of the bench has to be raised.
The bottom of the bench is held by a hinge allowing it to move up and down.
From the side you can see that the top of the bench is supported by two metal bars.
Those two bars fold out from the bottom of the bench and lock in place at the base.
The bars slide into a groove and lock in place.
This is held down securely by a red pull out pin.
After locking down the top support bars now it’s time to add some resistance bands.
You’ll see that the base of the glute drive machine has a couple of pegs sticking out on each side.
Right below the bench padding there’s a matching pair of pegs.
This is where you anchor the resistance bands.
Attach any combination of bands to both sides of the bench.
Now it’s time to strap yourself down to the bench.
Wrap the waist belt around your belly and tighten the seatbelt to fit snug.
Once strapped down, position your feet in a comfortable position to push off.
You can either keep your feet flat on the anti-slip tread or angle them so the front of your foot is raised.
Push off from your heels so that your hips raise.
You’ll feel the resistance bands give you more tension as you get to the top of the movement.
Make sure you exaggerate the push at the top to get a good squeeze on the glutes.
I like to hold the movement at the top for a couple of seconds.
The resistance bands give you a total of 180 lbs of resistance.
If that’s not enough for you, you can throw additional weight on top of you.
In the video above I’m using a 100 lbs Rogue Strongman sandbag.
The bench is sturdy and stable enough to support a lot of weight.
Flat Bench
The beauty about the Glute Drive Plus is that it’s not a one trick pony.
Yes, it’s great for hip thrusts but you can also use it as a flat bench.
So you can work your upper and lower body with one piece of equipment.
To set up the flat bench, there’s a separate set of metal bars that need to be locked in place.
These bars fold up from the base of the bench and insert into a couple of notches below the top of the bench padding.
To set up the other end of the bench, you need to lift it up to reveal a metal bar.
That metal bar flips up and locks to the bottom of the bench.
With both ends of the bench locked in place, now you can use it safely as a flat bench.
You can use the bench with dumbbells like the Core Home Fitness adjustable dumbbells.
Or you can slide the bench under a rack too if you want to use it with a barbell.
Use it for pressing, rows, step ups, box squats, etc.
When using the flat bench, the seatbelt is not necessary so it just hangs beside the bench.
Glute Drive Plus vs Hip Thrusts
Up until glute drive machines were available for home gyms, most people would set up this way.
You put your back on a bench with a barbell or dumbbells across your hip bones.
The problem with this is when you start going heavy, your form starts to suffer.
You have to balance the weight while trying to keep your back on the bench and push the weight up.
Any time your form suffers you put yourself at risk for injury.
With the Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus, all you have to worry about is performing the exercise.
Your spine is supported by the bench and you’re strapped down by the seatbelt.
Just push through your heels and feel the glute burn at the top.
Where to Buy Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus
Right now you can buy the Glute Drive Plus from two places.
You can buy it from the Core Home Fitness official website.
Or you can get it from Amazon.
Both places ship it to your for free within the United States.
Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus Verdict
I like that the Glute Drive Plus can be used to workout your whole body.
A lot of times, machines like these have one purpose and take up a lot of space in a home gym.
This one covers your upper and lower body with one piece of equipment.
The Glute Drive Plus gives you a safe and accurate hip thrusting motion.
When you’re done, fold it flat and store it away under a bed or stand it upright.
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On The Glute Drive Plus
Core Home Fitness Glute Drive Plus
Garage gym athlete, gym hacks, DIY gym projects, and garage gym equipment reviews
Did you feel you had full range of motion? I see a lot of comments that say there wasn’t enough range of motion and they ended up feeling in quads and not glutes
If you look at the video I posted doing some reps (above), the frame of the machine does limit the movement of the bench pad at the bottom but I still feel it in my glutes when I thrust and squeeze at the top. If you feel it in your quads you’re not doing the exercise right.