Gluteal bridge
Selecting a projectile
The glute bridge can be performed with body weight, with a barbell plate, or with a whole barbell. It all depends on your training experience and strength indicators. Among beginner girls, the most common option is to perform the bridge without weights. In this version, it is easy to feel the work of the buttocks and learn how to coordinate the work of the press, hamstrings, and the glutes themselves. We recommend that everyone begin mastering the exercise without additional weights.
Initially, you can perform the glute bridge from the floor, but then you will need a high support. In the gym, a bench is used for this. If you are training at home, you can lean against a wall. As you can see, the exercise has a certain flexibility, and it can be performed in almost any conditions.
For experienced athletes, we recommend a simple method - holding a weight plate from a barbell on the pelvic area and lower abdominal area. The weight should be fixed with your hands and kept motionless throughout the exercise.
Technique of execution
Starting position
We will consider the option with a horizontal bench. Lie on the floor with your entire back. Arch your back at a natural angle. Place one foot on the corner of the bench. Make sure that the placement of your legs is narrow, that is, your shins are almost parallel to each other, and do not go to the sides, as some recommend.
The angle at the knee should not be more than 90 degrees. This is important, otherwise you will work in a shortened amplitude due to the effort of the hamstrings. Place your hands on the floor with your palms down, stretching them towards your legs. The other leg is also bent at the knee, but raised slightly upward.
Look straight up. Check the starting position. The buttocks, palms, and upper back with shoulder girdle touch the floor. Take a deep breath and tighten your abdominal muscles.
Main movement
As you exhale, contract your buttocks (squeeze them) and lift your pelvis up, using the extended leg as support. The other leg still remains in the air. You need to lift your torso to the level at which the quadriceps and torso become a straight line. At the critical point, you need to tense your buttocks even more and thus set the maximum contraction and the corresponding load for this muscle segment.
Gluteal_bridge_technique
To increase the load, you can tense your calf muscles and rise onto the toe of your supporting leg. However, we recommend that beginners not bother with such nuances.
Reverse movement
Slowly and under control, return your pelvis down until it touches your hips. Relax your glutes and abs. Immediately begin a new repetition. Never place your free leg on the floor. While one leg is doing dynamic work, the other is loaded in static mode and serves as a weight.
Perform all repetitions with one leg, then the other. If you are working with weights, you can perform the exercise with both legs at once, or alternately: left-right-left.
Nuances and tricks
We have considered the most popular version of the glute bridge, which is easy to perform without weights, and the load factor will be acceptable for any level of athletes. But if your goal is to develop strength endurance and improve the shape of the buttocks, you will be satisfied with another way of performing the glute bridge.
As a weight, take a barbell and a special roller/towel. Hold the barbell strictly on the hip joint - below the press. Lean your back on the back of the bench, as if you were going to do a pullover with a dumbbell. Place your feet on the floor so that the angle in the knees is 90% with the pelvis lowered down. The buttocks almost touch the floor. You maintain balance due to the touch of your back and elbows/arms.
With a powerful explosive effort, lift your pelvis to the highest possible height. Tighten your buttocks and hold for a couple of seconds. Slowly return down without touching your buttocks to the floor. To begin with, you can use a barbell pancake. Then change the weight to a barbell. It creates ideal biomechanical conditions for targeted gluteal training.
Errors
The wrong combination of starting position and chosen weight will give you zero productivity. If you want to work with your body weight, use a high footrest. If you want a heavy barbell, your legs should be lower so that your hamstrings work in addition to your buttocks. A light weight can be used in the first option, but this is more of a special case than a rule.
Style Summary
The glute bridge is one of the most underrated exercises for the buttocks. Everyone is used to doing either various leg swings or lunges, but both of these movements are inferior in effectiveness to the bridge. Try adding the glute bridge to your training program, and you will immediately feel its benefits. For men, the exercise is useful for fixing the final stage of squats and deadlifts, and for women, it is a great way to improve the tone and appearance of the buttocks.
