How to do the Bridge Exercise| Best Glute Exercises
Let Kris J. Simpson show you one of the best glute exercises you can do at home or the gym called the Bridge exercise for toning and shaping your backside!
I wanted to share an awesome exercise to isolate your glutes and hamstrings. I was surprised when I first tried it because it looked so easy… but what a burn it gave my backside! I will give you a hint, it’s not the squat or the lunge… it’s called the BRIDGE!
Bridges are a great way to isolate and strengthen the glutes and hamstrings. If you do this exercise correctly, you will find that it is a good core stabilizer and strengthening exercise that targets the abdominal muscles as well as the lower back and hips. For anyone that has back issues, this exercise is a must!
Here are five benefits of doing bridges:
- Reduce knee and back pain.
The posterior chain which includes the glutes and hamstrings tend to get neglected. Whether it’s daily activities or high-intensity workouts, the quadriceps usually takeover and do most of the work. Hence, doing bridges will reduce knee and back pain.
- Improve athletic performance.
Strong glutes are a key factor when it comes to generating power. Power is what aids all athletic movements. Strengthening the glutes will help you become more agile during physical activity.
- Your clothes will fit better.
Bridges, especially weighted bridges, will provide you with definition, not to mention your jeans will slip on with ease.
- Strengthen your core.
The bridge exercise activates all the core muscles, including the transverse abdominous, rectus abdominous, and obliques. Performing the bridge works these muscles deeply while tightening those body parts.
- Improve your posture.
Bridges also strengthen the core which helps to improve posture, especially if your job requires you to be sedentary for 7+ hours.
How to perform a bridge?
Lay down on a mat to ensure your heels are close to your glutes and in line with your knees. Thrust upwards so that you make a straight line from your knees all the way to your shoulders. You really want to focus on the contraction at the top of the motion. Feel free to hold the contraction or even pulse for 5+ seconds.
To make this exercise more challenging, use a bench, sofa or chair. To add some resistance to this exercise, incorporate a pair of dumbbells.
So there you have it folks, the best glute exercises is the BRIDGE!
Inspire to Aspire,
Kris J Simpson
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Full Transcript
Hi y’all,
I wanted to share an awesome exercise to isolate your glutes and hamstrings. I was surprised when I first tried it because it looks so easy… but damn what a burn it’ll give you on your backside!
We’re going to show you one of the best glute exercises at home and it’s not going to be the Squat or the Lunge… It’s called the Bridge!
it’s a great way to isolate and strengthen the gluteus (butt) muscles and hamstrings (back of the upper leg). If you do this exercise correctly, you also will find that it is a good core stability and strengthening exercise that targets the abdominal muscles as well as the muscles of lower back and hip.
Finally, the bridge exercise is considered a basic rehab exercise to improve core and spinal stabilization… for anyone that has back issues this exercise is a must!!
Now, how to set the bridge up. We want to do laying on a mat, you want your heels close to your gluts and in a straight line with your knees you want to thrust up so that you’re making a straight line from your knees all the way to your shoulders. You really want to focus on that contraction at the top of the motion. That’s the beauty part of this exercise.
You can actually play with that a little bit, too, by holding that contraction and even pulsing that contraction, as well.
Okay, guys. It’s time to make this exercise a little bit more challenging. We’re going to put Mel on a decline here with her feet on a bench. You can do this at home, as well, on a sofa or on a chair. Same motion, you’re just going to be fighting some gravity so it’s going to be that much more challenging. To make it even more challenging you can actually do it one leg at a time.
The icing on the cake is a pair of dumbbells. We’re going to add some resistance to this exercise, which will make it a lot more challenging.
So there you have it, one of the best glut exercises going, the bridge.
Inspire to Aspire,
Kris J Simpson
