Have you been trying to build and strengthen your glutes without success? If so, chances are you’re only focusing on squats and lunges.
You must add glute bridges to your routine to build your butt muscles fast. Unlike squats, which partially activate your glutes, glute bridges activate all the three glute muscles – gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.
Some men may assume only women should build their glutes but that’s a misconception. Both men and women should work their glutes because they play a major role in improving posture, easing back pain, and much more.
Below are some of the benefits you’ll enjoy if you add glute bridges to your workouts.
Glute Bridges Benefits
May improve posture
You may have poor posture due to long hours of sitting. Unbeknown to many, sitting ruins posture by tightening the hip flexors, weakening the glutes, and tightening hamstrings.
Glute bridges can undo these effects and help you maintain an upright posture. If you struggle with bad posture, do a variation of glute bridges every day.
May relief and prevent lower back pain
Glute bridges relieve lower back pain in so many ways. For one, they strengthen your lower back muscles, leading to greater spine stability. They also loosen your hip flexors and strengthen your hamstrings.
I used to suffer lower back pain after sitting for hours but I haven’t had any discomfort in my lower back since I started doing glute bridges every morning.
They boost core strength
You may have ripped abs and still have a weak core if you don’t work your glutes and lower back. Therefore, combine ab workouts with glute bridges for optimal core strength.
We can all benefit from core strength, seniors need it to prevent falls and athletes need it to improve performance.
Glute bridges may increase muscle mass fast
Did you know glutes are the biggest muscle in the body? This means training them will add more muscle to your body than training the small muscles.
The faster you gain muscle, the faster your metabolism.
Now that you know the benefits of doing glute bridges, let’s look into the different glute bridge variations for building bigger and stronger glutes.
The Best Glute Bridge Variations
Glute Bridges
Start with this variation if you’ve never done glute bridges before. It’s ideal for beginners because it’s easy to learn and it greatly activates the glutes.
Make sure your ankles are directly below your knees. Raise your hips as high as possible and then squeeze your glutes at the top for two seconds before lowering your butt.
Note that keeping your head off the floor while doing this exercise can activate your neck muscles.
Single-Leg Glute Bridges
After doing the standard glute bridge for a while, advance to this variation. Doing the bridge on one leg will activate your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back more.
Keep the supporting foot flat on the floor and raise your hips as high as possible.
Marching Glute Bridges
Marching glute bridges are quite challenging because you have to keep your hips elevated throughout. Avoid the common mistake of lowering your hips, keep them as high as possible throughout.
March the feet slowly and feel free to wear ankle weights to activate the muscles more.
Bridge Kicks
Bridge kicks are somehow similar to marching bridges but here you straighten the leg without lifting it up.
Tighten your quads every time you straighten your leg. Keep your hips high throughout the exercise.
Bridge Pose
This is an isometric bridge variation. Simply raise your hips high off the floor and hold that position.
Keep your ankles directly below your knees and feet hip-width apart. You can place weights on your hips to increase resistance.
Bridge to Sit-Up
You can massively activate your core by combining glute bridges with sit-ups. Simply do a glute bridge followed by a sit-up and keep repeating.
Avoid moving too fast as that will make the exercise less effective.
Butterfly Bridges
Butterfly bridges not only build your glutes but also improve coordination. You have to spread your knees apart every time you lower your butt.
I may also note that spreading your feet apart will improve your inner thigh flexibility.
Feet-Elevated Glute Bridge
Doing glute bridges with feet elevated will build your butt muscles faster because of the wide range of motion.
Remember to raise and lower your hips slowly. Also, pause and squeeze your glutes for two seconds every time you raise them.
Figure 4 Glute Bridges
This exercise is similar to the single-leg glute bridge but it’s better for loosening your hips. You may experience a little discomfort if you have tight hips but the discomfort will disappear as you continue doing this exercise.
Raise your hips as high as possible on each rep and then slowly lower them to the floor.
Frogger Bridges
For this exercise, bring your feet together and keep your knees wide apart. Perform glute bridges while your feet are in this position.
This glute bridge variation will loosen your inner thighs while strengthening your glutes.
Glute Bridge to Reverse Crunch
Did you know that reverse crunches are one of the few crunch variations that don’t put pressure on your spine? Therefore, this combination will be very kind on your lower back.
Perform the exercises slowly and maintain a full range of motion.
Glute Bridge with Reach
Glute bridge with reach is an excellent exercise for loosening tight oblique muscles. As you raise your hips, extend the right hand over your head to the opposite side. Reach with the left arm in the next rep and keep alternating.
Glute Bridges on Toes
You can activate your calves while doing glute bridges – just lift your heels off the floor.
Keep the heels off the floor throughout the movement.
Single-Leg Bridge with Knee Hold
You may want to skip this variation if you’ve done the single-leg glute bridge but don’t. Pulling your knee toward the chest will help loosen your hamstrings.
Pull your knee as close to your chest as possible and remember to raise your hips high on each rep.
Single-Leg Glute Bridge Leg Swings
As you’d expect, holding the bridge pose with one leg can be very rewarding. Well, you can even get more out of this exercise by swing the dormant foot up and down.
Swing the foot until it faces the ceiling and then lower it until it almost touches the floor. Keep the swinging-leg straight.
Single Leg Table Bridge Hold
The table pose is an excellent exercise for stretching your biceps. Most people have tight biceps because we keep your elbows bent most of the time.
This exercise also stretches your chest and shoulders while activating your glutes. Make sure the dormant foot is straight and parallel to the floor.
Your fingers should be facing your feet while performing this exercise.
Single-Leg Elevated Glute Bridge
This exercise is quite challenging because it has a wide range of motion and you’re performing it on one leg.
Raise your hips until your shoulders, hips, and knee are aligned in a straight line. Slowly lower your hips to the floor and repeat.
Straight Leg Bridge
This isometric exercise will build your glute and lower back muscles. Keep your glutes tight throughout and legs straight.
Table Top Bridge
This exercise will stretch your upper body muscles and build your glutes. Lower your butt until it almost touches the floor before raising it.
Weighted Glute Bridge
If you have dumbbells or a weight plate, place it on your hips and then do glute bridges. This increases resistance and consequently helps you burn more calories.
Use heavier weights if you want to make the exercise more challenging.
Overhead Glute Bridges
This glute variation will help you burn more calories because of the upper body movement. In fact, this is an excellent full-body warm-up exercise.
Power Wheel Glute Bridge
This exercise is quite challenging because you have to keep the wheel stable. I haven’t found a glute bridge variation that activates the hamstrings as much as this one.
You can make this variation less challenging by placing the wheel against a wall.
Press Through the Heel Glute Bridge
For this variation, simply lift your toes off the floor such that only your heels touch the floor as you perform the bridges.
Pulsing Bridge Hold
This exercise may seem easy because of its small range of motion but it’s quite challenging because you have to keep your hips elevated throughout.
Remember to squeeze your glutes for a second every time you raise your hips.
Shoulder Elevated Glute Bridge
Place your shoulder on an elevated surface like a bench or a chair and then perform glute bridges from that position.
Glute bridges are one of the best exercises you can do. And that’s why this fat-burning sequence has many glute bridge variations. Not only that, it has unique fat-burning exercises that burn excess fat and build lean muscle in as little as 7 days.
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