In this video what I wanted to go through was 4 ways to get more out of your bridge exercise.
CLICK HERE to watch the YouTube video.
I will get Orsy to demonstrate them.
#1 – Get Out Of Your Power Position
When it comes to the bridge exercise everyone goes into their power position and then ends up bridging up and back down.
Bridging in Power Position
To make it more challenging what we can do is get out of that power position. If I get Orsy to straighten her legs out so she has increased the range of motion in her knee and then she bridges up. She is targeting her hamstrings a lot more.
Getting Out of the Power Position
If she decreases the bend in her knees and bridges up so she has bent hre knees more, now she is targeting her glutes a lot more. That’s one way of switching up the bridge exercise and getting more out of it.
Bridge Position with Bending the Knees more
I know that the bridge exercise is a common bodyweight exercise and these are a couple of ways that you can tweak it up to make it more challenging and target the muscles in a different way.
#2 – Staggering
Another tweak we can do. When it comes to the feet, we go into that power position, then we bring one foot a little bit more forward and one foot a little bit back and then go into that bridge position.
Staggering
Now we have challenged things a little bit more. One is targeting more on the glutes and one is targeting more when it comes to the hamstring.
#3 – Going Wider
Wider than Hip Width Apart
When we do the bridge we should be hip width apart. But if we are going wider than hip width apart and then going up into the bridge, we end up targeting glute medius and the glute maximus in a different way.
#4 – Band March
You will put the band over your feet and bring it up just above your knees and the band ends up being an excellent tool that you can use with the bridge position but then also when it comes to standing and doing a variety of walking and standing exercises.
You are in a bridge position and you have the tubing just above the knee joint. What you are going to do is go up in into a bridge and now you are going to bring one knee up and come back down and then alternate knees up. You are keeping that bridge position with your knees, hip, and shoulders and now you are going into that band march.
Band March
With all these you can do a wide variety of things when it comes to the bridge. You can do as we did, continuous exercises, and doing like 8 to 10 repetitions. You can add holds to it so when it comes to the bridging position. At the end of the movement, you can add a one second hold or two seconds hold or five or ten seconds hold.
If you are looking for a program to help you targeted your gluteus medius, then check out Gluteus Medius Exercise program, here:
Rick Kaselj, MS