When you sit all day at a desk, your body is constantly in flexion, which leads to injury.
The 5 bridge exercises below are the opposite of what you do all day and, when paired with a proper trigger point release program, can help you prevent and alleviate injury.
See the 5 Bridge Variations in the video below!
I love the glute bridge. It is a great exercise to activate the glutes so that you can prevent pain and injury, lift more and run faster.
But doing the same exercise over and over again gets boring. Also, your muscles adjust and need a new challenge to keep getting stronger.
That is why it is important to mix up your workouts and vary the exercises.
You don’t have to constantly use NEW exercises – you just need to use new variations.
For instance, you can do the same exercise but vary it by using different types of equipment (like a glute bridge off the ground or off a box). You can also use different types of weights (kettlebell vs. barbell vs. sandbag bridges).
Or you can tweak the exercise just a bit to target the same muscles from slightly different angles – take for instance the Glute Bridge and Curl.
The Glute Bridge and Curl is a great bridge variation that is more hamstring intensive than many other Glute Bridges. It is more hamstring intensive not only because of the straight-legged bridge that is included in the movement, but also because of the curl. Check out these Glute Bridge and Curl Variations for everyone for the beginner to the advanced exerciser.
Many of the AMAZING glute activation exercises that we should all be doing are those funny looking moves that Jane Fonda used to do in her leotard with ankle weights.
They are the moves that most people, especially guys, avoid.
However, everyone from the professional athlete to the guy or gal sitting behind the desk for 9 hours a day (especially actually that guy or gal with a desk job) should do those funny looking glute activation moves!
Glute activation can help you reduce your risk of injury and even alleviate your lower back pain by relaxing overactive hip flexors AND by getting your glutes to fire efficiently and effectively so that your lower back and hamstrings don’t compensate and become overworked.
Because so many of us spend so much time seated, our hips can become tight and our glutes can become underactive.
So getting them firing efficiently is key!
When your glutes are strong you’ll also find your running speed and endurance improves AND you can lift more!
Plus, strong glutes look pretty darn nice too!
And you can accomplish all of this by using those SILLY LOOKING ISOLATION MOVES!
Glute activation exercises should be included in your warm up to establish that mind-body connection so you can effectively recruit the muscles during your compound lifts or runs.
This will help you use proper recruitment patterns so your lower back doesn’t become overworked!
You can also include these more isolated moves in your supplemental circuits OR even as a nice quick finisher to your workout routine!
Squats have become the popular glute exercise on social media, which honestly I don’t completely understand, especially with all of the far more focused glute lifts we now have out there such as hip thrusters and weight glute bridges.
And while I get that we often turn to the squat when we want to work our glutes because they are compound exercise that allows us to move heavy weights, they aren’t necessarily the best, nor only, exercise to develop strong, powerful and sexy butt cheeks.
While lifting heavy is super important, we also need those bodyweight moves that allow us to really focus on engaging and activating the correct muscles. We have to realize that there are 3 drivers of muscle growth we can utilize and that focusing on ACTIVATION of the actual muscle is also key.
So if you want strong glutes, it’s time you not only squatted, but even started doing this FUNDAMENTAL glute move – the glute bridge!
The glutes…
It is a muscle group that many of us want to work on for…well…aesthetic reasons. Whether we want to make it bigger or smaller, rounder or firmer, most of us want to change it.
It is also a muscle group that most of us SHOULD be giving more attention and love to because it isn’t firing as efficiently or effectively as it should be!
When our glutes are underactive, we may not be getting the full benefit of all of those squats and deadlifts and lunges we are doing!
Ever noticed your quads seem to grow but your glutes don’t change?
Or maybe you’ve noticed that you all too often only feel your lower back and hamstrings working NOT your glutes?
When our glutes aren’t firing efficiently, we recruit other muscles to carry the load. Not only does this mean we aren’t actually WORKING our glutes as well as we could be…so all of those moves we are TRYING to do to change them aren’t going to pay off, but we also increase our risk of injury because other muscles, that really can’t handle the load, take over.
That is why it is so important to get your glutes activated and firing BEFORE your lifting session, runs or rides!
Here are 10 Mini Band Moves to get your glutes activated and help you build a better, stronger!, butt. These moves will work your butt from every angle to get your glute maximus and glute medius working especially!
