Exercise Highlight 26: Elevated Glute Bridges
Glute bridges, whether from the floor or in an elevated position are essential exercises for everyone to include in their strength and conditioning training. A few names are thrown out there to describe these movements so we like to throw in the word glute to make sure focus is on these prime drivers. Begin with practicing both the 2 leg and single leg glute bridges from the floor first.
Make sure that you have built these within your programing for a couple of months before progressing to the elevated versions and adding additional weight/resistance to the exercises in the form of sandbags, barbells, bands, chains, etc.
Compensations to watch for when performing these exercises from the floor or in an elevated position are flaring of your ribs and arching your lower back in an attempt to gain more range of motion. Practice from the ground up and work on primarily driving slowly through your glutes.
Don't worry about how high you are getting, focus first on the proper engagement. Also make sure your feet are straight when they are inline with your hips. The further your feet are outside your hips, the more your feet can be turned out to stay inline with your ankles, knees and femur (thigh bone). Your coach will give you variations and positional changes to focus on throughout your programing.
