Barbell Glute Bridge

The Barbell Glute Bridge increases the strength of your glutes by adding weight using a barbell. This is a step up from the difficulty of the Bodyweight Glute Bridge.

Learn how to perform more exercises like this by looking through the exercise guide.

• Place your feet in a position that feels most natural for your hips. Just as you would in the unloaded glute bridge and barbell hip thrust, you'll need to find a spot where you feel that your glutes work best when you reach a full contraction at the top of each rep.
• For stance width some like:
  • Feet outside the shoulders
  • Feet even with the shoulders
  • Feet narrow relative to your shoulders
• For foot distance, some like:
  • Having their feet far from their butt.
  • Pulling their feet close to their butts.
  • Somewhere in the middle with feet neither far nor near their butts at the top of each rep.
• Choose your adventure, you're the expert on where you'll feel glute bridges the most - we all have uniquely built hips.

• After foot positioning, you're almost ready to begin your reps.
• Next, close the space between your ribs and hips so that you can build pressure in your core and allow your pelvic floor to lengthen before each rep.
• Breathe into your stomach, drawing your breath through your nose. You can brace your core before you do this.
• Squeeze your glutes to start the move, and hold at the top for a count during each rep.
• Be sure to keep your pelvis tilted, it makes sure that the move comes from your glutes and not your lower back.
• At the top of the move, you'll breathe out.
• Reverse this by allowing your glutes to relax under control. Re-engage your glutes and draw another breath before your next rep.

To adjust the difficulty of the Barbell Glute Bridge - You can try out a handful of variations:

• Add more weight to the barbell.
• Performing 1.5 reps ( to increase the time that your glutes spend working - they do the most at the top of each rep)
• Increase your range of motion, and perform a barbell hip thrust.
• Place a band around your knee and push out against it, increasing the demand on your Glute Medius to stabilize your hips.

If you need an easier variation lose the barbell and perform bodyweight glute bridges for high reps. 2-3 sets of 20-30 reps should leave you with a deep burn. You can even try going up to 50 reps on sets.