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Ultimate Glute Bridge
Ultimate Glute Bridge is a dynamic, full-body exercise that increases strength and stability of the glutes, abs, and back. This move combines a traditional glute bridge with an isometric hold and a range of motion, adding an extra challenge and activating the entire glute complex. With this exercise, you can target specific muscles for improved posture, balance, strength, and power—all important for optimal athletic performance and everyday functional fitness activities.
Transcript
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This is Brent of the Brookbush Instititue and in
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...blank
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this video we're bringing you the
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ultimate glute bridge, or should I say
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the evidence-based glute bridge. That is,
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all of the modifications we've made in this
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glute bridge exercise to maximize the
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amount of glute max recruitment. I'm going to
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bring my friend, Melissa, out, and she's going
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to help me demonstrate this exercise. Now,
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the first thing we're going to talk
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about is in research we've seen that hip
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abduction, specifically isometric hip
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abduction, against resistance seems to
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increase glute max recruitment, while
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decreasing the relative recruitment of
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synergists, the biceps femoris and the
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erector spinae. So, I have this nice, super
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thick monster band for you to put above
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your knees to resist hip abduction. She's
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really, really strong, so, of course, we're
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going to torture her as much as possible.
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Now, we also need to consider that the
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glute max is primarily Type 1 muscle
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fiber. In fact, it's almost seventy
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percent Type 1 muscle fiber. To me, that
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means fatigue resistant. These muscle
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fibers are good in endurance, which means
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from a stimulus standpoint, how we're
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going to try to get an adaptation from
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these fibers, we need to stay in our
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endurance acute variables. That's 12 to
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20 repetitions, slow tempos of 4, 2, 1 or 3, 2, 1 to
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maximize time under tension. Now, since
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I'm maximizing time under tension, my
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load is going to decrease a little bit,
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which means I can up the stability
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component of the exercise and further
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increase motor unit recruitment. So out
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comes the stability ball. You can go
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ahead and take a seat on the stability
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ball. Now, the last thing we want to
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consider is the fact that the glute max
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is the largest muscle on the human body.
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That's not just somebody's, that's
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everybody's. The glute max is a super
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import muscle. Hip extension is a very
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important joint action when it comes to
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function, daily living,
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those activities like walking, standing,
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sitting, stairs, and all sports, glute max
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is super important. So we have this
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super strong muscle that is probably
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going to need significant load to fail
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within 12 to 20 reps. The idea that just
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a floor bridge to 50 reps is going to be
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sufficient to create an overload on this
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muscle is actually not thinking far
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enough ahead in the future. When we look
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at how much the glute max has to work
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just to get somebody up stairs, which is
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essentially a single leg quarter squat,
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doing a portion of our body weight from
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the floor is not good enough.
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So, Melissa, I got this 80 for you. Now,
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you guys need to plan ahead a little bit
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on this, because otherwise this becomes a
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Three Stooges parody. She's going to
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deadlift this weight with great form.
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I've already taught her how
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to deadlift well. Melissa deadlifts very
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well, in fact. But to keep that ball from
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rolling away while she picks this weight
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up,
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just use your hand towel. Go ahead and
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stand up, and throw it behind your stability
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ball.
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That way she can stand up, the ball
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doesn't roll away, she can sit down, and
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we don't have any accidents. We also
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don't have a situation where every time
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she picks up the dumbbell, the ball rolls
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away, and she has to put down the
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dumbbell and go get the ball.
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Alright, you can go ahead and
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roll out. Now, remember, I said slow tempo,
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so I want you to hold at the top for two,
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and we're going to go down for four
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seconds. Down, two, three, four, and up. Now, a
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couple things as she finishes this
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wonderful set of 20 repetitions. You'll
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notice that her feet are a little wider
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than hip width. I have seen some studies
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that show really, really wide hip angles.
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I've even seen some- I saw one study
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where they they were on the outside
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of their feet and their their legs were
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turned out.
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The one thing you have to think about is
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in all of those studies, adductor magnus
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activity was not recorded. Your
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adductor magnus has a propensity to become
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very overactive, contribute to hip
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pathology, as well as sacroiliac joint
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pathology, and despite the fact that the
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glute max recruitment might have
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increased with these wide hip angles. so
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did adductor magnus activity, if I had to
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take a guess. Now, we need further
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research to prove that, but from our
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perspective at the Brookbush Institute, we're
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going to go slightly wider than hip width
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and use the band to increase hip abduction
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force. Then beyond that, leave it at a
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fairly normal angle, something that's a
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little closer to how we would see in
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function, like when you squat, or when you
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run, or when you jump. The other thing
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worth noting here, guys, is Melissa is
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very comfortable with this weight on the
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top of her thighs just below her ASIS
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and she's using her hand to keep the
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weight there. Don't take your hands off
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the weight. If this wasn't comfortable
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for you, you could potentially use a
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bath towel. Notice, this is several layers
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thick, or you can use an airex pad, or
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you could even use a rolled-up yoga
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mat to try to soften any pointy edges
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digging into your lap.
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My point is to make her glutes very
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uncomfortable, not to have her thighs
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very uncomfortable. Now, the last thing I want
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to talk about is- I need to give a shout-out
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to Bret Contreras for making loads like
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this far more popular, but let's talk
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about the differences between doing hip
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thrusts with a really large amount of
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weight and low rep ranges versus what
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we're showing you, which is a high rep
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range glute bridge that would be used
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more for core activity. I think when I
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spoke to Bret Contreras, he
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talked about there being more motor unit
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recruitment with more load, regardless of
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what the muscle fiber type of the glute
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max is. I agree.
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More load and chances are you're going to
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get more motor unit recruitment, but what
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is your end goal? What is your use of
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that exercise? If you're doing hip
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thrusts as part of your
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hypertrophy resistance training portion
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of your program, I would say go with the
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Bret Contreras style- stable, very heavy
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hip thrust activity. We tend to use
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bridges as a core exercise, so we're
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almost thinking more towards our
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movement prep. This is coming right after
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our isolated activation exercises. We're
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using this more as a way of integrating
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the glute max into a multi joint
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movement pattern. And then when we get into
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resistance training, we're usually
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thinking more on the performance side of
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things, and more of our triple
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extension movement patterns, like squats,
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deadlifts, lunges, step-ups. We don't see
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as many hypertrophy athletes at the
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Brookbush Institute as, maybe, Bret does.
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So there's an audience
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thing there, there's a use thing there.
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I'm not saying one is right and one is
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wrong. In fact, I think you guys should
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try both.
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I think you guys should try this as part
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of your core activity. I think there's
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more than a few tips here of using the
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stability ball to do your hip thrusts,
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using the band to resist hip abduction,
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starting to put some weight on this
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activity that you probably could do way
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too many reps of before. If you're not
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failing at 20 reps, it's not heavy enough.
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And, once you get down glute bridges as a
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core activity, more on the endurance side
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with lower weights and an unstable
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environment,
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well, good. Now you're nice and stable and
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ready to start thinking about getting
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a little more hypertrophy in my glute
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max, using something like a hip thrust as
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part of my resistance training program,
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after I've done
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my movement prep. I hope you guys enjoyed
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this video, The Evidence-based or
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Ultimate Glute Bridge, stability ball,
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resisted abduction, hip thrust with a
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significant amount of load. I look
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forward to seeing your questions. I want
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to see who can do a 20 reps set with the
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heaviest dumbbell in their gym. Is that a good
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challenge? That's a good challenge. I
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think that's a good challenge. I can do 130
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for 20 reps, 130 pound dumbbell.
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Is that good? I think
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that's good. That's an 80 pound dumbbell,
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guys, just in case, so all you guys out there
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not putting up 80 pounds,
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she's got 80 pounds for 20 reps. I'll
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