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This is Brent of the Brookbush Instititue and in
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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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just use your hand towel. Go ahead and
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stand up, and throw it behind your stability
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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