Building a Better Bridge
I give out bridging a lot to my patients. In my opinion, it checks all the boxes for what makes a great exercise:
doesn’t require equipment
straightforward instructions
targets multiple muscle groups (in this case: hip extensors, hip abductors, core, back extensors, etc)
due to the previous point, it can be effectively deployed to address a swath of injuries that are often correlated
It is also virtually endlessly modifiable - throw a stability ball under the feet, have your arms down or across your chest, single or double leg…but not all bridges are build equally. If you want the exercise to address your specific needs, you need to be deliberate with how you modify the bridge.
In the video above, you can see a two legged bridge vs a one legged bridge. I try to progress my patients towards the single leg variation pretty quickly because it challenges your legs individually and produces high recruitment numbers for key muscles such as the hamstrings and gluteal muscles. But even once we get to the single leg bridge, there are many modifications you can do to further target the hamstrings, hip stabilizers, gluteus maximus, and the core. Do you flex the foot or keep it flat on the ground? Should the leg in the air have a straight or bent knee? How bent should the knee of the leg that is working be? This all depends on what you are trying to target, which is why prescribing exercises with intention is so important.
So how would I modify the bridge to bias different muscle groups?
Your best position for targeting the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, hamstrings, and obliques is a traditional one-legged bridge with your foot flat, knee bent to 90 degrees, and the elevated leg straight out.
Having your arms across your chest rather than on the ground will make the exercise harder.
Hamstring recruitment increases as the knee of the leg being worked is straighter.
Flexing your foot so you are on your heel decreases hamstring use but increases core activation.
Gluteus medius is recruited when you have to really work to stabilize your pelvis, so any variation will work it so long as your elevated leg is straight and parallel to the thigh bone of the leg that is working (your elevated leg should be lower than mine in the photo).
Other key pointers that apply to all bridge variations are to make sure your pelvis is level while you hold the exercise (use those obliques to pull yourself up!), and that you make the exercise hard enough that you are working but not so hard that your form deteriorates. If your form falls apart after only 8 seconds but you can sustain it a bit longer with your arms at your side, then do that and work your way up to having your arms across your chest. Happy bridging!
Want to know which bridging exercise is the best for you? Book an assessment and let’s work together to figure it out!
