Barbell Glute Bridge

Execution

1. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat hip-width apart, both hands holding the bar steady.
2. Inhale, brace your core, and press your heels into the floor to set up the drive.
3. Exhale and drive your hips up until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees.
4. Squeeze the glutes hard at the top for one count, without overarching the lower back to gain extra height.
5. Inhale and lower the hips under control until they nearly touch the floor, then start the next rep.
6. At the end of the set, lower your hips to the floor, roll the bar down onto your thighs and only then sit up to unload it, rather than wriggling out from under a loaded bar.

Quick cues

• Push through your heels, not your toes.
• One straight line, shoulders to knees.
• Squeeze the glutes, hold one beat.
• Chin tucked, eyes toward your knees.
• Lower slowly, stop before the floor.

Common faults

• Fault: Overarching the lower back to push the hips higher

  Fix: Stop at the height where the body stays in a straight line, and brace the core harder instead of arching further.

• Fault: The bar rolling away from the hip crease mid-set

  Fix: Keep both hands pinning the bar for the whole set and use a bar pad so it cannot slide on the skin.

• Fault: The knees caving inward on the way up

  Fix: Loop a small resistance band around the knees and focus on pushing them outward through the whole drive.

• Fault: Letting the hips drop freely to the floor between reps

  Fix: Lower over 2 seconds and stop just short of the floor to keep tension on the glutes.