Bridging good for building gluts?

[Immortal25]

Hi...just wanna know if bridging is really a good exercise for the gluts? Bridging is the exercise where you lie supine and bend both ur knees up with foot on floor and then you push ur butt/back above the floor. Is it really effective to buil the gluts?
Well simply asking, what's the best exercise for gluts? Aside from climbing stairs and hiking. What specific exercise can really work out the gluts?

Similar Threads:

• PCE and Bridging program
• Building shoulder muscles?
• ACL Reconst Help? On inside... knee catching and pressure building sensations
• Fractured Neck of Femur and Bridging Exercises
• Any good advice?....

[estherderu]

I know that ice(speed)skaters and cyclists develop the most wonderful big gluteus max muscle body.
I once advised/coached the world champ walking backwards (in Guinness Book of Records)! His gluteal muscles were very well developed as well.

kind regards
Esther de Ru

[Canuck Physio]

Are we talking about hypertrophy specific training? Or rehabilitation?

[Immortal25]

Walking backwakrds would work...however a bit awkward Good point though.

Canuck, just general fitness/exercise for building up the gluts.

[shikha]

hi, isn't there grading in pelvic bridging ...........if bridging is done without any difficulty with both feet down, ur nxt step would be to bridge with one knee extended so when u lift ur butt up ur taking weight on one leg.........
can be used for rehabilitation!!!!!!!
it would vary with ur hold time.
or go to 4 point kneel and lift one hip to extension , with or without knee extension.

[sana zehra]

hi bridging is good but u can also perform SLR with wts in prone position
abduction of hip joint with wts in supine position

[Canuck Physio]

I still don't understand,

muscle is either small or large, increases in size via hypertrophy or hyperplasia, and decreases in size via atrophy or aplasia. The appearance of musculutare is entirely dependent on the size of muscle and the relative amount of fat and overlay above the muscle that allows muscle to be seen.

In order to 'build' gluts for maximum growth then overload is necessary, progressive overload. The exercise shown to be most effective for glut activation and recruitment is full squats

[leamcq]

This discussion is embarrassing!
firstly the gluteal muscles are multilayered and multifunctional. Deeper parts of all gluteal muscles have been shown to have a stabilising role along with the deep hip external rotators & iliopsoas. The contributions of the gluteal muscles vary depending on open or closed chain activities, parts of each muscles and the hip joint position.
Activation also depends on pelvic & spinal stability and alignment, in fact pelvic stability esp on a single leg is one of their key roles. Substitution by hamstrings and lumbar extensors etc is common in many functional tasks, especially in a 'bridging' exercise. Similarly substitution by quads etc is common in climbing stairs. In the correct alignment the more superficial fibres can be powerful phasic propulsors in the mid and later part of stance, which is what most LAY people consider.

[Immortal25]

Yeah think the prone SLR is a good one. A tough one too!

Wouldn't full squats activate quads more than gluts?

True, there are many substitutes in most of the functional exercises, that's why I'm just wondering which is the best one to do.

[seetumail]

Hi i am Eliza, a newbie to this forum. i Am a student of computers.
I found the information helpful.I was actually looking for more information on this matter, so glad that i got that info here.Thanks for the useful effort
Eliza
link building

[vaibhav yadav]

well!!! all u guyzz r gud..........but for what purpose for.........it pz mention.........lyk one fellow askd........SQUATSwould not b effective very well if asking for rehab......BRIDGING...THER IS A PROGRESSION !!!! as it is multy layered.............lyk on said i m working on it for some tym..........and its very simle

its a hree grade exercise.......GRADE1.....both feet lyk in traditdnl bridgng
GRADE2 mak a space btween feets n then. start bridng
GRADE 3 slightly more apart..n then B....

Y SO I M INREASING HE TENSION N USING ALLL THE MUSCLES of gluei


I PREFERABLY FOLLOW THE GOLDEN RULE OF TEN!!!

[KiwiDPT]

In my opinion we really need to know if there is a specific gluteal muscle you are trying to isolate or just "the glut's" in general. EMG studies show that the single leg dead lift (shown here YouTube - Single leg deadlift) has the highest maximal voluntary contraction. Prone SLR is ok and I use it with people with very weak hip extensors as a form of AAROM as with a straight leg the hamstrings also assist. A better way is prone with the knee flexed. This places the hamstrings in active insufficiency minimizing there contribuiton, thus isolating the gluts. Another modification I do is to have the pt bend over a table with feet on the floor. This allows an increase of ROM extension from ~90 of hip flex to 10-20 degrees of ext (or whatever is available to the pt). (almost like a donkey kick).

[Canuck Physio]

Wouldn't full squats activate quads more than gluts?

The glutes and hamstrings are recruited most when the weight is in the back and on the heels, while quads are recruited moreso when the weight is the ball of the feet and forward of the shoulders (front squat).

The Single Leg Squat is great if the person has balance, however, overall progression is limited. It is a great dynamic activity. A full squat on a leg press isolating the glutes with progressive overload would 'build' the glutes as per the goals suggested by the original post

Bridging builds strength, and is great for muscular activation, but beyond that most people will not develop enough overload to sufficiently increase size of this musculature.

[KiwiDPT]

I agree that single leg squat requires balance, just today I had a pt with balance deficits and gluteal weakness perform this activity stabilizing herself with the ipsilateral arm while picking a small cone off the floor. This can be progressed to using dumbbells as/or if balance improves. I also agree that leg press is great for building the glutes being on a physio forum my natural tendency is to think of the pt's we treat and always think of function. Sitting in a 200kg machine with our backs supported in not a functional exercise.

[Canuck Physio]

I agree that single leg squat requires balance, just today I had a pt with balance deficits and gluteal weakness perform this activity stabilizing herself with the ipsilateral arm while picking a small cone off the floor. This can be progressed to using dumbbells as/or if balance improves. I also agree that leg press is great for building the glutes being on a physio forum my natural tendency is to think of the pt's we treat and always think of function. Sitting in a 200kg machine with our backs supported in not a functional exercise.

If you examine the initial posting:

"just general fitness/exercise for building up the gluts. "

the answer is sufficient.

[Fyzzio]

Exactly!
Can we please agree that the topic here is strength training?

For neurological clients, overloading 1RM with one set of 5-8 contractions has been shown to be most efficient for strength training. Don't know what research for musculoskeletal strentgh training says.
How you do that for which of the gluts is up to which level the client is at.
The first comment related to an apparently already quite fit person, so bridging won't cut it.

Bridging is nothing else but a functional exercise to aid bed transfers and mobility. And yes, we do use it for functional purposes and building up postural control, but it is absolutely unreliable for strength building, as you can quite easily compensate for any weakness. Good luck if you believe you can "see" and correct this in a client.
I prefer sidelying or prone myself and have copied some of the Pilates style exercises.

Cheers,
Fyzzio

[KiwiDPT]

If you examine the initial posting:

"just general fitness/exercise for building up the gluts. "

the answer is sufficient.

Yes are correct. Good for you, but single squat still has the highest activation of the gluteals.

[KiwiDPT]

This is a place with the purpose of sharing information and opinions. The idea is to get others take on a subject. The comment that an answer is sufficient is fine but not the sole purpose of this forum. This is a physio forum, not a personal training forum. I expect intelligent opinions, and debate based upon evidence and experience. I also stated that I had looked at it as I would a patient thus a functional exercise, not that it was the sole and sufficient answer to the question.