Reducing injury risk is key for dedicated athletes, especially runners. The best way to do this is through targeted strength exercises. By adding just a few of these into your workout routine, you can enjoy less injury and better results. The elevated glute bridge is one of many targeted strength exercises that can provide injury prevention. A progression of the traditional glute bridge, keep reading to learn why you should add the elevated glute bridge to your routine.
What is the Elevated Glute Bridge?
Instead of keeping your feet on the ground, the elevated glute bridge elevates your feet on a bench or table. During the exercise, this elevation will increase the challenge for your posterior chain muscles, leading to stronger muscles and other benefits. Below are some steps to perform the elevated glute bridge:
- Lie on Your Back: Start by lying on the floor with your shoulders against the ground.
- Elevate Your Feet: Lift each foot and place it on the bench/table, making sure your knees are bent.
- Lift Your Hips: Thrust your hips upward until they form a straight line from your knees to your neck. At the top of your movement, make sure to squeeze the glutes.
Benefits of the Elevated Glute Bridge
The elevated glute bridge not only helps with your glutes and hamstrings, but also several other components. Check out some of the benefits here:
- Increased Muscle Engagement: Keeping your feet in an elevated position increases the intensity of the exercise and helps with proper muscle engagement.
- Enhanced Hamstring Activation: Fitness experts agree that the elevated glute bridge activates the hamstrings better, which is crucial for runners to avoid injury.
- Improved Core Stability: Using your glutes and core to lift your body aids in better core stability, keeping your overall strength up for running long or short distances.
- Adaptability: There are many variations of the elevated glute bridge, including adjusting the height, adding resistance bands, or even dumbbells to increase the difficulty.
- Greater Hip Mobility: By thrusting upwards, the glute bridge can increase hip mobility and decrease lower back discomfort.
Progressions and Variations
Once you master the elevated glute bridge and are looking for an extra challenge, try out some of these variations and progressions to increase your strength:
- Single-Leg Elevated Glute Bridge: Only using one leg to thrust up and down before switching can help improve the balance strength between legs, and also simulates the one-legged nature of running and pushing forward.
- Bridge Holds: After thrusting up, hold that elevated position for a certain amount of time to increase your endurance.
- Weighted Variations: Add some weights like dumbbells or kettlebells to increase the amount of weight you thrust and build more strength.
Final Thoughts
The elevated glute bridge is an easy and adaptable workout to add to any routine, especially for a runner. By targeting the hamstrings, glutes, core, and other muscles, the bridge can help prevent future injuries and improve your running performance over time. So, spice things up with the elevated glute bridge. Who knows? It might become your favorite workout.