Work Those Glutes - Learn to Perform a Glute Bridge

Happy Friday!

Welcome back to the Tactile Training Newsletter. It is officially November and that means it is legging and jean season. As a personal trainer, that means it is just another day that ends with the letter “y” when clients ask me how to train and target their butts. To get ahead of this request; I’m going to teach you how to properly perform the glute bridge movement using tactile verbal descriptions. In addition, we will continue adding to the Tactile Training Workout, where we put the exercises we learn here together into a workout program you can use.

Tactile Training: The Glute Bridge

• Low back pain, sciatica, knee pain, and poor posture. All four of these things have something in common. Your butt. Poor gluteal activation and weakness is common among a population that spends roughly six and a half to eight hours seated everyday.

• My mission is to make exercise accessible. Today, we are going to use tactile cues to literally put your butt to work and perform the glute bridge.

  1. Step One: Lie down on your back (supine)

     • To start, you will need space to safely lie flat on the floor with your back and bottom in contact with the ground. This is also called a supine position. Make sure the floor and surrounding area is clear of debris.

  2. Step Two: Proper Alignment of Your Feet

     • Once you are lying on your back, place your feet flat on the ground by bending at the knees and bringing the heels of your feet towards your butt. You should feel your feet resting flat on the ground and your knees should be bent.

     • To check your alignment, you should be able to grab or graze the backs of your heels with the same side index finger by reaching towards them. Using your right hand and finger tips, try to touch the right heel of your foot. Repeat on the left side. If you can feel them or nearly reach them, your feet are close enough to your butt. If you cannot, try to bring your feet closer towards your bottom.

     • Please be mindful that not everyone will have as much flexibility in their knees and this may be a limitation for some.

  3. Step Three: Check your hips

     • Next, we want to check that our feet are hips width apart. To do this, make two fists and bring them together side by side. The thumb and index fingers of your fists should be in contact when brought together.

     • Bring both fists together in between your thighs, just below your pelvis. They should fit in between your upper left and right thighs snugly. If there is too much space, bring your feet in closer together. If there is too little space, spread your feet farther apart.

     • You should feel as if you can lightly squeeze your fists between your legs. This is a great way to make sure you have proper hips width spacing for this exercise.

  4. Step Four: Hand placement

     • Next, place your hands flat on the ground with palms open and arms fully extended down by your sides.

     • Your hands should be near your pockets (or where your pockets would be). Your arms should be straight with your thumbs near or touching your glutes.

     • This position is similar to where your arms would be if you are standing with arms at rest alongside your body.

  5. Step Five: Lift off

     • You are ready to perform the glute bridge. Press downward through your feet and lift your butt and hips upwards off of the ground.

     • Lift as high off of the ground as you can and squeeze your gluteal muscles together. At the peak of this lift position, hold for three seconds before slowly returning to your starting position.

     • You should feel your gluteal muscles working and may feel a stretch in the front of your thighs, which is your hip flexor muscles stretching.

  6. Step Six: Repeat

     • Now repeat step five for ten repetitions and you have performed your first set of glute bridges.

  7. Step Seven: (Optional Progression) Single-Leg Glute Bridge

     • For an added challenge and progression, you can lift one foot off of the ground and perform a set of single-leg glute bridges using only one foot on the floor.

     • This progression of the glute bridge targets one side of the gluteal muscles at a time while presenting an added stability challenge and requires more effort from the gluteus medius. This muscle is responsible for hip stability and lies on the outer portion of the hip.

Tactile cues and descriptive movements such as this can be used to help make fitness more accessible. If you are interested in learning other exercises and ways to describe movements, let me know!

Weekly Challenge: Tactile Training Workout

For the upcoming week, your challenge is to put what we’ve learned over the last three newsletters into practice. If you are an educator or parent of an individual who is blind or visually impaired, try this routine out for yourself and learn how the cues can help improve your form.

We have now covered the squat, plank, and glute bridge and are going to continue building a progressive home workout challenge with every newsletter. If you’d like to revisit instructions on how to properly perform a squat or plank, checkout my last two posts at the following link: https://tactiletraining.beehiiv.com/

As always, please consult a physician’s approval before beginning any new exercise program.

• The workout is the following:

  • Perform 10 bodyweight squats

  • Perform a fifteen to thirty second plank hold based on your ability. (Option to perform a kneeling plank regression if needed).

  • Perform 10 Glute Bridges (Option to perform single-leg progression if desired).

  • Rest 30 seconds and repeat for three rounds total.  

If you enjoy this content or want a specific exercise described in a future post, respond to this email and let me know!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter and workout program! If you have questions or suggestions for future newsletters; contact me at [email protected]. Until next time!

- Coach Brandon