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Static Glute Bridge Abduction: Benefits You Can Expect

Today, you’ll learn everything about static glute bridge abduction and the benefits you can expect. You can perform the following exercise on a mat:

  • In the gym
  • In the comfort of your home
  • Anywhere you have space.

People can use additional props to add intensity to the training. 

Static glute bridge abduction exercises are low-impact lower-body movements that can easily complement your home workouts.

Whether you’re an exercise newbie or a fitness expert wanting to master the step-by-step instructions of this particular move, keep reading this article. 

Lastly, you’ll uncover the top perks that can happen when doing this simple, low-impact activity.

What Is A Static Glute Bridge Abduction?

The best glute exercises are accessible and convenient to perform at home. 

Hence, their popularity is growing—many love following online trainers who teach how to execute the movement without having any previous experience.

Whether you’ve just started your fitness journey or trained a bit, there is so much to learn.

A static glute bridge abduction is a variation of the traditional glute bridges. 

In the newer version, you will only have to spread your knees apart at the peak of your bridge. People can implement additional props, such as weights, resistance bands, or both.

The bigger the loads, the higher the intensity of this particular movement. 

Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to perform this exercise: 

  1. Loop a mini band around the thighs just above the knees.
  2. Keep the heels planted on the ground at shoulder distance apart.
  3. Lift your pelvis off the ground to bridge the body and squeeze your glutes.
  4. Keep the spine neutral and the core engaged.
  5. Spread your knees apart at the bridge’s peak while keeping the heels planted to stretch the band. This spread is the abduction portion of the exercise.
  6. Slowly come back to neutral and lower the pelvis.
  7. Repeat 10-15 times.

What Is A Static Hip Bridge?

A static hip bridge is another glute bridge requiring your body to pause for 30-40 seconds at the peak of your bridge position. 

How to perform the exercise:

  1. Lie on the floor with your knees bent and hands on your stomach.
  2. Place your hands by your side and extend your hips slowly toward the ceiling, squeezing your glutes.
  3. Maintain this lifted position while fully engaging your glutes and shifting weight into your heels.
  4. Slowly go back and repeat.
  5. Hold for 30-40 seconds. If it’s too challenging, break it to 15-25 seconds.

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What Does Glute Bridge Abduction Work?

Glute bridge abduction muscles worked:

  • The middle and lower parts of your body
  • Hamstrings and hip abductors
  • Targets glutes
  • Specifically the gluteus maximus
  • When done with a resistance band, your gluteus medius.
  • Rectus abdominis, obliques, and quadriceps help you maintain stability during the movement.
  • Various other core muscles

How To Do A Static Glute Bridge Abduction Effectively?

Getting static glute bridge abduction benefits requires correct performance. 

There are a few tips for you to perform this exercise as effectively as possible: 

  1. Focus on your glutes throughout the entire movement
  2. Ensure your hamstrings do enough work, not a lot. If you notice too much pressure on them, move your feet closer to your glutes. People might keep their feet too far away from their glutes, which shifts a lot of pressure on their hamstrings.
  3. Keep your hips tucked and your abs activated, don’t arch your back.
  4. Extend your hips fully, plus keep them aligned with your knees and shoulders.
  5. Avoid performing abductions too fast. Keep the movement slow.
  6. Avoid adding too much weight on your pelvis. Start with just your body weight and a light resistance band and then progress to one dumbbell once you add more difficulty.

Read more: Do These Glute Isolation Exercises at Home and Fire up Your Glutes

How Many Minutes Should I Do Static Glute Bridges?

Whether you’re working on the 30 day glute challenge, or just performing static glute bridges occasionally, try to focus on how your body feels.

  • Beginners can start holding a static glute position for at least 30-40 seconds.
  • More advanced practitioners can shift from 1-2 minutes.

In reality, there is no proper timing for this exercise. 

Most importantly, you need to concentrate on:

  • Proper form
  • Correct technique
  • How your body feels during the whole performance

It’s essential not to make yourself hold the position as long as possible because it might negatively affect your lower back and may even cause pain.

What Will Happen If I Do Glute Bridges Everyday?

Most trainers advise against doing daily glute bridges. 

It’s more important to focus on the proper form and progressive overload (increase the difficulty gradually).

Instead of ticking them off daily, incorporate rest days, completing a few sets of glute bridges 4-5 times per week. 

With this information, let’s move to the overall benefits you get from doing glute bridges consistently.

According to one review, this type of exercise could be helpful for pregnant or postpartum people, helping them alleviate pain and strengthen weakened muscles (1).

Glute bridges are an effective exercise to strengthen your hips, core, and butt.

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According to one study (2), strong glutes play a crucial role in:

  • Minimizing pain
  • Injury prevention
  • Enhancing athletic performance.

You can perform challenging lower-body exercises effortlessly as you strengthen your glutes. It’s essential to highlight that research addresses single-leg glute bridges and their efficacy.

A 2023 report published in the European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education suggests that the single-leg glute bridge exercise may be ‘more effective’ in strengthening the gluteus maximus and medius muscles than other lower body exercises (3).

As you get stronger and correct your static glute bridge abduction technique, you can upgrade to a more difficult version of it – a single leg Glute bridge with hip abduction.

With glute bridges, you can strengthen your gluteal muscles, alleviate lower back pain, and improve quality of life (4).

What Are The Disadvantages Of Glute Bridges?

When applying the disadvantages of the glute bridge, it often comes down to the glute bridge vs hip thrust battle. These exercises are very similar, but the main difference is in their setup. 

  • A hip thrust typically involves an external load.
  • A glute bridge usually involves just the body weight.

Glute bridges still offer a limited resistance (you can’t use as much load as you could  in comparison to a barbell hip thrust). Using solely body weight can limit muscle stimulation and growth.

Secondly, glute bridges have a limited range of motion, unlike hip thrusts, which might also limit muscle growth and activation. 

Most practitioners perform glute bridges on the floor, and they perform hip thrusts using a bench. 

Hip thrust focuses on controlling the weight as you descend and then squeezing at the top. A glute bridge does not have this weight to control as you descend to the floor, but it will still involve squeezing.

Another thing people should keep in mind is that improper form during exercise can lead to injury. 

Some individuals make different mistakes:

  • They raise their hips too high
  • Keep their legs too far from their glutes.
  • Use too heavy loads at the beginning.

Ironically, glute bridges can help people reduce lower back pain, but if you do them incorrectly, the movement can evoke or intensify back pain.

That’s why proper form is vital for decreasing all the possible risks.

People with knee pain should avoid this exercise, too, because glute bridges can irritate an already painful knee (5). Yet, it still depends on the knee injury and the original cause of pain. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is it OK to do glute bridges in bed?

Yes, it is okay to do glute bridges on the bed. Yet, making it the only place to work out is not the best idea. If you wear comfy sports gear and lay a mat on the floor, you can exercise more effectively, adding more moves to your training. 

  • What weight should I start for glute bridges?

You can do glute bridges with just your body weight. 

Perfecting form is always more important than the weight you use. 

Once you have perfect form, try the exercise with 1 dumbbell of 3-5 kilograms.

The weight of your dumbbell should be heavy enough to perform 10-15 reps, leaving the last ones a challenge. If you want to work with more weight, switching to hip thrusts is better for adding external weight loads.

  • Where should I feel glute bridges?

You should feel your glute bridges in your glute area, hips, and your hamstrings. You should also feel your core to engage it throughout the exercise.

  • Why don't I feel anything with the glute bridges?

Ensure you perform the exercise correctly: your knees don’t fall together on the lift and your feet should not be too far or close to your glutes.

Focusing on squeezing your glutes at the top of this movement can provide that extra stimulus and muscle burn. Additionally, if you are not feeling anything from this exercise, it might be time to add an external load. This will help you progress and lead to muscle strength and mass gain

Add in that external weight and push for a few more reps eventually you will gain strength and could minimize that daily back pain. 

The Bottom Line

This article reviewed static glute bright abduction: benefits you can expect. 

It’s an excellent exercise for beginners and advanced exercisers who want to strengthen their glutes, core, and hamstrings.

This activity can help decrease lower back pain when you do it correctly. 

There is no need to perform glute bridge abductions, or other variations daily.

Individuals need at least 2 weekly rest days for muscle recovery.

Glute bridge gives you strength to upgrade to more difficult exercises, and ultimately attain desirable results.

DISCLAIMER:

This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not serve to address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for making any kind of decision-making. Any action taken as a direct or indirect result of the information in this article is entirely at your own risk and is your sole responsibility.

BetterMe, its content staff, and its medical advisors accept no responsibility for inaccuracies, errors, misstatements, inconsistencies, or omissions and specifically disclaim any liability, loss or risk, personal, professional or otherwise, which may be incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and/or application of any content.

You should always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or your specific situation. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of BetterMe content. If you suspect or think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor.

SOURCES:

  1. Rehabilitations for maternal diastasis recti abdominis: An update on therapeutic directions (2023, sciencedirect.com)
  2. BUILDING A BETTER GLUTEAL BRIDGE: ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF HIP MUSCLE ACTIVITY DURING MODIFIED SINGLE-LEG BRIDGES (2017, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov )
  3. Decoding Hip Muscle Activation: A Comparative Electromyographic Analysis of Turn-Out Bent Knee Pulse and Single-Leg Banded Glute Bridge Exercises in Healthy Female Subjects (2023, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
  4. Effects of Gluteal Muscle Strengthening Exercise-Based Core Stabilization Training on Pain and Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain (2024, mdpi.com)
  5. Eight knee-friendly glute and core exercises – demos and tips (2024, sports-injury-physio.com)
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