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Yoga poses

Bridge and Turn: Load One Glute at a Time

On your back, drive through one heel to lift your hips and turn them over the opposite shoulder. Lower under control and go again. One glute does the work.

Strength · Glutes · 2 min read

Why it works: Chapter 23, Stiff people work harder for every stroke

How to do it

  1. 1

    Both feet planted, close to you

    On your back, knees bent, heels within fingertip reach. Arms out to the sides on the floor.

  2. 2

    Drive through one foot

    Push hard through your right heel so your hips come up. That foot does all of it; the left one lightens and leaves the floor as you turn.

  3. 3

    Turn the hips over the far shoulder

    As your hips rise, turn them up and over toward your left shoulder, rolling onto it as you go. Your weight lands on the back of the shoulder, never on your head or neck.

  4. 4

    Finish on one foot and one shoulder

    The top of the movement is you balanced on the driving foot and the far shoulder, hips as high as they go. Let your head turn with your body rather than against it, so your weight stays on the shoulder and never on your neck.

  5. 5

    Come back down and go again

    Lower under control the way you came up and settle on your back. Repeat on the same side, then change: left heel drives, right shoulder takes you.

  6. 6

    The easier version

    Keep both feet down the whole time and turn your hips only as far as they go while the shoulder on your driving side stays on the floor.

  7. 7

    The test

    The driving glute should be doing the work and your hips should be the highest point. If you are pushing yourself over with your hands, drive harder through the foot instead.

Watch for

  • Shoving yourself over with your hands or your free leg. The glute stops driving and the turn becomes a push.
  • Turning with your hips low. You roll onto your side instead of bridging, and the glute barely works.
  • Crashing back down. You lose the half of each turn that builds control.
  • Rolling onto your neck. Your neck takes weight it cannot carry safely; turn onto the back of the shoulder instead.

Questions

What is a bridge and roll?

A move from jiu-jitsu and wrestling, called the upa in jiu-jitsu, where you bridge your hips high and turn over one shoulder to throw off someone on top of you. Here there is no partner. You keep the drive and the turn, and come back down under control to do it again.

What muscles does the Bridge and Turn work?

Mainly the glute of the driving leg, which lifts and turns your hips, with the hamstring behind it. Your trunk steers the turn, and the shoulder you land on takes your weight for a moment.

How many Bridge and Turns should you do?

A minute on each side in the Balance · 01 routine: drive through the right heel and turn over the left shoulder for the whole minute, then change. Go at a pace where every lift is high and every return is controlled. There is no daily target: do it when your training day has that routine. Those are the times in the normal-length session: a long day holds a little longer, and a short day trims only the holds longer than a minute.