Part XVII · Yoga poses
Single-Leg Bridge: Stronger Glutes, One Leg at a Time
On your back, lift your hips, then float one foot off the floor and set it down, then the other, without the hips dropping. Works your glutes and hamstrings.
The lesson
- 01
Feet close in
On your back, knees bent, feet flat and hip-width apart, heels close enough to touch with your fingertips. Arms long by your sides, palms down.
- 02
Bridge up
Breathe out, press through both heels and lift your hips until there is a straight line from knees to shoulders. Lift with your glutes, not by arching your lower back.
- 03
Float one foot
Shift your weight onto one foot, then lift the other a few centimetres off the floor. Nothing else moves.
- 04
Keep both hips level
The side you lifted wants to drop. Hold it up with the glute of the leg still on the floor, so a glass of water on your hips would not spill.
- 05
Set it down, float the other
Place the foot back, take a breath, lift the other. Change slowly: the moment one foot lands and the other leaves is when the hips most want to tip.
- 06
The hips stay up
Keep alternating without lowering your hips to the floor between sides. If you have to come down, rest a breath and bridge up again.
- 07
The test
The glute of the standing leg should be working steadily, and the hips should not tip as the feet change. Too hard? Keep both feet down and just take the weight off one at a time.
Watch for
- The lifted side dropping. Your pelvis tips, your weight rolls onto one hip and the standing glute stops holding you.
- Arching your lower back to get the hips higher. Your back takes the load your glutes should, and it aches afterwards.
- Feet too far from your hips. The back of your thigh takes over and often cramps.
- Rushing the changeover. The hips tip every time a foot leaves and lands, and you never learn to hold them still.
What muscles does a Single-Leg Bridge work? Mostly the glute of the leg on the floor, with the hamstring behind it helping to lift. The side of that hip and your trunk work to keep the pelvis level.
Why does my hamstring cramp in a Single-Leg Bridge? Usually your foot is too far from your hips, so the back of the thigh does the lifting instead of the glute. Walk the foot in until your heel is close to your fingertips, press through the heel and lift a little lower.
Why are single-leg bridges so hard? Half the support is gone. One glute has to lift your hips and also stop the free side from dropping, and the moment you change feet is the hardest part.
How many single-leg bridges should you do? In the Balance · 01 routine you do not count them: it is two minutes of slow alternating, one foot then the other, with your hips up the whole time. There is no daily target: do them when your training day has that routine.
Next
Three-Legged Dog→It comes next in the routine. You press back up to Downward Dog and lift one leg at a time, opening its hip, so the support changes again, now on your hands and one foot.
From the book
22Range lets you rest on your line→