What you'll gain

• Trains hip extension one side at a time so left to right differences become visible.

• Needs no equipment, so it fits home, travel, and clinic programming.

• Loads the glutes with almost no spinal compression.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Lie on your back with both knees bent and your feet flat on the floor about hip width apart.

2. 2

   Lift one leg clear of the floor and hold it there, keeping both hip bones level.

3. 3

   Brace your trunk and press the planted heel down into the floor.

4. 4

   Drive your hips upward until your shoulders, hips, and working knee form one line.

5. 5

   Pause at the top and squeeze the working glute without arching your lower back.

6. 6

   Lower under control until your hips touch the floor, then repeat before switching sides.

Common Mistakes

• Letting the raised hip drop, which twists the pelvis and shifts load off the working glute.

• Pushing through the toes instead of the heel, which pulls the hamstring in and often cramps it.

• Hyperextending the lower back to fake height, which loads the lumbar spine instead of the hip.

• Planting the foot too far from the hips, which turns the rep into a hamstring curl.

About This Exercise

The single leg glute bridge starts lying on your back with one foot planted under the knee and the other leg held clear of the floor. Driving through the planted heel extends the hip until the torso and working thigh line up, so the gluteus maximus does the work while the hamstrings and trunk resist the pelvis dropping or twisting. EMG work on modified single leg bridges shows gluteal activation stays high across different knee angles while hamstring contribution swings sharply, which is why heel placement is cued so precisely. In an asset library this clip is the reference visual for glute activation blocks, warm up flows, and early stage lower body rehab. It reads clearly at small sizes in mobile exercise cards, and the muscle highlight variant shows the target group without needing a caption.

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