Shoulder Bridges
by Alana Ouazzani
How many times have we heard our Pilates instructors say, “Use your Glutes!” Starting to sound like a broken record. Right! So a quick summary of why Glutes are so important: They help with posture, they help us lift boxes and grandkids, help us climb up and down stairs, they help us rotate our hips for the golf swing, make it where we can sit down and stand up, protect us from injury to our back, and knees, and strong glutes can help reduce the potential of getting pulled hamstrings and groins.
So we are going to talk about a Glute exercise called the Shoulder Bridge. The Shoulder Bridge targets the Glutes, Transverse Abdominus, Erector Spinae, Hamstrings. Adductors, and Rectus Abdominus. Advanced modifications also works the quadriceps, hip flexors, and obliques.
How to Do a Shoulder Bridge
- Lay on Your Back with your arms by your side palms down. Bend your knees up where your feet are closer to your seat. Your spine is in a neutral position.
- Inhale to prepare
- Exhale- stabilize pelvis and spine in neutral (engage your foot) and press through your heels and extend hips to lift the pelvis off the mat creating a bridge from shoulders to knees
- Inhale- to stay and lengthen
- Exhale to lower
- Repeat about 10 times
Modification
- Lay on Your Back with your arms by your side palms down. Bend your knees up where your feet are closer to your seat. Your spine is in a neutral position.
- Inhale to prepare
- Exhale- stabilize pelvis and spine in neutral and press through your heels and extend hips to lift the pelvis off the mat creating a bridge from shoulders to knees
- Inhale- Maintain level hips, lift one foot, flexing hip, and plantar flexing ankle, then extend knee to reach toes to ceiling
- Exhale- Dorsiflex ankle (flex foot) and extend leg at hip as low as neutral pelvis can be maintained
- Inhale- Plantar flex ankle gently pointing toes, and flex leg at hip
- Exhale- flex knee and lower foot to mat, articulating through foot
- Repeat each side 3 times