This Mat Exercise Will Lift And Firm Your Backside

Kypros / Getty Images

Your butt always seems to feel the burn after a Pilates or yoga class, but it’s not like you did a hundred squats or lunges. What gives? It’s probably all of those bridges, an exercise that involves raising your butt and hips just a few inches off the floor while your shoulders stay grounded. Bridges will give you that sore-next-day feeling, but for a challenging variation that also works your core, try a marching glute bridge.

This bridge variation incorporates a marching movement into the classic exercise to give it an extra challenge that’s worthy of any mat, whether you’re in the studio, on the gym floor, or at home. “Bridges are great for the glutes and hamstrings as they are the prime movers, or muscle groups, in extending the hips,” explains NYC-based trainer Rebecca Kennedy. This variation has you holding the top of the movement, and that pause will have your glutes and hamstrings working overtime. Plus, “adding a march to the bridge puts you on one leg at a time, incorporating stability work. More muscles are engaged to help ensure the spine isn’t moving and hips are stationary.” Basically, creating a stability challenge in this move makes your body—including your core!—work a little harder to keep your hips stable, which means you’re bringing more ~muscle power~ into the exercise.

Bonus: You get to stay lying down, so you could even try it without getting out of bed in the morning. Score.

Ready to sculpt those glutes? Here’s how to do a marching glute bridge.

Marching Glute Bridge

Whitney Thielman

• Start lying flat on your back, your knees bent and your arms in low V by your hips. Your feet should be about hip-distance apart with your heels a few inches away from your butt.
• Lift your hips up while squeezing your glutes, creating one diagonal line from your shoulders to your knees. This is your starting position.
• Keeping a 90-degree bend in your left knee, lift your left foot off the floor until your left knee is above your left hip. Keep your left foot flexed and push your right foot into the floor to stay balanced. Make sure you don’t drop your hips as you lift your leg, says Kennedy.
• Return your left foot to the ground and then repeat with your right leg. That’s 1 rep.
• Do 3 sets of 15 reps.

After this booty-burning variation, a regular bridge will never feel the same.

You may also like: 9 Easy Stretches For Tight Hips

Related:

• 10 Butt Exercises You Can Do On A Mat
• 5 Basic Exercise Moves Everyone Needs To Know
• 4 Amazing Lower-Body Moves That Aren’t Squats

The post This Mat Exercise Will Lift And Firm Your Backside appeared first on SELF.