Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is a floor exercise where you lie on your back with your knees bent and drive your hips up until your body is straight from knees to shoulders. It trains your glutes, with your hamstrings assisting. Pick it to learn hip extension or warm up your glutes. A pause at the top makes it harder.
Muscles worked
The glute bridge trains the glutes, with hamstrings helping.
Primary
Helpers
Weekly sets for glutes
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for glutes, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the glute bridge
- 01Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, hip width apart.
- 02Set your heels close enough that your fingertips can almost touch them with your arms by your sides.
- 03Brace your abs and tuck your pelvis slightly so your lower back presses lightly toward the floor.
- 04Drive through your heels to lift your hips until your knees, hips and shoulders form one straight line.
- 05Squeeze your glutes hard for a second at the top, then lower your hips slowly to the floor.
Coaching cues
- Push through your heels
- Squeeze the glutes at the top
- Ribs down, no back arch
Common mistakes
- Arching your lower back to lift higher swaps glute work for spine extension; stop when your hips are in line with your thighs.
- Setting your feet far from your hips shifts the work to your hamstrings; bring your heels closer to your glutes.
- Rushing up and down skips the hard part of the rep; hold the top squeeze for a full second.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Once the top of the range is easy, Swole.fit suggests a harder variation or added load.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Glute Bridge alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your glute bridge free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.