Glute Bridge Leg Raise
You hold a glute bridge: hips up, glutes tight, abs braced. From there you extend one leg forward, set it back down and extend the other — alternating. Your hips stay up and level throughout, and your knees stay hip-width apart in one line.
In the glute bridge both legs carry your hips. Here one leg carries them alone — with the other hanging off it as a lever. The glute on the standing side has to keep your hips up, and your trunk has to stop your pelvis from dropping or rotating towards the free side. That is the exercise: the hips that stay still — the leg is just the lever.
It's the next step after the glute bridge: once 20 clean reps there feel easy, this move gives the same muscles a new job — holding under one-sided load, the way they do when you walk, climb stairs, or take any step where one leg carries your body.
From the studio: Andreas uses this exercise as the entry into single-leg hip work, before step-ups and the single-leg Romanian deadlift. He says himself that he has to work hard to keep his hips level. That's his observation from his own training.
Starting position
Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor — hip-width apart, heels close to your body. Your arms rest beside you. Drive your hips up as in the glute bridge: knees, hips and shoulders form one line, your glutes are tight.
Now brace your abs on top of that — everything is locked in. Only then does one leg move forward: extend it until it continues the line of your thigh, keeping the knee level with the other one. Hold briefly, set it down, then the other leg.
What you watch the whole time: your hips don't go anywhere. They don't drop and they don't rotate towards the side of the free leg. Your knees stay hip-width apart — not touching — and stay in one line next to each other.
The three cues
- Glutes up and tight, then brace your abs on top — everything is locked in before a leg moves
- Extend one leg, then the other — your hips stay up and don't rotate
- Knees hip-width apart and in one line, even when one leg is extended
Common faults
| Fault | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| Your hips rotate or drop on the side of the free leg | Squeeze your glutes and abs harder and actively work against it. If that doesn't hold: just lift the foot off the floor without extending the leg for now. |
| Your hips drop as a whole the moment a foot comes off the floor | Drive your hips up once more before every leg change. Only when they're up does the foot come off. |
| The extended leg drifts upwards — its knee is higher than the other one | The leg continues the line of your thigh, both knees stay level. Lower, but clean. |
| Your knees drift apart or fall together | Knees hip-width apart and in one line next to each other — set up the starting position deliberately before the set. |
| Your lower back takes over at the top — an arch instead of hip extension | Brace your abs before the leg moves. The knee–hip–shoulder line is the goal, not as high as possible. |
| The leg swings back and forth quickly | Extend, hold briefly, set down. The change is slow — the hold is the part that counts. |
Variations
| Variation | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Just lift the foot | When your hips rotate as you extend. You lift only one foot off the floor at a time, knee still bent — and practise keeping your hips up and level while you do. |
| Extend the legs alternately | What we do in the studio: extend, hold briefly, set down, the other leg — at least 10, ideally 20 changes, without your hips moving. |
| Hold the leg extended for longer | Andreas' progression: a longer hold on every extension instead of more reps. Your hips then have to work against the lever for longer. |
Reps and load
At least 10, ideally 20 changes per set — across two to three sets. Every change slow: extend, hold briefly, set down. The moment your hips move, the set is over, even if you haven't hit the number yet.
You progress through hold time. The exercise fits at the start of a session, straight after the glute bridge — as preparation for step-ups, Bulgarian split squats and the single-leg Romanian deadlift.
Which muscles do the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| Glute max M. gluteus maximus | Prime mover | Keeps your hips up on the standing side — alone, without the second leg |
| Glute med M. gluteus medius | Stabiliser | Keeps your pelvis level so it doesn't drop on the side of the free leg |
| Hamstrings Mm. ischiocrurales | Synergist | Work with the glutes on the standing leg to keep your hips up |
| Obliques Mm. obliqui abdominis | Stabiliser | Stop your pelvis rotating towards the free side |
| Abs M. rectus abdominis | Stabiliser | Holds the line and stops your lower back arching |
| Multifidus and spinal erectors Mm. multifidi, M. erector spinae | Stabiliser | Keep your lumbar spine quiet while one leg carries your hips beneath it |
| Hip flexors of the free leg M. iliopsoas, M. rectus femoris | Synergist | Hold the extended leg in line with your thigh |
The glute on the standing side carries; the trunk keeps you level. The moment one foot leaves the floor, the side still standing has to do everything on its own — and your abs have to hold your pelvis against rotating. That's why the exercise demands clearly more than the glute bridge, even though little seems to change from the outside.
Explained in full
Andreas builds it up from the glute bridge: glutes tight, abs on top, then the leg — and how you notice your hips rotating. With the entry level for when it doesn't hold yet, and his progression. · 1:16
Seeing it done right is not the same as doing it right
Video, cues and variations take you a long way. What they cannot give you is an outside eye at the moment the movement isn't quite there yet. That is what training with me is for — in the studio or in a workshop.
See the workshopsNew exercise pages are added all the time — the newsletter keeps you posted.
Sources
Lehecka BJ, Edwards M, Haverkamp R, Martin L, Porter K, Thach K, Sack RJ, Hakansson NA. (2017). Int J Sports Phys Ther 12(4):543–549. PubMed 28900560 — Measures five single-leg bridge positions with the other leg extended in 28 healthy adults aged 18 to 30. With the standing knee at 135 instead of 90 degrees, hamstring activity fell from 75.3 to 23.5 % MVIC, glute max sat at 51.0 and 47.4 %, glute med at 57.8 and 57.2 %. The study was prompted by reports of hamstring cramping. The basis for keeping the heels close to the body on this page — and for listing the hamstrings as a synergist. There's no measurement specific to the Academy's readership (40 to 60, two to four hours a week); what carries over is the mechanism, not the size of the numbers. (Evidence type: EMG)
Macadam P, Feser EH. (2019). Int J Sports Phys Ther 14(1):14–31. PubMed 30746289 — A systematic review of 39 EMG studies on glute max activation in bodyweight hip-extension exercises, injury-free participants of any age, not stratified by age. Among exercises with a horizontal force vector, the single-leg bridge was highest at 54.2 % MVIC; the group average was 32.8 %. Supports this page's framing that going from two standing legs to one clearly raises glute work — as a comparison among floor exercises, not as an absolute value for the readership. (Evidence type: Systematic review)
Youdas JW, Hartman JP, Murphy BA, Rundle AM, Ugorowski JM, Hollman JH. (2015). Physiother Theory Pract 31(6):418–427. DOI: 10.3109/09593985.2015.1010672 — Measures six bridging variations to a neutral hip position in 26 healthy adults (13 men, 13 women), including the single-leg bridge on a stable and an unstable surface. Glute max peaked at 32.6 % MVIC in the single-leg bridge on stable ground, glute med at 42.0 % in the single-leg bridge on an unstable surface, and the multifidus sat at around 29 to 36 % in every variation. The basis for glute med and multifidus as stabilisers — and for showing the exercise on the floor. (Evidence type: EMG)
Ekstrom RA, Donatelli RA, Carp KC. (2007). J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 37(12):754–762. DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2007.2471 — Measures nine bodyweight rehabilitation exercises in 30 healthy adults (19 men, 11 women), including the double-leg and single-leg bridge. Both bridges stayed below 45 % MVIC in all eight muscles measured; the authors file them under endurance and stabilisation training rather than strength building. That is why this page progresses through hold time rather than added weight — and why the exercise is placed as preparation for step-ups and the single-leg Romanian deadlift, not as their replacement. (Evidence type: EMG)
Stevens VK, Bouche KG, Mahieu NN, Coorevits PL, Vanderstraeten GG, Danneels LA. (2006). BMC Musculoskelet Disord 7:75. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2474-7-75 — Measures trunk muscle activity in various bridging exercises in 30 healthy students (15 men, 15 women, mean age 19.6). In the single-leg bridge, the ratio of internal to external oblique on the standing-leg side rose to 2.79 — close to 1 in every other bridge; the rectus abdominis stayed minimally involved. The basis for listing the obliques on this page as stabilisers against rotation. A very young sample; ratios, not absolute values. (Evidence type: EMG)
Feldwieser FM, Sheeran L, Meana-Esteban A, Sparkes V. (2012). Eur Spine J 21(Suppl 2):S171–S186. DOI: 10.1007/s00586-012-2254-7 — Measures trunk muscle activity in stable, unstable and unilateral bridges in 20 healthy adults (16 women, mean age 25). As soon as one leg came off the floor, side-to-side differences appeared: 3.2 to 9.4 % MVC between sides in the abdominals, 5.4 to 11.7 % in the multifidus — always higher on the lifted-leg side; no bilateral bridge showed a multifidus side difference. Supports the multifidus as a stabiliser and the page's core message: the exercise is the hips that don't move. (Evidence type: EMG)
Yoon JO, Kang MH, Kim JS, Oh JS. (2018). Braz J Phys Ther 22(2):161–167. DOI: 10.1016/j.bjpt.2017.09.005 — Compares the standard bridge with the single-leg-lift bridge and further modifications in 15 healthy adults (mean age 27). With one leg lifted, the internal oblique worked clearly harder on both sides than in the standard bridge; the multifidus did not change. A small sample, differences only in the abstract. Complements Stevens 2006 on the role of the obliques. (Evidence type: EMG)
Khosrokiani Z, Letafatkar A, Sheikhi B, Thomas AC, Aghaie-Ataabadi P, Hedayati MT. (2022). Sports Health 14(3):415–423. DOI: 10.1177/19417381211015225 — Measures hip and trunk muscles in high-load core stabilisation exercises in 40 healthy adults (20 men, 20 women, mean age 25), including the supine bridge with one leg lifted. That bridge had the highest local-to-global trunk muscle ratio (3.35) and ranked best for the multifidus; for the glutes, the side bridge ranked ahead. Supports the framing that, alongside the glutes, the exercise mainly challenges the deep back muscles. (Evidence type: EMG)
A note on context: EMG studies show which muscles an exercise recruits — that is a good reason to pick it, but it does not replace adjusting things to the person in front of you. See a doctor for persistent or severe pain.