Lower back and hips
8 Bridge variations, from gentlest to strongest
Also called bridge exercise, setu bandha, hip bridge.
Lifting the hips from lying on your back, which reaches the back of the hips without loading the spine into a bend. The versions run from a supported hold that asks almost nothing to a dynamic roll through the spine.
Start here
The list runs from the most supported version to the most demanding. Bridge: Mini is the one to begin with. Start with the mini bridge, a small lift, only to the point where your hips leave the floor. Lifting higher is not better; lifting to a straight line and stopping there is.
Every version in the library
1 · Stability / Core · 20 to 60 seconds
Bridge: Mini
The most accessible bridge: minimal range makes this gentle enough for almost everyone, introducing posterior chain activation without placing excessive demand on your spine.
Make it work for you: Supported sacrum
2 · Stability / Core · 60 to 300 seconds
Bridge: Supported Sacrum
A supported, restful version of bridge that gently decompresses your lower back: the block provides passive relief while allowing long, comfortable holds.
Make it work for you: Mini bridge. Adjust foot position
3 · Stability / Core · 20 to 60 seconds
Bridge: Block Between Knees
Activates your inner thighs alongside posterior chain strengthening, improving pelvic alignment and adding medial chain support that benefits your knees and lower back.
Make it work for you: Mini bridge. Reduce height
4 · Stability / Core · 20 to 60 seconds
Bridge: Classic Hold
Actively strengthens your posterior chain: glutes, hamstrings, and back muscles, through hip extension, building the power that supports your spine and pelvis.
Make it work for you: Mini bridge. Supported bridge. Supported
5 · Stability / Core · 30 to 60 seconds
Bridge: Movement
A flowing bridge that rolls your pelvis up and down: driven from your hips, to wake up the posterior chain and mobilise the spine segment by segment.
Make it work for you: Mini bridge. Supported bridge. Supported
6 · Stability / Core · 60 to 180 seconds
Bridge: Legs on Chair
A deeply supported bridge with your legs resting on a chair: gentle extension for your lower back with almost no effort or load.
Make it work for you: Bridge: Supported Sacrum. Reduce lift height. Small range, stop with symptom spread
7 · Stability / Core · 20 to 60 seconds
Bridge: Wall
Strengthens the glutes and the back of the body with your feet supported on the wall, so the lift stays light and controlled.
8 · Stability / Core · 30 to 60 seconds
Glute Bridge: Single Leg
Strengthens your glutes and posterior chain one side at a time, building the hip extension power that supports your pelvis and lower back during walking and stair climbing.
Make it work for you: Double leg bridge. Reduce hold time
Which version should I choose?
| Version | Support | Best if | Not this one if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge: Mini | None | You are starting out or your back is sensitive today | You feel nothing at all |
| Bridge: Supported Sacrum | Block or bolster | You want the position without the lift | You are ready to build strength |
| Bridge: Block Between Knees | One block | Your knees drift apart | Squeezing causes groin pain |
| Bridge: Classic Hold | None | You can hold a straight line comfortably | Your back arches to get higher |
| Bridge: Movement | None | You want rhythm and repetitions | Control drops when you speed up |
| Bridge: Legs on Chair | Chair | You want a different angle or more challenge | The chair is not stable |
Common questions
Why do I feel the bridge in my lower back instead of my glutes?
Usually because the lift is going higher than the hips can supply, so the lower back finishes the movement. Lift less. There is also a measured adjustment: bridging with the thighs about 30 degrees apart produced the most gluteal activity and the least back extensor activity and forward pelvic tilt, compared with keeping them parallel.
Does the bridge help back pain?
It appears as a component of the AAOS spine conditioning programme rather than as a treatment in its own right, and a large Cochrane review found exercise generally is probably effective for chronic low back pain, with modest average benefit. We are not going to claim more for this one movement than the evidence gives it.
How high should I lift?
High enough that the hips do the work and no higher. There is no target height in the sources. If the ribs are flaring or the lower back is arching to reach the top, that is the ceiling for today.
Is the bodyweight bridge enough to build glutes?
The systematic review that ranks gluteal activation covers loaded exercises, and the bodyweight bridge is not in its high activation list, so we cannot honestly say it is. As a starting point and as part of a spine programme it has a clear place; as a strength builder on its own it is unproven here.
Can I do bridges while pregnant?
Ask your own clinician. ACOG notes that a supine position during exercise after about 20 weeks may reduce blood return and cause low blood pressure, and asks that this be considered when prescribing modifications. It is framed as something to adapt, not forbid.
When to stop and ask someone
Modify by lifting less, not by lifting harder. If the lower back rather than the hips is doing the work, the answer is a smaller lift. There is also a measured adjustment worth knowing: a study of bridging at different thigh angles found that taking the thighs about 30 degrees apart produced the most gluteal activity and the least low back extensor activity and forward pelvic tilt, compared with keeping them parallel.
Stop if you feel it in your lower back rather than your backside. The AAOS spine programme lists the hip bridge among its exercises and applies the same standing rule to all of them: you should not feel pain during an exercise, and if you do, speak to your doctor or physical therapist.
If you are pregnant and past about 20 weeks, ACOG notes that holding a supine position during exercise may reduce blood return and lead to low blood pressure, and asks that this be considered when modifying exercise. That is a prompt to adapt rather than a prohibition, and it is worth raising with your own clinician.
In practice that means stopping and speaking to someone rather than working through it if the pain followed a significant fall or accident, if it comes with fever or unexplained weight loss, if it wakes you at night and does not change when you change position, or if there is weakness in a leg rather than only pain.
One group needs same-day medical attention rather than a phone call: numbness around the groin or back passage, any change in bladder or bowel control, or weakness developing in both legs.
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, OrthoInfo, spine conditioning program (reviewed by Daniel K. Park, MD, FAAOS)
Sets out a staged spine programme containing both the quadruped opposite arm and leg raise and the hip bridge, and states as a standing rule that you should not feel pain during an exercise and should speak to your doctor or physical therapist if you do.
- Kang, Choung and Jeon, modifying the hip abduction angle during bridging exercise can facilitate gluteus maximus activity, Manual Therapy (2016)
In 20 healthy adults, bridging with 30 degrees of hip abduction produced the greatest gluteus maximus activity and the lowest low back extensor activity and anterior pelvic tilt, compared with bridging with the thighs parallel.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, physical activity and exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period, Committee Opinion 804 (2020, reaffirmed 2023)
States that holding a supine position during exercise after 20 weeks of pregnancy may reduce venous return through compression by the uterus and lead to low blood pressure, and that this should be considered when prescribing exercise modifications in pregnancy.
- Hayden et al., exercise therapy for chronic low back pain, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2021)
Across 249 trials and 24,486 adults, moderate certainty evidence that exercise is probably effective compared with no treatment, usual care or placebo, with a pooled improvement of about 7 points out of 100 for pain, and only small differences against other conservative treatments.
- NICE NG59, low back pain and sciatica in over 16s, recommendation 1.1.1
Think about alternative diagnoses when examining or reviewing people with low back pain, particularly if they develop new or changed symptoms, and exclude specific causes such as cancer, infection, trauma or inflammatory disease.
- NHS, back pain, nhs.uk conditions library
Lists as needing immediate emergency care back pain with numbness, tingling or weakness in both legs, loss of feeling around the genitals or anus, changes in bladder or bowel control, changes in genital sensation, chest pain, or onset after a serious accident, and advises stopping an exercise and seeing a GP if pain gets worse.
- Cleveland Clinic, cauda equina syndrome, health library
Describes cauda equina syndrome as a medical emergency caused by compression of the nerve roots at the base of the spinal cord, and states that acute cases are likely to need surgery within 24 to 48 hours of symptoms starting.
Move within a range that stays comfortable. Stop if this brings on sharp pain, dizziness, or symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.
Every version above is drawn from the clinically authored Vinys library. This page is general movement information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. What helps for a specific condition.