Mark Hayward Personal Training- Aylesbury, Bucks- Boot Camps- Personal Training- Princes Risborough, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Winslow, Thame, Stone, Bierton, Dunstable, Beds- Mark Hayward Advanced Personal Trainer

Shoulder Bridge


Strengthens

• Core

No of Repetitions

• 3 to 6 reps

Joints Mobilised

• Lumbar Spine

Major Muscles Used

• Rectus Abdominis
• Erector Spinalis
• Gluteals

Stabilising Muscles

• Transversus Abdominis

How to Perform Safely

• Lie in the set up position.
• Inhale, imagine your spine is a piece of Velcro, then lift up out of the neutral position, as if the Velcro is peeling of the floor, beginning at your glutes and moving all the way up your spine to your shoulder.
• Keep your hips level, imagine a spirit level on them.
• Having reached the highest point comfortably, pause at the top of the bridge to practice lifting one leg, then the other, off the mat.
• Exhale and slowly reverse the movement back to the floor.
• Repeat, slightly increasing the range of motion for the spine.

• Imagine shoulder blades gliding on ice.
• Imagine a bowl of water on the pelvis.
• Don't clench the glutes.
• Don't let the knees go outwards.
• Avoid tension in the shoulders
• Don't let one hip lead.
• Concentrate on lateral breathing.
• Keep the pubic bone high
• Keep the core muscles engaged

Easier

• Less reps
• Less range of motion

Harder

• More reps.
• Increase range of motion.

Adaptations

• Place a towel under the head