Bridge (exercise) facts for kids
The bridge is a cool exercise that helps make your body stronger and more flexible! It's also sometimes called the gymnastic bridge. When you do a bridge, you usually balance your body on your hands and feet, making a shape like an arch or a bridge.
This exercise is great for making your lower back and the muscles in your bottom (called glutes) super strong. You can see people doing bridge exercises in many sports and activities around the world. For example, it's used in martial arts like Kung Fu, Judo, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Capoeira, and wrestling. It's also a key move in mixed martial arts.
In yoga, a similar pose is called Chakrasana or Urdhva Dhanurasana, which means "Wheel Pose." There's also a gentler version called Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, often just called "Bridge Pose" in Western yoga, where your body is straighter from your knees to your shoulders.
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How to Do the Bridge Exercise
The bridge isn't just one move; there are many different ways to do it! Each way helps you build strength and flexibility step by step. There isn't one "right" way to do it, as people use different versions for different goals.
Holding the Bridge
The bridge hold is a way to practice the bridge by staying still. You get into the full bridge position, like the pictures at the top of this article, and hold it for a certain amount of time. Or you hold it until your muscles get tired. This is a very common way to build strength, especially for people who do Calisthenics (exercises using only your body weight). It helps you get ready for harder bridge moves.
Bridge Push-Ups
A bridge push-up is a more active version of the bridge. Here's how you do it:
- Lie on your back on the ground.
- Pull your feet close to your bottom.
- Place the palms of your hands on the ground next to your head, with your fingers pointing towards your shoulders.
- Now, push your whole body upwards using both your arms and feet. You'll lift your hips and chest off the ground, making a bridge shape.
- Then, slowly lower your body back to the starting position.
- You can repeat this movement several times.
Making Bridge Push-Ups Harder
If you want to challenge yourself, you can try these advanced versions:
- One-armed bridge push-up: This is much harder! You do the push-up using only one arm. This works one side of your back and shoulder muscles more.
- One-legged bridge push-up: For this, you extend one leg straight out while doing the push-up. This makes your leg muscles, like your hamstrings and glutes, work even harder.
Wall Walking Bridges
Wall walking is another fun way to practice the bridge.
- Stand with your back facing a wall. You can start a little distance away from the wall.
- Slowly lean backward until you can place your hands on the wall behind you.
- Then, "walk" your hands down the wall towards the floor.
- To make it even harder, you can "walk" your hands all the way back up the wall. Then, push off the wall with your arms to return to your standing position. You can do this several times.
Standing into a Bridge
This is a cool move often seen in Gymnastics.
- The closing bridge starts with you standing straight up.
- You slowly lean backward, reaching your arms back, until you can gently lower yourself into a full bridge position on the floor.
- This is a great exercise for building strength and control.
The Stand-to-Stand Bridge
The stand-to-stand bridge is one of the most advanced bridge moves. It needs a lot of strength!
- First, you do a full closing bridge, going from standing all the way down to the bridge position on the floor.
- Then, you "open" the bridge again. This means you push off the floor with your arms and use your core and leg muscles to stand back up.
- For an extra challenge, some people can even do this whole movement using only one arm!
Related Exercises
- Crab (posture)
- Bridge (grappling)
