How to do the Kas Glute Bridge for a serious butt workout

How to do the Kas Glute Bridge for a serious butt workout

If you've put "building a strong and powerful butt" at the top of your list of fitness goals, tried-and-true glute exercises like squats, deadlifts, and lunges will likely be the backbone of your workout routine.

While these moves will certainly help you get the job done, there are other exercises you may also want to incorporate into your routine. Enter: The Kas Glute Bridge, a butt-building exercise that is essentially an isolated, controlled hip thrust, according to Morit Summers, a certified personal trainer and owner of Form Fitness Brooklyn in New York. (By the way, the move is named after fitness trainer Kassem Hanson, who recently popularized it, but it's actually not a brand-new exercise, says Summers.)

Here, Summers explains all the benefits the Kas Glute Bridge has to offer. Plus, she shares exactly how it differs from the standard hip thrust and how you can perform and modify the exercise based on your fitness level.

How to do the Kas Glute Bridge

There's not much difference between the Kas-Glute bridge and the hip-thrust setup—your shoulder blades rest on a bench and you lift your hips toward the ceiling—but the Kas-Glute bridge requires a smaller range of motion and less strength, says Summers. "When you perform a full hip thrust, you allow your body to fold and use more force to propel the weight upward, and you can seemingly perform much larger loads," she explains. "With the Kas-Glute Bridge, you go into a much shorter range of motion and only target the glutes, and you don't allow the body to get involved in the same way."

In other words, you raise and lower your hips just a few inches in a slow, controlled manner in a Kas-Glute bridge. However, in a normal hip thrust, you lower your butt toward the floor and explosively drive your hips upward toward the ceiling. (Related: What is the difference between a glute bridge and a hip thrust?)

ASit on the floor with the middle of your shoulder blades against a bench or box, knees bent and feet slightly wider than hip-width on the floor. Place an (optional) barbell or dumbbell in the crook of your hip and hold it with both hands.

b.Keeping your lower back flat, chin tucked and looking forward, squeeze your glutes, press through your heels and lift the barbell toward the ceiling, extending your hips to reach the starting position. The knees should be in line with the heels and bent at a 90-degree angle, and the body should form a straight line from the shoulders to the knees.

CKeeping your lower back flat and knees stable, slowly lower your hips two to three inches. Then press through your heels and slowly raise the barbell by extending your hips. Make sure you use your glutes and not your back to perform the movement.

DContinue lifting hips until body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees to return to starting position.

The main benefits of the Kas Glute Bridge

As you've probably already guessed at this point, Kas Glute Bridges put your booty to the test. Below are details on exactly how it can benefit your butt.

Promotes muscle growth through prolonged periods of tension

Kas glute bridges are typically performed slower than traditional hip thrusts because you're not trying to generate as much force, says Summers. With this in mind, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), your muscles spend more time in tension, which refers to the time they contract against external resistance (think weights). Increasing time under tension causes more muscle breakdown and metabolic fatigue and can lead to more muscle growth with proper recovery, according to ACE. (Related: How to Build Muscle in and Outside the Gym)

While you can do slow hip thrusts to increase time under tension, the Kas-Glute Bridge can still have a little leg up. When you lower yourself to the floor with a hip thrust, you inevitably lose some tension in the glutes, while the Kas-Glute Bridge has a small enough range of motion that your glutes are under tension throughout the entire movement, says Summers.

Increases strength with the option to add a load

Both the Kas glute bridge and the traditional glute bridge, which you perform while lying on the floor, are performed with a smaller range of motion than a hip thrust. But unlike floor exercises, the Kas Glute Bridge can be lightly loaded, says Summers. FTR, it's possible to load a simple glute bridge by placing a dumbbell or barbell on your waist, but it's often difficult to keep it in place and can be distracting as you move through reps, she explains. “If you do the Kas Glute Bridge from a bench, box, or anything else you can stand on, loading is much easier,” says Summers.

Kas glute bridge muscles worked

Because the range of motion in a kas-glute bridge is shorter than a hip thrust, you'll end up using primarily your glutes, particularly the gluteus maximus, to extend the hips and lift the barbell upward, says Summers. As a result, according to ACE, the exercise helps build strong glute muscles, which are necessary to stabilize your pelvis and ensure proper function of your lower body. In particular, if your glutes are weak, you may use other muscles like your hamstrings and quadriceps to compensate during movements, which can ultimately lead to injury, according to ACE.

This glute engagement is also a key difference between the Kas Glute Bridge and the traditional hip thrust. “The Kas Glute Bridge is meant to be glutes-only,” says Summers. "...With the hip thrust, because you're adding that element of power and more movement, sometimes people can't really feel their glutes working - they'll feel their quads and their hamstrings. And they're really just generating power and power through the ground." However, an isolated Kas-Glute bridge forces your prey to do most of the work.

Even so, your core – which protects the spine – is still involved in the movement. The core, in particular, provides stability and prevents your lower back from arching excessively during most exercises, which can lead to back pain and injury. And these include the movements that involve pushing weight overhead or sitting a heavy weight on your body, such as: Such as a hip thrust or a Kas-glute bridge, Laura Miranda, DPT, CSCS, a physical therapist in New York, previously told Shape.

Kas Glute Bridge exercise variations

Whether you're a hip thrust newbie, in the mood to tone down your workout, or want to take things up a notch, you can modify the Kas Glute Bridge accordingly.

Modify with a standard glute bridge

If the kas-glute bridge feels a little too hard, try performing the movement using just your body weight or scaling down to a glute bridge on the floor, suggests Summers. Mastering the traditional glute bridge will help you practice proper pelvic tilt and understand how the hips move, she says. Then you can move on to a single-leg glute bridge and finally give a kas-glute bridge a try, she says.

Progression with weights or a single leg variation

Once you've mastered the Kas-Glute Bridge and are ready for another challenge, you can upgrade the exercise by adding heavier weights like barbells, dumbbells, or kettlebells into the mix, says Summers. You can also try a single-leg variation, where you lift one foot off the ground and slightly bend the knee of your lifted leg. While Summers has yet to test this alternative herself, "You can absolutely do a single-leg hip thrust and a single-leg bridge on the floor, so the answer is probably yes, you can do a single-leg gluteus bridge...just based on biomechanics and how exercises work," she says. Just remember to focus on extending your hips over your glutes and avoid relying on your lower back to push the weight (if you're using one) up toward the ceiling, she suggests.

Common Kas Glute Bridge Errors

Whether you're doing a traditional glute bridge, a simple hip thrust, or the Kas glute bridge, you should tuck your tailbone and prevent your lower back from arching (also known as an anterior pelvic tilt)—a common mistake that can end in injury, Hannah Davis, CSCS, a certified personal trainer and the creator of Body By Hannah, previously told Shape. “We want to extend from the hips, not the lower back,” says Summers.

It's also important to keep your knees in line with your ankles and parallel to your hips, adds Summers. "This is just so you're isolating at the hips and not letting the body move too far," she says, which ensures the exercise targets the glutes.

How to add the Kas Glute Bridge to your routine

When you feel confident and ready to tackle a kas-glute bridge, start with just your body weight or a light dumbbell to perfect your form, recommends Summers. "I say this for any exercise, but start easy and work your way up," she says. To reap the booty-building benefits, consider adding the Kas-Glute Bridge to your program about once a week, says Summers. "With the Kas Bridge, you're not going for super heavy weight – so you're going for hypertrophy [increasing muscle] strength and growth," she adds. "I would recommend three to five sets for 10 to 20 reps. "Of course, the exact reps and sets needed to see progress will vary from person to person depending on fitness level, ability and goals, so speak to a trainer for individual guidance.

You should also consult a professional and approach the Kas Glute Bridge (and Hip Thrusts and Floor Glute Bridges, BTW) with caution if you have spine, disc, or nerve issues to avoid possible injury. says Summer. “It's not that you can't do these things - you really have to be aware of your positions,” she adds. "Doing heavy, heavy hip thrusts that can very easily throw you out of a good position is not a good idea. The Kas Glute Bridge is a little more position focused [re: the movement is more controlled] so it can be a little safer." However, it doesn't hurt to be safe and talk to an expert before attempting the exercise.