Kas Glute Bridge – UPDATED 2022 – A Complete Guide

When you think of barbell exercises, you probably associate them with upper body strength, upper arm strength, and core strength. Sure, you need to have good form in your legs to support the rest of your body but they’re rarely the focus.

That’s what the Kas glute bridge is designed for – this is a barbell exercise where you lift with your hips and tone your lower body area and your glutes. It might sound unfamiliar, but it has its roots in some popular barbell exercises.

This is your full guide to the Kas glute bridge, including what is the Kas glute bridge, Kas glute bridge adaptation, tips,, and more!

 

Kas Glute Bridge – A Complete Guide

The Kas glute bridge is a slightly modified version of the barbell hip thrust. To understand the Kas glute bridge, we should first break down what a barbell hip thrust is and how to do one.

A barbell hip thrust involves using a weight bench to support your back, as you sit on the floor with the barbell on your lap, around the hips area. You then lift yourself off the floor along with the barbell, while holding it with both hands for support. After each rep, lower yourself back down to the floor.

The barbell hip thrust is great for your hip flexor muscles, and for activating all of the muscles in your lower body. Specifically, it’s great at building the quadriceps and the glute muscles. It’s important to remember to support the barbell with your hands still, to prevent injury.

So how does the Kas glute bridge differ from the barbell hip thrust? If you see one and then the other it’s pretty hard to tell where the difference lies. But watch a video of the exercises side-by-side and you’ll see what makes it different.

The Kas glute bridge has you suspended above the floor for the whole exercise. Instead of lowering your butt to the floor after every rep, you instead lower it back to being in line with the rest of your body, but still hovering on the floor. It’s kind of like a plank, in that it focuses on keeping stability in the lower body area.

Doing the Kas Glute Bridge at Home

The Kas glute bridge requires a barbell and a weight bench – if you have both of these, then doing the workout at home is easy. Maybe you have a barbell, and you have weights, but you don’t have a weight bench.

If that’s the case, you can still do the Kas glute bridge at home easily. The weight bench isn’t essential, it’s just the most common piece of equipment to use. If you’re in a gym and using the barbell, chances are there’s also a weight bench free.

Instead of a weight bench, you can use your sofa, your bed, a (stable) table, or an exercise ball. As long as it’s a flat and comfortable surface that won’t move suddenly when pressure is applied to it, it’s a good alternative for the Kas glute bridge.

If you don’t have a barbell or a weight bench, then you could do the Kas glute bridge with a kettlebell instead, or even dumbbells. Make sure that the weight is either in the center of your body or evenly distributed if you use these though.

Kas Glute Bridge Alternatives

The Kas glute bridge is itself an alternative of the barbell thrust, but maybe you’re looking for something that’s closer to the Kas, but not quite the same? This could be due to previous injury, or you’ve just perfected the Kas glute bridge and are bored of it.

Alternatives to the Kas glute bridge include of course, the regular glute bridge. This is an exercise that you can do with no barbell, making it a way to do the Kas glute bridge at home if you don’t have that equipment.
It’s also a recommended progression for the full Kas glute bridge – before you involve any weights, it’s important to practice the movement and how to lift yourself up properly.

For something a little different, you can also try the banded squat pulse. This isn’t really similar to the Kat glute bridge in terms of movement and what you do, BUT it surprisingly works some of the very same muscles. For this, you’ll need a resistance band that you can wrap around your thighs.

 

Floor Glute Bridge

Let’s take a few steps back from the Kas glute bridge. It’s not a complicated exercise, but it still requires precise control of your hips and your lower body, as well as at least some lower body strength.

If you’re not comfortable trying the Kas glute bridge yet, you can instead do the floor glute bridge. This is a back-to-basics glute exercise that shares a low of similar notes with the Kas glute bridge.

To do the floor glute bridge, just lie on the floor with your knees elevated. By pushing on your feet, lift up your butt and hips until your body is in a bridge position. Hold this for as long as possible, release and repeat.

Back Elevated Glute Bridge

If the Kas glute bridge sounds familiar to you, that might be because you’ve seen the back elevated glute bridge before. There are some differences between these two exercises, however.

The back elevated glute bridge is a faster movement, and more similar to a barbell hip thrust with how you’re lifting the dumbbell rather than balancing it on your hips. The back elevated hip thrust also has your ending position be a lot deeper than the Kas glute bridge.

You can use the Kas glute bridge as a progression to a back elevated glute bridge, as the movement is so similar, but the former is slower, more controlled, and more relaxed.

 

Kas Glute Bridge – Closing Thoughts

That’s everything we have about the Kas glute bridge and other glute exercises. These are accessible, rewarding exercises that will give your glutes a workout without your whole body screaming in pain.

For more glute and lower body exercises, read up on our exercise guides, WOD plans, and more!