Finish every workout with this simple move to avoid lower back pain

Every exercise you do helps to strengthen those beautiful muscles of yours. The only issue is that certain exercises, despite doing wonders, can cause aches and pains in your lower back if you’re not ending your workouts with some glute bridge pulses to combat it.

Glute bridge pulses are great after glute, thigh, and core moves because they open up the hips and prevent any exercise-induced strain that results in lower back pain. If you commonly experience pain in the area after working out, giving your hips a boost could help put the issue to rest. “[Glute bridges] rehabilitate anything that’s going on in your lower back and even your hips, but it makes your ass look amazing. So it’s a double win,” says celebrity trainer Isaac Calpito in a recent Obé fitness class.

“The posterior chain is all interconnected. From our hamstrings to our glutes to our lower back, they each work together to help keep us aligned,” says personal trainer Sam Tooley, founder of Alpha Fit Club in New Jersey. “Ending a workout with glute bridge pulses to strengthen your hips can help anyone who’s having lower back pain specifically. My recommendation would be to focus on the contraction at the top, pausing, and squeezing for a few seconds before releasing. You can also try mixing it up with some single leg efforts as well to isolate them unilaterally.”

Before you finish up your next workout, be sure to add in some glute bridge pulses of your own. Here’s exactly how to do them.

How to do glute bridge pulses

• Lie down on your back on a mat with your knees bent and legs hip-width apart.
• Contract your abs, press your heels into the floor, and squeeze your glutes as you slowly raise your hips. Avoid pressing your hips too high to avoid overarching your back.
• Holding the bridge, pulse it out, bringing your hips down and up, then your knees out and in.
• Gently lower your body back down to the starting position.

This is the right way to do a glute bridge:

Here’s how to strengthen your lower back so you can have good posture for life. Then grab one of these products that help melt away lower back pain.