Technique
- Start in a bridge with your feet on an elevated surface.
- Push your chest toward your shoulders until your shoulders are as close as possible to being above your wrists.
- Swing your lead leg straight up with speed and control while keeping the supporting leg active.
- As the lead leg rises, push firmly through the supporting foot to lift your hips and shift your weight over your shoulders and hands.
- Keep your arms straight, actively push through your shoulders, and avoid letting your head drop back excessively.
- As your hips pass over your hands, your body should briefly move through a split handstand position.
- From there, continue the motion by bringing the trailing leg over and lower into a controlled standing position. More advanced practitioners can pause briefly in the split handstand before completing the movement.
Form tips
- Focus on driving your shoulders over your wrists before attempting to kick over.
- Generate lift by pushing through the supporting leg, not just by swinging the lead leg.
- Keep both legs straight and pointed throughout the movement whenever possible.
- If you’re practicing the downhill variation shown in the video, gradually reduce the height of the elevation until you can perform the skill from the floor.
Logging: Repetitions done on one side.
Muscles
Strength
Primary
- Neck
Secondary
- Back
- Shoulders
- Spine
- Serratus anterior
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Hip adductors
Flexibility
Primary
- Abs
- Obliques
- Chest
- Back
Secondary
- Pelvis
Individual muscles
Individual muscles
- Spinalis thoracis
- Longissimus thoracis
- Iliocostalis
- Lower trapezius
- Serratus anterior
- Posterior deltoid
- Gluteus maximus
- Semitendinosus
- Semimembranosus
- Biceps femoris (long)
- Upper trapezius
- Levator scapulae
Equipment
Appears in
Flexibility
Joint movements
View Similar Exercises
View Similar Exercises

One-arm bridge
Advanced

Head tap bridge
Advanced

Straddle handstand shoulder taps
Advanced

One-leg bridge
Intermediate

Bridge pushup
Intermediate
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.
