Can’t feel glute bridges or hip thrusts in your glutes? Two common mistakes cause this: arching your lower back (which loads the spine instead of the glutes) and pushing through your toes (which shifts tension into the quads). Fixing both takes seconds, and the difference is immediate. Kraken Fitness in North Burnaby breaks down each fix below.
Watch: Glute Bridge Form Fix
In this quick tutorial, Josko and Brandon from Kraken Fitness demonstrate why people can’t feel glute bridges in their glutes and show two simple fixes that make an immediate difference.
Mistake 1: Arching Your Back
The most common reason people feel glute bridges in their lower back instead of their glutes is spinal extension — arching the back during the movement. When the lower back arches, all the pressure shifts into the spine and away from the glutes. This is the number one form mistake Kraken’s trainers see during hip thrusts and glute bridges.
The fix is a pelvic tuck. Before you even lift your hips, tuck your tailbone underneath you. Think about bringing your crotch toward your ribcage and pushing your ribcage down at the same time. Everything should be flat. Your lower back should be pressed into the ground before you start the movement.
From that tucked position, stay braced through your core and lift your hips. Squeeze your glutes hard at the top. The tucked pelvis keeps the tension exactly where it belongs — in the glute muscles, not the lower back.
Most people who complain about not feeling glute bridges in their glutes fix the problem instantly with this one adjustment. The pelvic tuck prevents the spine from taking over the movement. If you’ve been doing glute bridges for weeks and only ever felt them in your back, this is almost certainly the issue.
Kraken’s coaches see this pattern daily with new clients in Burnaby. People who have been doing glute bridges at home or at other gyms for months without results often just need this single cue — tuck the tailbone, flatten the lower back, then bridge.
Mistake 2: Pushing Through Your Toes
The second most common mistake happens at the feet. Many people drive through their toes during glute bridges, pushing forward rather than pressing evenly through the whole foot. When the pressure shifts into the toes, the quads take over the movement.
What happens mechanically is that driving through the forefoot stretches and loads the quadriceps. Even if you have the pelvic tuck dialed in perfectly, pushing through the toes will redirect tension from the glutes into the front of the thigh. That’s why some people feel hip thrusts entirely in their quads — it’s not a glute exercise for them because of how they’re distributing pressure through their feet.
The fix is even distribution across the entire foot. From your toes all the way through your midfoot and into your heels, the pressure should be balanced. Think about pressing the whole foot into the floor rather than pushing off the balls of your feet.
This is a subtler cue than the pelvic tuck, and it’s easy to miss. Most people don’t think about their feet during glute bridges at all. But the foot position determines which muscles do the work. Even a slight forward shift in pressure can move the load from glutes to quads.
At Kraken Fitness, trainers watch both the pelvis and the feet during every glute bridge set. Correcting both at the same time is what creates that deep glute burn people are looking for.
How to Do a Glute Bridge Correctly
Putting both fixes together gives you a glute bridge that actually targets your glutes. Here’s the full setup, step by step.
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Before you lift anything, tuck your tailbone underneath you. Push your lower back flat into the ground. Your ribcage should be down, not flared. Think of pulling your crotch toward your ribcage — that’s the pelvic tilt that keeps your lower back safe and your glutes loaded.
Next, check your feet. Distribute pressure evenly across the entire foot — toes, midfoot, and heels. You should not feel more pressure in any one area. This prevents the quads from taking over the movement.
From this braced, tucked position, drive your hips toward the ceiling. Squeeze your glutes hard at the top. Hold for a beat. Then lower back down with control, maintaining the pelvic tuck the entire time.
Two cues, done together, and the exercise transforms. Clients at Kraken Fitness in North Burnaby who had been struggling with glute activation for months often feel the difference on the very first rep after making these corrections. The glute bridge is one of the best foundational exercises for building glute strength, but only when the form is right.
FAQ
Why do I feel glute bridges in my lower back?
You’re likely arching your lower back during the movement. This shifts the load from your glutes into your spine. Fix it by tucking your tailbone, pushing your lower back flat into the ground, and keeping your ribcage down before you lift your hips.
Should I push through my heels during glute bridges?
Pushing only through your heels can overcorrect. The goal is even pressure distribution across the entire foot, from toes to heels. This balanced pressure keeps the glutes loaded without shifting tension into the quads or creating instability.
How do I know if my glutes are actually firing during a bridge?
You should feel a strong contraction and squeeze at the top of the movement, concentrated in the glute muscles. If you feel strain in your lower back or burning in the front of your thighs instead, your form likely needs the pelvic tuck and foot pressure corrections.
Are glute bridges and hip thrusts the same exercise?
Glute bridges are performed with your back on the floor. Hip thrusts use a bench to elevate your upper back, allowing a greater range of motion. Both exercises use the same form cues — pelvic tuck and even foot pressure — and both benefit from the same corrections.
How many glute bridges should a beginner do per workout?
Kraken’s trainers typically recommend starting with 3 sets of 12-15 reps with perfect form. The key is quality over quantity. Getting the pelvic tuck and foot pressure right on every rep matters more than adding weight or doing more reps.
Ready to Fix Your Form?
Kraken Fitness is a personal training gym in North Burnaby near Brentwood. If you want a coach to watch your form and make these corrections in real time, try a free week — no commitment, no pressure.
About the Author
Josko Kraken is the founder of Kraken Fitness in North Burnaby near Brentwood, and Brandon is co-owner. Together they host the Kraken Power Podcast and have over a decade of combined coaching experience helping everyday people transform their health at a gym built for non-gym people.
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[Josko]
If you’ve ever been frustrated with not being able to feel your exercises in your glutes, like glute bridges or hip thrusts, I’m going to show you why and show you exactly how to fix that. So one of the common mistakes that people do is they’ll arch their back as they’re doing their hip thrust or their glute bridge.
[Josko]
If you do that, that’s going to load all of the pressure into your back instead of your glutes. What you want to do is tuck your tailbone as much as you can, and you can see here that’s the pelvis tilting this way, and he’s basically bringing his crotch to his ribcage, and his ribcage, he’s going to be pushing that down, so everything’s flat. He’s actually pushing his lower back into the ground here, and then from there, keeping that tucked position and staying braced, he’s going to lift up and squeeze his glutes to the top.
That’s typically the most common mistake when it comes to doing hip thrusts or glute bridges, when people complain about not feeling it in their glutes. So Brandon, do you feel it in your glutes now? He feels it in his glutes.
Another very common mistake that people do is they’ll put a lot of pressure into their toes, and they’re driving kind of forward. What ends up happening is this ends up stretching the quads and putting the tension into the quads instead, so you’re not going to be able to feel it as much, even if you are tucking your glutes. So what you want to do is always apply pressure across the whole foot.
So this means even distribution of pressure from your toes all the way into your heels. If you do those two things, I guarantee you that you’re going to start feeling it much more in your glutes, and you’re going to solve this issue. Hope you guys liked this video.
If you did, leave it a thumbs up, and we’ll see you in the next one.