Steps
Step 1: Lie on your back with your heels in the TRX foot cradles; legs are extended, and the TRX straps are set to about a foot above the ground.
Step 2: From here, proceed to pull your heels towards your buttocks, to prepare for the Hip Thrust.
Step 3: Press through your heel to lift the hips up. Essentially you are performing a bridge movement. Lift your hips to a maximum where your hips are in line with your knees and shoulders in a straight line. The shoulder blades remain in contact with the floor, and your arms are by your side pressing into the floor to help stabilize your torso. As you are lifting your hips, squeeze your glutes and pull in your abdominals to avoid overusing the lower back muscles.
Step 4: Proceed to lower your hips down in a controlled manner.
Step 5: Repeat the movement several times.
How to progress the exercise
Variations in body position can create a different challenge for this already challenging exercise. For example, performing the dips while holding your legs up at 90 degrees, forming an L. An extreme position is an ‘iron cross’, which is with arms extended completely straight out to the sides, so your body is forming the letter, T.
Additional Information
Shoulder stability is paramount to keeping shoulder joint health during this exercise. Your range of motion for this exercise will depend on how well you are able to stabilize your shoulder girdle; this will greatly prevent shoulder impingements and other forms of shoulder problems in the future.
