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Bridge Exercises for Arm Strength and Back Flexibility
They are designed to get you in and out of the bridge from different positions with little effort. That doesn’t mean the exercises are easy though, especially not at the beginning. This first exercise works on your arm strength and back flexibility, which are both essential to doing a nice bridge.
 STARTING POSITION Get on your back with your legs bent and your feet on the floor (shoulder width apart). Put your hands on the floor (next to your ears, and above your shoulders) with your fingers pointing towards your shoulders. This may be an awkward position for some of you, if your wrist are not flexible enough. If that’s the case, start doing regular wrist stretching exercises to build up that flexibility.
 PUSHING UP AND COLLAPSING Push your stomach up to the sky as you straighten your arms and legs from the starting position. Arch your back and try to relax. Hold the bridge for 3-5 seconds, and then gently collapse back down to the original position. Rest for a few seconds to get a bit of arm strength back, and then repeat. If you rest for a short amount of time, and do a lot of repetitions, you will get stronger and better at doing the bridge faster. That’s because you’re putting more stress on your muscles, so they'll adapt faster. Don’t over do it though... you should never feel sharp pains. If that happens, stop immediately and give it some rest (a day or more).
 PROGRESSIONS Once you’ve built up enough arm strength and back flexibility to hold the bridge for 30 seconds or so, move on to these progressions. Try looking up at the ceiling while in the bridge. Try taking one foot off the ground and pointing it up in the air (as high as possible). Try taking one foot off the ground and crossing that leg in a chair position (outside of one ankle sits on top of the other knee). Try transferring more weight to your arms by pushing towards them with your legs (you will need more arm flexibility for this, so go slowly). This is one of many bridge exercises that will help you to do hallowback freezes in the future.
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