Glutes exercise
Frog PumpHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Glutes
- Also works
- Adductors
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Frog Pump?
- Lie on your back with the soles of your feet together.
- Let your knees fall wide and pull your heels in close.
- Press your elbows and feet down and squeeze your glutes.
- Lift your hips until they are straight, then lower with control.
Cues
- Soles together, knees wide.
- Tuck your pelvis; keep your lower back flat.
- Squeeze hard at the top.
Common mistakes
- Arching your lower back to lift higher.
- Letting your feet come apart.
- Bouncing off the floor between reps.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Lie on your back on a mat, head resting on the floor, chin lightly tucked. Bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees fall out to the sides, as in a butterfly stretch. Slide the heels in towards the buttocks as far as is comfortable; the feet rest on their outer edges, toes pointing away. Upper arms on the floor about 30° out from the body, elbows bent so the forearms point up, hands in loose fists. Flatten the low back gently into the floor by bracing the stomach.
The movement
Press the outer edges of the feet and the elbows into the floor, squeeze the glutes and tip the pelvis back a little, then lift the hips. The soles stay pressed together and the knees stay wide. Stop when the hips are straight, with the low back flat and the ribs down. Hold the squeeze briefly, then lower until the buttocks hover just above or lightly touch the floor, and go straight into the next rep. The shoulders, head and feet stay on the floor; only the pelvis rises and falls.
End position
Top: hips straight (about 0°), pelvis slightly tucked, low back flat, knees still wide. The shins then run in to meet at the soles, about 30 cm from the hip joint. With the feet that close and the knees that wide, the hips can only rise about 12 cm before they are straight, so the range is short.
Tempo
0.8 s up, 0.7 s squeeze at the top, 1 s down, 0.2 s light touch at the bottom. It is usually done for high reps, so the pace is brisk but never bounced.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feet | soles together | heels may part 2 cm | [1][2] |
| Hip extension at the top | 0° | 0–10° short of straight | [3][4] |
| Low-back arch at the top | none | pelvis neutral to slightly tucked | [1][3] |
| Elbows | on the floor, bent about 90° | 70–110° | [1] |
| Head | resting on the floor | chin tucked, head slightly raised | [1] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Frog Pump is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Bret Contreras PhD, Frog pumps: a highly effective bodyweight glute activation drill
- Gillman et al. 2021, Wichita State University Symposium on Graduate Research abstract, "The effects of sumo gluteal squeezes versus frog pumps on broad jump distance and gluteal girth"
- ACE, Glute Bridge
- NASM, Floor Bridge
