Whether you're lifting heavy weights at the gym or sitting for long hours at your desk, a strong set of glutes is essential for overall health and functionality. Gluteus maximus—the largest muscle in the body—plays a crucial role in supporting your spine and assisting in movements like walking, running, and jumping. Now, when you think about this muscle, you think about complex exercises like deadlifts or kettlebell swings, however one simple yet effective move you can do anywhere is the glute bridges.

Why Should You Do Glute Bridges?

The glute bridge is an easy exercise which is accessible to anyone, regardless of skill level and can be performed anywhere. It can be done at the gym, on the floor at home, or even at the office. Fitness experts call it a versatile exercise that activates not only your glutes but also your hamstrings and core. Moreover, it is an excellent warm-up for experienced lifters before heavy training.

Which Muscles Are Targeted By This Exercise?

While this exercise primarily targets the glutes, it also engages the hamstrings and core, helping to stabilize the body and improve posture. It is pertinent to note that a strong core is pivotal to performing daily activities.

How To Perform Glute Bridges

2. Squeeze your core to create tension, and think about pulling your shoulder blades down toward your hips.

3. Lift your hips toward the ceiling by squeezing your glutes and pushing through your heels. Avoid arching your lower back.

4. Hold at the top for one to two seconds, then lower your hips back down to the ground.

Your goal should be to form a straight line from your knees to shoulders, ensuring no arching in the back. Beginners may not raise their hips very high at first, but with practice, they can aim for a perfect alignment.

When And How Often Should We Do Glute Bridges

The glute bridge can be incorporated into your workout routine as a warm-up or stand-alone exercise. Beginners should aim for 3–4 sets of 10–12 reps, focusing on proper form. Advanced trainees may use the glute bridge as a warm-up for heavier exercises, doing 30-second intervals with short rests. If you spend long hours sitting, try doing a few sets throughout the day to keep your posterior muscles engaged.

Besides Glute Bridges You Can Perform These Exercises For Stronger Glutes

1. Squats: Classic and powerful, squats target your glutes, quads, and hamstrings. You can do bodyweight squats or add dumbbells/barbells for more intensity.

2. Lunges: Forward, reverse, and walking lunges are excellent for engaging the glutes while also improving balance and coordination.

3. Step-Ups: Using a bench or sturdy platform, step-ups activate the glutes, especially when you push through your heel on the working legs.

4. Deadlifts (especially Romanian or Single-Leg Deadlifts): These strengthen the glutes and hamstrings while also working your lower back and core.

5. Donkey Kicks: This bodyweight move isolates the glute muscles and is great for glute activation. You can add ankle weights or resistance bands for an extra challenge.

We often assume that having a “normal weight” automatically means being healthy. While body weight is an important parameter, it represents only a small part of overall health. True health is far more complex than what a number on the weighing scale can convey.

Understanding The Limitations Of BMI

Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely used to classify individuals based on their weight relative to height. However, it does not differentiate between fat and muscle. As a result, someone may fall within the normal BMI range yet still have high body fat and low muscle mass, a condition known as “normal weight obesity.” Such individuals may appear healthy but remain at risk for metabolic disorders.

Why Is Body Composition Important?

Body composition analysis offers deeper insight by evaluating fat, muscle mass, and their distribution in the body. A combination of low muscle mass and excess body fat, especially around internal organs, can increase disease risk, even when overall weight appears normal.

The role of fat distribution:

All body fat is not the same. Where fat is stored matters significantly. The waist-to-height ratio is now considered a more reliable indicator than BMI, as it reflects fat distribution. A ratio above 0.5 is associated with a higher risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even increased mortality.

Looking beyond numbers:

Health cannot be defined by numbers alone. Factors like physical activity, nutrition, stress levels, and sleep quality play an equally critical role. Even individuals with a normal weight can experience poor metabolic health due to inadequate sleep or chronic stress.

The bigger perspective:

Good health is not just about appearance or weight, it is the result of multiple factors working together. It reflects a balance between internal processes and external lifestyle choices.

In essence, being of normal weight does not necessarily mean being healthy. To truly stay well, it is important to look beyond weight and consider the broader picture of health.

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic is set to fly to Europe to seek specialized treatment on his Grade 2 left hamstring strain, according to a media report.

Doncic suffered the injury during Thursday's 134-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Though Grade 2 hamstring strains typically involve a monthlong recovery process, Doncic is motivated to return to theLakers' lineup during the playoffs -- which is a shared goal for Austin Reaves, who is out because of a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury, the basketball player’s agent Bill Duffy told ESPN.

What Is A Hamstring Strain

Hamstring muscles power a player’s acceleration. Sudden bursts of speed without adequate flexibility or strength can cause a strain. It can be a pull, a partial tear, or a complete tear.

Symptoms include:

• Sudden Sharp Pain
• Physical Sensations
• Physical Changes
• Reduced Mobility

Prevention includes stretching, foam rolling, and strengthening exercises like deadlifts, leg curls, and bridges.

Hamstring strains are graded according to their severity. A grade 1 strain is mild and usually heals readily; a grade 3 strain is a complete tear of the muscle that may take months to heal.

Also read: For How Long Should You Be Able To Hold A Plank In Your 20s?

What Are The Common Injuries In Basketball?

Basketball players are more likely to get hurt during matches than during training, with risks coming from tackling, sprinting, twisting, jumping, or even repeating the same movements until fatigue sets in. Collisions, poor conditioning, or re-injuring a previously weakened area can also contribute.

Sprained Ankle

Quick changes of direction and uneven surfaces make ankle sprains one of the most common basketball injuries. This happens when the ankle rolls inward or outward, overstretching the ligaments.

Protect, Optimal loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation, and avoid HARM factors: Heat, Alcohol, Running, Massage, in the first three days.

Groin Strain

Twisting, kicking, or rapid directional changes can strain the inner thigh muscles, also known as adductors.

Prevention is through regular stretching and strengthening exercises such as side lunges and adductor side bridges.

ACL Injury

The anterior cruciate ligament is critical for knee stability. Injuries often occur when the lower leg stays planted while the upper leg twists, during tackles, or awkward landings.

Mild sprains may heal with physiotherapy, but severe tears often require surgery. Persistent swelling or pain should be checked by a professional.

Preventing Basketball Injuries

• Strengthen lower limbs with exercises like squats, lunges, and calf raises.
• Warm up with dynamic stretches and sport-specific drills.
• Cool down after matches to aid recovery.
• Wear proper gear, including fitted boots and shin guards.
• Stay hydrated, eat well, and rest between games.

As weight-loss injections like Mounjaro and Wegovy are becoming increasingly accessible, a growing number of individuals are using them for both health benefits and body toning.

While there are various health-related side effects linked to these, one emerging effect is a surge in divorce rates.

According to experts, after slimming down, partners are on the lookout for new love. The weight loss jabs are doubling the risk of divorce, the Telegraph reported.

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Divorce rates from fat jabs are set to soar in the future, Professor Per-Arne Svensson, from the University of Gothenburg, was quoted as saying.

“What we see, for instance, in divorces is that it occurs after a couple of years after you started your treatment,” he added.

What Studies Are Saying

A 2018 study led by Swedish researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and University of Gothenburg showed that men and women who lost a substantial amount of weight after weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, are more likely to divorce or have their relationships end than those who don’t undergo surgery.

Also Read: Former US Senator Ben Sasse Opens Up About Battle With Terminal Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer

Prof Svensson, who led the 2018 research, found that patients with a gastric band were almost 50pc more likely to get divorced within six years.

In the study of 12,531 married patients, 14.4pc divorced during this period compared with 8.2pc among the wider population. The research suggests the chance of divorce is significantly higher among patients who have experienced rapid weight loss.

Another study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, US, showed that adults who are not married and get weight-loss surgery are more than twice as likely to get married within five years. Likewise, adults who are married and get bariatric surgery are more than twice as likely to get divorced.

Although the studies are focused on people who had been fitted with gastric bands, known as bariatric surgery, the rise of weight-loss drugs will trigger an even larger divorce trend in the future, the report said.

Svensson said, “very similar mechanisms could occur with Ozempic [and other GLP-1 receptor agonists] as with surgery, concerning changes in relationships. Within the newest weight loss drugs, Mounjaro, for instance, we would have weight losses that are not as big as with bariatric surgery, but they are significant enough. So I still believe that these mechanisms could occur.”

Rising Divorce Rates: Weight Loss Jabs Empowering Individuals

The report stated that a reason for the rising divorce rates among people who use weight loss jabs is that these are boosting the confidence of individuals to come out of unhealthy relationships.

“It could also be that you have a person who is stuck in a bad relationship, but doesn’t have the self-confidence to break it off because they feel ‘who would like to date them, if not their current spouse’, " said Prof Svensson.

Read more: India To Strictly Inspect GLP-1 Drugs To Curb Misuse: Govt Flags Risks Amid Weight-loss Hype

“It’s not that losing a large amount of weight is ending healthy marriages. It’s probably more than for the person losing weight and feeling better about themselves; it may be empowering them to leave an unhealthy relationship,” added David Sarwer, the director of the Center for Obesity Research in Philadelphia, US.

Sarwer said if the high cost of slimming drugs falls even further, it will lead to a greater shedding of bad relationships.

There will probably be “a subset of people who, as they’re feeling better about themselves,” find it becomes “a motivational catalyst to move on from what would otherwise be an unhealthy relationship”, he said.