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.

Garba season is back, bringing hours of energetic dancing. While this aerobic activity naturally raises your heart rate, prolonged, high-intensity sessions can strain the cardiovascular system. In 2023, 10 people died within 24 hours while performing Garba.

So, how do you distinguish a normal exercise response from a warning sign?

Why Does Your Heart Race During Garba?

Dr. Anesh Jain, Cardiologist, Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, told HealthandMe that two factors drive a faster heartbeat during Garba:

• Exercise: Working muscles need more oxygen, making the heart pump faster.
• Adrenaline: Loud music, excitement and crowds trigger adrenaline release, further increasing heart rate.

Also read: Weekend Workouts: Why Sudden Intense Exercise May Put Stress on Your Heart

When Is A Racing Heart Normal?

Dr. Nimit Shah, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, told HealthandMe that the heart beats faster during Garba to supply oxygen-rich blood to working muscles.

A normal exercise response typically involves:

• A steady increase in heart rate that matches the intensity of dancing.
• Breathing that settles with rest.
• A heartbeat that gradually slows after stopping.

However, a sudden or irregular heartbeat, or one that remains unusually fast despite rest, should not be ignored.

Warning Signs: When To Stop Dancing

Dr. Anesh advised stopping immediately if you experience:

• Unusual breathlessness: Struggling to speak or catch your breath.
• Chest discomfort: Pain, pressure or heaviness in the chest, arm, neck, shoulder or jaw.
• Dizziness: Feeling lightheaded or faint.
• Irregular palpitations: A pounding, skipping or erratic heartbeat.
• Persistent rapid heartbeat: A heart rate that does not settle with rest.

Chest pain, severe breathlessness or fainting requires emergency medical attention.

Read More: Strong Enough for HYROX, But Is Your Heart Fit Enough?

What Increases Heart Strain During Garba?

Several factors can increase the risk of complications:

• Dehydration: Heavy sweating causes fluid and electrolyte loss, potentially contributing to palpitations.
• Sudden intense exercise: Hours of vigorous dancing can strain the body, particularly in people unaccustomed to exercise.
• Low blood sugar: Fasting or inadequate food intake can cause weakness, dizziness and a rapid heartbeat.
• Excessive caffeine: Caffeine and energy drinks can trigger palpitations in some people.

“Prolonged dancing, dehydration, excessive sweating and inadequate food intake can put stress on the body,” Dr. Nimit said.

People with heart conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes or a history of abnormal heart rhythms should take extra precautions.

How To Protect Your Heart During Garba

Dr. Nimit recommended warming up, gradually increasing dance intensity, taking regular breaks and staying hydrated. Avoid prolonged dancing in hot, crowded venues.

Other precautions include:

• Eat adequately before dancing.
• Get enough sleep.
• Avoid excessive caffeine and energy drinks.
• Consult your doctor about safe exercise levels if you have a heart condition.

What To Do If Your Heart Starts Racing

If your heartbeat feels unusually fast or irregular:

• Stop dancing and move to a cooler, well-ventilated area.
• Rest in a comfortable, supported sitting position.
• Sip water if you are fully alert and can swallow normally.
• Seek medical help if symptoms persist. Call emergency services for chest pain, severe breathlessness or fainting.

Do not push through symptoms or rely on hydration and breathing exercises to manage possible cardiac warning signs.

The experts advised that Garba should be a celebration, not a test of endurance. Recognizing warning signs, taking breaks and respecting your limits can help you dance safely.

If you are trying to lose weight loss for a long time, it can become a cycle of strict diets, missed targets and constant frustration. Actor Melissa McCarthy says changing her relationship with weight, rather than constantly trying to control it, helped her approach the weight loss process differently.

In a recent interview with CBS Mornings, the Bridesmaids star reflected on how she stopped fixating on her weight. “I finally said [to myself], 'Oh, for God's sake, stop worrying about it,' and it may be the best thing I've ever done,” she said.

“I truly stopped worrying about [my weight]. I stopped over-analyzing, over-thinking, over-doing anything.” McCarthy added, “I just stopped constantly being worried about it, and I think there's something to kinda loosening up and not being so nervous and rigid about it that, bizarrely, has worked.”

McCarthy's weight loss mindset sheds light on a less restrictive, more sustainable approach can help people break the cycle of repeated dieting and weight regain, also known as yo-yo dieting.

Trapped In A Cycle Of Yo-Yo Dieting?

Also read: Strong Enough for HYROX, But Is Your Heart Fit Enough?

Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, refers to a constant process of repeatedly losing weight and regaining it. People may turn to restrictive diets for quick results, only to find that it is difficult to maintain over time and end up regaining all the lost weight.

Weight loss triggers certain changes in appetite and energy expenditure that can make maintaining the new weight challenging. Hunger may shoot up, while the body may expend less energy than expected, making regaining lost weight more likely.

Extremely restrictive eating plans can also be difficult to sustain alongside work, family responsibilities and social life. When a diet becomes too demanding, people may give up and return to previous eating patterns, sometimes interpreting weight regain as a personal failure rather than a sign that the approach was unsuitable for them.

McCarthy has previously spoken about moving away from extreme approaches. In a 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club, she said, “If I can de-stress and just do it slower and stop constantly trying to be on something.” She added that this approach “actually worked better instead of being like, ‘I'm gonna not do this and do this and only drink this.’”

She also said, “I'm just gonna mellow out, give myself a break.”

According to a few studies, yo-yo dieting has also been associated with health problems like changes in blood pressure and cholesterol. However, a 2024 review of 23 studies found that most available evidence did not show consistent adverse effects of weight cycling itself on body composition or resting metabolic rate.

A 2026 review published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology similarly concluded that current evidence does not strongly support a link between weight cycling itself and adverse changes in body weight, body composition or metabolic function.

This does not mean repeated weight loss and regain is irrelevant to health and overall fitness. It means the effects should not automatically be attributed to weight fluctuations alone, and people should not be discouraged from making another attempt at improving their health.

Mindset Shift Can Help Lose Weight Sustainably

A less rigid approach may make weight management more manageable by reducing the constant pressure. Setting realistic goals, maintaining eating patterns that can be maintained over time and allowing flexibility may help avoid the all-or-nothing thinking that often comes with extremely restrictive dieting.

However, McCarthy's personal experience does not prove that changing one's mindset alone causes weight loss or prevents weight regain. Weight management is influenced by genetics, hormones, medications, sleep, stress, environment and other factors.

HYROX has suddenly become a fresh fitness challenge for anyone willing to test the limits of their strength and endurance. The typical gym session will soon be swapped out with a HYROX race, a hybrid of running and brutal functional fitness movements that have you shifting constantly between cardio and muscular efforts.

Being able to lift heavy weight, run for kilometers, or knock out the crazy gym session doesn't guarantee the heart is ready to match that level of high-intensity work. An individual having great strength and endurance doesn't guarantee he/she has a healthy heart.

The significance of this difference is that cardiovascular disease is still a huge problem. According to the WHO, as many as 19.8 million people died from cardiovascular diseases worldwide in 2022, representing approximately 32% of all deaths. In India, the disease is also a significant cause of death; WHO states that 27% of deaths in India are caused due to CVDs, and it is estimated that around 220 million people in India suffer from high blood pressure.

It does not mean that people should be scared of hard exercise. Exercise is a vital component of heart health. The question is, is the individual adequately prepared for the intensity of effort they are undertaking?

Prioritizing heart before HYROX: When?

Also read: Is 'Hyrox' Challenge Worth The Hype Or Just Another Fitness Trend?

People who are starting a program of vigorous exercise should be familiar with the symptoms of distant chest pain, abnormal breathlessness, fainting or dizziness, palpitations or irregular heartbeats, or abrupt decrease in exercise capacity.

If you have a personal or family history of early cardiac disease, known hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity or prior cardiac disease, it would also be worth discussing with your physician prior to high intensity training. Most importantly, we emphasise that there is no universal cardiac screening test that every participant of HYROX requires. Cardiovascular screening should be risk stratified and individualized.

Sometimes just taking your blood pressure and examining you will be sufficient. A doctor might choose to do additional tests – eg, an ECG or exercise stress test – if you have symptoms and/or risk factors and/or other diseases, especially if you are 40 years or older. Additional tests may also include images of your heart.

Risk Assessment Before Exercise

The European Society of Cardiology's sports-cardiology guidance recommends on risk determination before strenuous physical activity, but not on the use of the same testing algorithm for all. An evaluation with a clinical assessment, ECG, and exercise testing may be recommended for adults who are not physically active or have a high cardiovascular risk for a planned high-intensity exercise.

Don't confuse fitness with cardiovascular clearance One may have very strong muscle and not be aware that he or she has an unrecognized risk factor for cardiac health. Alternatively, a person with a known cardiac condition may safely perform a monitored exercise program with appropriate testing and management. The goal is not to keep you from any additional HYROX or heavy training, but only to Know what your heart is capable of and your risk factors, warning signs and symptoms.

Strength is one element of fitness. But before you question whether you have enough strength to finish the next workout, here's a question for you: Is your cardio ready?

By Dr. Rajat Kar, Consultant - Adult Cardiology, Narayana Hospital, Howrah