Bridge progression

The bridge, also called the back bridge or wheel pose, is an arch held on straight arms and planted feet, the front of your body turned to the ceiling. Done well, the bend is shared: the shoulders open overhead and the glutes drive the hips up, so the lower back only carries its part. Done badly, the arch piles into the lumbar spine. This chain exists to teach the first version.

Calisthenics spends most of its time in hollow, rounded shapes, and the bridge trains the opposite one. The overhead shoulder range it builds is the same range a straight, stacked handstand needs. It also keeps your spine comfortable bending backward under control, a range many adults stopped using long before they started training.

Every step is a hold, and every standard is the same, 3 × 20–30s, so the chalk grade tells you how hard each shape is. White builds the shape from the ground up, starting with the Reverse Plank and Shoulder Bridge and ending with the Head Bridge. Green is the Full Bridge, then the Decline Bridge and one-leg versions that load it harder. Blue takes an arm away with the OA Head Bridge and the OA Bridge.

The ladder

Every step has a standard. Own it, then climb. Grades run White, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red.

1. 01
   Reverse PlankWhite
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
2. 02
   Shoulder BridgeWhite
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
3. 03
   Table BridgeWhite
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
4. 04
   Angled BridgeWhite
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
5. 05
   Head BridgeWhite
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
6. 06
   Full BridgeGreen
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
7. 07
   Decline BridgeGreen
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video
8. 08
   One Leg BridgeGreen
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes
9. 09
   Decline OL BridgeGreen
   3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes
10. 10
    OA Head BridgeBlue
    3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes
11. 11
    OA BridgeBlue
    3 × 20–30s holdfloor · lower-back · shoulders · glutes · video

How to climb it

Move up when the current step holds for 3 × 20–30s with steady breathing and no pinch in the lower back. On BARCROSS, holds run a ladder: 3 × 10s to start, five seconds more each session, and at 3 × 30s you move to the next bridge. Two or three sessions a week is plenty, placed late in the session when your shoulders and hips are already warm.

Prepare before every attempt. Open the shoulders with arm circles and a stretch against a wall, and loosen the hip flexors with a lunge, so the arch has more places to come from. Press up slowly and come down slowly, chin tucked. In the head bridges, keep most of the weight in your hands and feet. If pain persists, see a professional.

Form cues

• Open the shoulders first, not the lower back
• Push through the shoulders, retract the scapulae, lift the chest

Common mistakes

• Bending from the lower back: when the shoulders stay closed, the arch piles into the lumbar spine, and that is where bridges start to hurt.
• Soft elbows: bent arms let the chest sink back toward the floor, and the shoulders never get the stretch the bridge is there to give.
• Skipping the White steps: the early bridges teach the shoulders and glutes to share the work before the Full Bridge asks for all of it at once.
• Holding your breath: if you cannot breathe in the hold, you are past today's range, so ease off and let the seconds come.
• Rushing the one-arm steps: taking a hand away adds a twist the two-arm bridge never asked for, so own every two-arm version first.

Questions

The chain follows the r/bodyweightfitness progressions chart. Standards, grades and words: BARCROSS.