That Camp Chair Got Me on the Third Try

THE 30-SECOND VERSION

The glute bridge strengthens the large muscle that powers your hip every time you stand, climb, or step up, and you can do it on the floor or from a chair.

TODAY’S MOVE

The Glute Bridge Starts on Your Back

One floor exercise builds the muscle that powers every step you climb.

There is a nylon camp chair at a friend's yard in Maine that sits about a foot off the ground. Last weekend I dropped into it. When I tried to stand, my right hip caught. I rocked forward twice, pushed hard off the armrests, and got up on the third try.

Carol saw the whole thing from across the yard. She raised her eyebrows. Not worry, more like "that looked rough." I waved it off, but that night I sat down at the laptop.

What I found was the gluteus maximus. That is the large muscle in your buttock, the one that fires every time you push up from a seat or climb a step. When it weakens from age or too much sitting, low chairs and stairs get hard first. A 2016 study by Chi and colleagues, published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, found weakened hip muscles in the very people most likely to fall and break a hip.

The exercise that targets it is called the glute bridge. You do it on your back. If the floor is hard to reach, a chair version works the same muscles.

QUICK QUIZ · TAP TO ANSWER

Which muscle does the most work when you stand up from a low chair?

Tap your guess and a ready-to-send reply opens. Just press send. The answer is below, under The why.

Front of the thigh

Your buttock

Back of the thigh

Lie back, feet flat

Lie on your back on a mat or carpet. Bend your knees and set your feet flat, about hip-width apart. Rest your arms by your sides, palms down.

ⓘ A folded towel under your head eases neck strain.

Squeeze and lift

Tighten your buttock muscles, press through your heels, and slowly raise your hips. Lift until your body makes a straight line from shoulders to knees. Do not arch past that line.

ⓘ Think of pressing your belt buckle toward the ceiling.

Hold and lower

Hold the top for 3 to 5 seconds. Lower slowly. Do 8 to 10 reps, rest, then do one more set.

ⓘ If your hamstrings, the muscles behind the thigh, cramp, slide your feet closer to your buttocks.

If the floor is hard

Sit in a sturdy chair with your feet flat. Press both feet down, squeeze your buttock muscles, and hold for 5 seconds. Rest and repeat 10 times.

ⓘ Same muscles, no floor needed.

✓✓ A little shaking at the top is normal and means the muscle is working.

FROM THE PARTNERS

QUIZ: Which sitting position is destroying your sciatic nerve?

Stop what you're doing right now and take note of how you’re sitting…

According to nerve health researcher Dr. Mark Ellwood from the Sciatica Support Institute, sitting in this common position causes more sciatic flare-ups than all other positions combined.

The result? Millions of Americans unknowingly compress their sciatic nerve for 8+ hours a day, turning minor discomfort into debilitating pain that shoots down their leg like lightning.

Think you know which sitting position is the #1 WORST for people with sciatica?

Click below to make your guess, or click here to skip to the answer:

The answer shocked even Dr. Ellwood's colleagues when he presented his findings.

In fact, the position most people think is "healthy" or "good posture" appears to do the most damage to the sciatic nerve.

>> Click here to see which position you should NEVER sit in (and the weird 10-second adjustment that REVERSES years of sciatic pain)

THE WHY

Why Your Buttock Muscles Run the Hip

Quiz answer: Your buttock. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body and fires hardest when the hip straightens from a deep bend.

The gluteus maximus does more than get you out of a chair. It fires with every step up a curb, every stair, every push-off when you walk. When it weakens, the hip joint takes on more of the load. That extra load is one road toward stiffness and pain.

Chi's team used CT scans, a kind of detailed X-ray, on older adults who had broken a hip or pelvis in a fall. Those patients had far more muscle wasting, meaning the muscles had shrunk. One key muscle, the gluteus medius, sits on the outer hip and keeps your pelvis level when you walk. The shrinkage likely helped cause the fall, not the other way around.

What exercise can and cannot do

In 2019 a group called OARSI, the Osteoarthritis Research Society International, named exercise a core treatment for hip osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the wearing down of cartilage, the smooth cushion on the end of a bone, inside the joint. Exercise is not a bonus. It is where the guidelines say to start, right alongside learning about the condition.

But the glute bridge is not a cure. The PROHIP trial by Frydendal and colleagues, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2024, compared hip replacement with strength exercises in 109 people with severe hip osteoarthritis. Surgery won on pain and function scores. Yet it did not improve walking speed or the ability to stand from a chair any more than exercise did. For most people whose hips are stiff but not severe, exercise is where the evidence starts.

⚠ WHEN TO STOP

When to stop and call your doctor

These are uncommon, but they’re signals to get checked promptly rather than move through:

● Pain that shoots down a leg

● Numbness between your legs or around your groin

● New trouble controlling your bladder or bowels

● A hip that looks out of place or a leg that seems shorter after a fall (possible fracture, call 911)

● Hip pain with fever, chills, or redness over the joint (possible infection, seek care the same day)

When in doubt, get it checked. PainFree is not medical advice. It complements your doctor’s care and never replaces it.

THIS WEEK’S QUICK WINS

Three Small Habits for Your Hips

🪑 Slow your sit-down

When you lower into a chair, take a full 3 seconds instead of dropping. Each slow sit works the gluteus maximus without adding a minute to your day.

All day • Builds hip strength with no extra time

🛏️ Pillow between the knees

If you sleep on your side, tuck a pillow between your knees. It keeps the top hip from rolling forward and eases overnight strain on the joint.

30 seconds • Eases hip strain overnight

🚶 A ten-minute flat walk

A short walk on level ground pumps synovial fluid, the joint's own oil, through the hip. Hall's 2026 Cochrane review found exercise helped hip osteoarthritis, though which types work best is not yet clear.

10 minutes • Eases stiffness

RESEARCH BRIEF

Exercise Cut Hip Pain by 7 Points in 18 Trials

Hall and colleagues published a 2026 Cochrane review pooling 18 trials with 1,368 adults who had hip osteoarthritis, mostly women aged 53 to 74. The studies tested strength work, walking, and routines like tai chi, lasting 2 to 52 weeks. On a 100-point pain scale, exercise lowered pain by about 7 points. A small but real drop.

trials pooled

1,368

people with hip OA

7 points

pain drop on a 100-point scale

Exercise for hip OA produces a real but modest pain drop, and it is one of the few treatments with consistent trial support.

MOVEMENT OF THE WEEK

Standing Hip Extension

This targets the gluteus maximus from standing, a good partner for the floor bridge. Stand behind a sturdy chair and slowly lift one leg straight back, knee straight, trunk tall. For an easier start, lift just a few inches and hold for one count.

1.	Stand behind a sturdy chair, both hands on the backrest, feet hip-width apart.

2.	Keeping one leg straight, slowly lift it straight back about 6 to 12 inches without leaning forward or arching your lower back.

3.	Hold for 2 seconds, lower slowly, and repeat 8 to 12 times before switching legs.

HOW TO PROGRESS

Getting started

8 reps each side, both hands on the chair

Building

10 reps each side, one hand on the chair

Stronger

12 reps with a 3-second hold each side

Keep your trunk upright, because leaning forward shifts the work away from the hip and loads the lower back.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Three Things People Try for Hip Pain

Glucosamine

Runhaar and colleagues pooled patient data from several trials (Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2017) and found glucosamine no better than a dummy pill for hip or knee osteoarthritis. The American College of Rheumatology recommends against it.

Turmeric (curcumin)

Paultre and colleagues reviewed 10 trials (BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, 2021) and found curcumin extracts eased knee osteoarthritis pain more than a dummy pill. The best dose is not known, and most trials tested knees, not hips.

Aquatic exercise

A Cochrane review by Bartels and colleagues (2016) pooled 13 trials with 1,190 people, average age 68. Pool exercise lowered pain about 5 points on a 100-point scale. Small, real, and safe, but you need a warm pool.

Always check with your doctor or pharmacist before adding a supplement.

WORTH KNOWING

1 in 4

About one in four people develop symptomatic hip osteoarthritis by age 85, meaning they feel real pain or stiffness, not just changes on an X-ray. That comes from a study of 3,068 adults in North Carolina by Murphy and colleagues.

Murphy et al., Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2010, Johnston County OA Project.

Here's to a stronger step tomorrow,
Walt

QUICK POLL · TAP TO ANSWER

Will you try today's move?

It's free and gentle. Tap one and a ready-to-send reply opens. Just press send.

Yes, today

Later this week

Not for me

We read every reply.