Feet up, hips higher. Longer range, bigger glute squeeze.
Push through your heels and keep ribs down so the glutes do the work, not your back.
Raising your heels onto a bench lets the hips travel through a bigger arc than a floor bridge allows, so the glutes work from a deeper stretch to a higher finishing squeeze. The hamstrings assist throughout, pulling down through your heels to help drive the hips up. It is the natural upgrade once floor bridges stop being a challenge.
They are taking over the hip drive, usually because your heels are too far from your body. Bring the bench closer, push straight down through the heels, and lead every rep with a glute squeeze.
Around bench height works for most people. Higher surfaces lengthen the leg lever and shift more work to the hamstrings, lower keeps it closer to a standard bridge.
A hip thrust elevates your back and loads weight over your hips, the elevated bridge raises your feet and grows the range with just bodyweight. Own this first, it teaches the hip extension a thrust will later load.
