Pro dancer-turned-celebrity trainer Simone De La Rue has helped everyone from Reese Witherspoon and Millie Mackintosh to Selena Gomez to become their fittest selves. It’s her bespoke training method – now known as Body by Simone – that has them hooked, combining her dance background with low-weight reps and minimal equipment. In one interview with British Vogue, Huntington-Whiteley explained why she stayed so loyal to the workouts: ‘It’s fun. And I see results very quickly.’
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Now, 51-year-old De La Rue has revealed the one move she makes all of her A-list clients do. ‘I’ve trained some of the most famous women in Hollywood, and here’s one exercise I always include: the single-leg weighted glute bridge,’ she shared on Instagram. ‘It’s a great unilateral glute strength exercise that corrects imbalances and helps build posterior chain strength.’
Below, she reveals why it’s so effective, her top tips for good technique, and how many reps and sets to do.
Benefits of the exercise
‘Compared with a regular two-leg bridge, each side has to work independently while your pelvis and core resist rotation,’ De La Rue says.
‘The main benefits are glute strength and hypertrophy, correcting left-to-right strength imbalances, hamstring and posterior-chain strength, hip-extension power, and improved pelvic/core stability. Adding weight also gives you a way to progressively overload the glutes as you get stronger.’
How to do it
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- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
- Hold a dumbbell across the hip of one leg, keeping it secure with your hand.
- Slowly peel your glutes, lower back and midback off the ground to come into a glute bridge with both legs on the ground.
- Once in a full glute bridge, lift the foot of the leg without the dumbbell on its hip towards the ceiling, extending the leg straight.
- Brace your core and drive through the heel of the planted foot to lift your hips further towards the ceiling.
- Squeeze your glute at the top, keeping your hips level and avoiding arching your lower back, then slowly lower the extended leg in line with the opposite hip (keeping a straight leg) before extending back towards the ceiling,
- Pause briefly, then lower your hips back towards the floor with control.
- Continue for all reps, performing one leg lower within each rep before lowering. Complete all reps on one side before switching legs.
For good form, De La Rue advises, ‘Keep your ribs down and core engaged, drive through the heel of the working leg, keep your hips level, and think “squeeze the glute to lift” rather than arching through your lower back.’
How many reps and sets to do
‘For your strength and sculpt style programming, I’d use 8–12 controlled reps per side, with a pause/squeeze at the top,’ De La Rue recommends.
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.