The Cook Hip Lift

What is it for?

One of the main problems trainees encounter is not being able to tell the difference between lumbar range of motion and hip range of motion. So, when they try to target the glutes and hamstrings, say with a regular glute bridge, they mistakenly use a lot of lumbar extension rather than hip extension. The cook lift solves this by maintaining the lumbar in a neutral position and effectively isolating the glutes.
Stuart McGill calls this inability to use the glutes "gluteal amnesia". The brain has literally lost touch with the glutes, so to speak. It could be that the psoas are "tight" and so it is a case of reciprocal inhibition. Or, the glutes are weak and so the psoas are tight. Here's the thing: It doesn't matter. Turn on the glues and solve the problem.
However, the idea that the glutes do not fire at all, is not an idea that really makes a lot of sense and having a problem during the regular hip bridge should not lead you to diagnose yourself as having your glutes not firing. I assure you that they do, but that during this particular movement, you are not calling on them as you should. This exercise can help you hone in your ability to drive the hips forward during your strength training or exercising.
With the Cook Hip Lift, at first you may only be able to get a few inches of movement but as Mike Boyle points out in Functional Training for Sports, the Cook Hip Lift can also give you more flexibility in the psoas because the contraction of the glutes and hamstrings reciprocally inhibits the hip flexors.¹
Once you have mastered the Cook Hip Lift you can move on to the Supine Glute Bridge and then the One Leg Supine Glute Bridge.


How many reps and sets depends on when you are doing it. If you are doing the Cook Hip Lift as part of your mobility and activation warm up then one set of 8 to 12 on each leg should suffice.
If you have back pain or really need an intensive over-haul you can do more sets as part of a low back rehabilitation program. It is difficult to say when "activation" becomes strength training. When we talk about activation we mean retraining the neuro-muscular system. But since most early strength gains ARE neuro-muscular in origin, to be followed by muscle hypertrophy, it can be a case of semantics.
The Cook Hip Lift can be combined with Quadruped Hip Extensions (to Bird Dogs) and X-Band Walks.

It's easy to substitute lumbar extension for hip extension
with this more advanced glute bridge.
Image by gio50000 via flickr

How to Perform:

1. Lie on back in hook-lying position²
2. Pull one knee tightly to the chest. To make sure that the knee stays tightly against the chest place a tennis ball just under the bottom rib so that the thigh must pin the tennis ball in place.
3. The opposite knee stays bent at 90 degrees and the foot stays planted on the floor.
4. Push that foot into the floor at the heel and extend the hips upward. Do not allow the tennis ball to fall out of place. You should feel a very good isolation and contraction of the glutes.
Keeping the hip flexed tightly by not allowing the tennis ball to fall ensures that the lumbar spine is not called on to achieve the range of motion.