CalisthenicsIn review

Donkey Kick

A glute exercise on all fours that lifts one bent leg up behind you, with the sole of the foot toward the ceiling.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Hip isolation
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Unilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Kneel on all fours with the hands under the shoulders and the knees under the hips.
Keep the knee of the working leg bent at about 90 degrees.

Do the rep

Lift the working leg up and back until the thigh is in line with the body.
Squeeze the glute at the top for a moment.
Lower the knee back under the hip under control.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the thigh lifts in line with the body without the lower back arching and the knee returns under the hip.

One rep starts on all fours, lifts one bent leg until the thigh is in line with the body, and lowers the knee back under the hip; count each side.

Breathing

Exhale as you lift; inhale as you lower.

Cues

Push the sole of the foot toward the ceiling.
Keep the hips square to the floor.
Pause longer at the top when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Arching the lower back
What you seeThe belly drops and the lower back curves as the leg lifts.
FixBrace the trunk and lift only to hip height.
A neutral back keeps the work in the glute.
Turning the hips
What you seeThe hip of the working leg rotates up toward the ceiling.
FixKeep both hips level with the floor.
Level hips keep the leg moving straight back.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you feel pain in the lower back or the knees.
End the set when you cannot lift the leg without arching the back.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 3, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_glute_bridge, the closest Wave 1 record.
Exception to rule 2: the CSV says hinge. The movement is a one-leg glute isolation on all fours, so the record uses the hip-isolation pattern (a CSV term) and the isolation_target role (rule 2, hip isolation), not primary_hinge.
Skill tier and failure cost follow rule 3: beginner, low.
The CSV says bilateral. One leg does the work, so the record counts each side (rule 1).
The optional bench from the CSV is dropped; it does not fit the movement.
The CSV allows duration. The record is reps only.
The CSV muscle list is the family hint; the record drops the quadriceps and the spinal erectors.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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