Dead Bug
A supine anti-extension core drill that lowers one arm and the opposite leg while the lower back stays pinned down.
How to do it
- Lie on your back on a mat with your arms reaching straight toward the ceiling.
- Lift your feet so your hips and knees are both bent to ninety degrees.
- Press your lower back gently into the floor and brace your abdominals.
- Exhale and lower one arm overhead while extending the opposite leg toward the floor.
- Stop just short of the floor while the lower back stays flat, then inhale and return.
- Repeat with the opposite arm and leg, alternating for the prescribed reps.
Key technique cue
Keep the lower back pressed down — reach only as far as you can hold it.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Letting the lower back arch off the floor, which means the core has stopped resisting extension.
- ✕ Moving faster than you can breathe, which turns a control drill into a flailing exercise.
- ✕ Reaching further than you can hold position, which trades range for the stability being trained.
- ✕ Holding the breath throughout, which reduces the bracing the movement is meant to teach.
Benefits
- ✓ Trains anti-extension core control in a position that keeps load off the spine.
- ✓ Needs nothing but a mat, so it fits home, travel and rehab adjacent programming.
- ✓ Scales in both directions by changing limb range or adding light external load.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Dead Bug
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Step 2
About the exercise
The dead bug starts lying on the back with the arms reaching up and the hips and knees bent to ninety degrees. From there one arm lowers overhead while the opposite leg extends toward the floor, and the whole job of the trunk is to stop the lower back lifting away from the ground. The rectus abdominis and transverse abdominis resist that extension, while the obliques control the diagonal loading created by using opposite limbs. Range is determined entirely by control, so reps stop the moment the back starts to arch.
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