Back Extension
Trains the Spinal Erectors.
- Equipment
- A back extension bench
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set a back extension bench so the top pad sits just below your hip bones, leaving room for the hips to hinge freely.
- Position yourself face down with your ankles secured under the rollers and your legs straight.
- Cross your arms over your chest, or hold a plate there once bodyweight becomes easy.
- Set your back flat and brace your stomach.
- Lower your torso by hinging at the hips until you feel a stretch through the hamstrings, keeping the spine in one shape.
- Raise back up by driving your hips into the pad and squeezing your glutes, stopping when your body is in a straight line.
- Do not continue past straight into an arch.
Common mistakes
- Setting the pad too high, so it sits on the stomach and the hips cannot hinge. The pad belongs just below the hip bones.
- Swinging up past straight into an extended arch at the top. The finish is a straight line; hyperextending adds nothing and loads the lumbar spine in its least favourable position.
- Rounding and unrounding the spine deliberately. Some coaches use a rounded variation on purpose, but the standard version keeps the spine still and hinges at the hip.
- Loading it heavily rather than adding range and control. The erectors here are largely holding a shape while the hips move, and the demand is endurance and position rather than a maximal effort.