equipment

Bench, Bodyweight

sets

3

reps

12-15

rest

60 sec

1. Set the pad of the back extension bench just below your hip bones.
2. Secure your ankles under the foot pads.
3. Cross your arms over your chest or place your hands at your temples.
4. Start with your torso upright and in line with your legs.
5. Brace your midsection and set your back flat.

1. Lower your torso by hinging at the hips.
2. Keep your back flat rather than rounding as you descend.
3. Continue until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings and lower back.
4. Raise your torso by extending your hips and squeezing your glutes.
5. Stop when your body is in a straight line — do not arch past it.

Inhale as you lower your torso, exhale as you raise it back up.

• Set the pad below the hip bones so you can hinge freely.
• Move from the hips rather than rounding and unrounding the spine.
• Finish in a straight line, not in an arch.
• Squeeze your glutes at the top of each repetition.
• Add weight only once the bodyweight version is controlled.

• Swinging up and hyperextending the back at the top.
• Rounding the spine on the way down instead of hinging.
• Setting the pad too high so the hips cannot move.
• Using momentum to bounce between repetitions.
• Holding a heavy plate before the movement pattern is solid.

From the torso hinged down to a straight line with the legs. Stop at neutral rather than arching backward past it.