Lower back, neck, hips, knees, shoulders and wrists
Bird-Dog: Classic
A key spinal stability exercise that trains your body to resist rotation while extending opposite limbs, building the deep motor control that protects your back in daily life.
How to do it
- 1
Set up on hands and knees in a neutral back
Hands under shoulders, knees under hips. Find the middle position for your back, neither arched nor rounded, and imagine a glass of water balanced on your lower back. Kneel on a folded blanket if your knees want padding.
- 2
Reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back
Send the arm out at shoulder height and the leg out at hip height, long rather than high. The job is to keep your back completely still while the limbs move.
- 3
Keep both hips level throughout
Do not let the hip of the moving leg roll open. Gaze down at the floor so your neck stays in line with your spine.
- 4
Make the range smaller if the middle wobbles
A short reach with a still back is worth more than a long one. You can also keep the toes on the floor as the leg slides back, or set the hands on blocks or come onto your forearms if that suits your wrists.
- 5
Alternate sides for 30 to 60 seconds
Hold each side for a few slow breaths before you swap, and do fewer changes if you are losing the still back.
What to watch for
The lower back dipping and the front ribs flaring as the arm and leg lift. Keep the leg no higher than your hip and reach long and low, and if your back still arches to get there, shorten the reach.
Ways to adjust it
- Small range
- Toes floor
- Gaze down
- Reduce reps
- Blanket
- Hand on block
- Forearms
- Fists
If this one is too much today
Try the gentler version instead. It asks less of you and does much the same work.
Other ways to do this movement
Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits. See all Bird Dog versions in one place, ordered from gentlest to strongest.
Before you try it
Move within a range that stays comfortable. Stop if this brings on sharp pain, dizziness, or symptoms that travel down an arm or a leg, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.
Also part of sessions for
Each of those explains what the condition is, what the published guidance recommends, and where this movement fits.
One movement is a start. A session is the thing.
A few questions about your body and how it is today, and Vinys builds a session around it, including which movements to leave out.
Start your first sessionFrom the clinically authored Vinys movement library.