Lower back, shoulders and wrists

Cobra: Hands Forward

Hands placed further from your body reduce the lift height, making back extension gentler and more accessible while still actively strengthening your posterior chain.

How to do it

1. 1

   Lie face down with hands well in front of you

   Place them further forward than usual, out ahead of your shoulders rather than beside your ribs. That distance is what caps the height.

2. 2

   Anchor the hips and legs to the mat

   Tops of the feet and the front of the hips press down and stay down.

3. 3

   Lift only as far as the hands allow

   With the hands so far away the arms can push very little, so the lift stays low and more of the work stays in your back where it belongs.

4. 4

   Keep the elbows soft and the neck long

   Elbows stay slightly bent and the gaze stays down and forward rather than up.

5. 5

   Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, then rest down

   For less again, take the baby version, and use fists rather than flat hands if the wrists prefer it.

What to watch for

The hands creeping back in under the shoulders as you settle, which quietly turns this into the full version and undoes the point of it. Check where your hands are halfway through the hold.

Ways to adjust it

• Baby Cobra
• Fists

If this one is too much today

Try the gentler version instead. It asks less of you and does much the same work.

• Cobra: Baby

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits. See all Cobra Pose versions in one place, ordered from gentlest to strongest.

• Cobra: Baby
• Cobra: Classic
• Cobra: Minimal Lift
• Cobra: Seal Pose

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.

From the clinically authored Vinys movement library.