Lower back, upper back, shoulders, wrists, hips and knees

Tabletop: Hover

An advanced core and shoulder stability challenge that lifts the knees just off the floor for a demanding, whole-body isometric hold.

How to do it

1. 1

   Set up on hands and knees, toes tucked

   Hands directly under your shoulders, knees under your hips, toes turned under so the balls of the feet are on the mat.

2. 2

   Press the floor away and set the shape

   Push firmly through the whole hand so the shoulders stay wide, and make the back long and level before anything leaves the ground.

3. 3

   Lift the knees a couple of centimetres

   Hover just off the floor and stop there. The back must stay as flat as it was, and if the shape changes at all, the knees have gone too high.

4. 4

   Breathe while you hold the hover

   Expect this to feel demanding quickly. Keep the breath moving instead of bracing against it, and put a folded blanket under the knees so the landing is comfortable.

5. 5

   Hold 20 to 40 seconds, or shorter repeats

   Lower before the shape breaks rather than when you tire. If taking weight through your hands hurts your wrists, come onto fists or forearms, and if the hover is too much, keep the knees down or step one knee forward instead.

What to watch for

The hips rising into an upside down V, or the lower back dipping, the moment the knees leave the floor. Either one means the hold has stopped being the exercise, so come down at the first change of shape rather than at the first sign of effort.

Ways to adjust it

• Use Tabletop: Classic instead
• Fists
• Forearm support instead
• One knee forward modification
• Blanket under knees

If this one is too much today

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

• Tabletop: Classic

Other ways to do this movement

Every version below is the same movement set up differently, so one of them usually suits.

• Tabletop: Classic

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.