Lunge with Hand-Supported Backbend
Flexopedia > Hip Flexors & Back
Lunge with Hand-Supported Backbend
Muscle Group Stretched: Hip Flexors, Back*
* While we aren’t actually stretching the muscles in our back at all (remember, backbending is really frontlengthening!), colloquially most people do think of backbends as “back stretches” so I’m listing it as such
Muscle Group Strengthened: n/a
Type of Stretch: “Passive” Static
* This isn’t truly a “passive” stretch because our hips and core are actually quite engaged, but compared to other variations of this stretch, I’d consider this one of the more passive versions
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
I love love love this drill as an exercise for students to learn how to stretch their hip flexors to allow for deeper backbends. Whether you’re working towards split-y backbends like needle scales, or just “regular” backbends like bridges, working on your hip flexor flexibility can allow you to safely access more bend in the low back without crunching your lumbar vertebrae together.
How To
Step 1
Start in a kneeling lunge (front knee stacked over the front ankle, torso lifted, hips square). Because we’ll be adding a backbend, it’s extra important to keep our hips square (pointing forwards) to give us a stable base for our backbend. If you let your hips un-square and open out to the side, it turns more into a backbend-y twist (not ideal). Place your hands on the back of your hips - I like thumbs in, fingers to the outside, but any position that feels comfortable on your wrists is fine.
Step 2
Engage your core by sucking your belly button in (we’re going to keep that engagement throughout, so don’t lose it!). Push your hips forwards by engaging your glutes (especially the glutes in the back leg! Keep pushing that hip bone forwards!) and pressing with your hands to assist.
Step 3
Once you’ve reached your hips as far forwards as you can, and increased the stretch through the front of the back leg hip, lift your chest towards the ceiling to start to arch your back. Keep your belly button sucked in and hips pressing forwards as you arch back. If it’s comfortable on your neck, you can let your head fall back, but if that feels “crunchy” on your neck, or makes balance more challenging, you can absolutely keep looking forwards.
Hold your backbend for a slow count of 10, then slowly come on out and take a forward fold to counter stretch.
Repeat for as many rounds as you like.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Keep your backbend small. This doesn’t have to be a “contortion” crazy backbend to get the benefits from this lunge. Any amount of backbend is a great addition, so if you’re just slightly tilting your chest towards the ceiling, that’s a great start.
Want to make it harder?
Take your hands off your hips. Removing the hand support requires you to engage your glutes more to keep pushing your hips forwards and engage your core more to support the weight of your torso.
