Patriot Health Digest
It’s not very often that an exercise gives as much benefit for so little effort as the reverse plank. This movement works out your whole posterior chain, improves your deadlift power, and even repairs your posture.
The Reverse Plank
- Get two benches and one Swiss ball.
- Get on your back in between the two benches with your feet on the Swiss ball and your elbows on top of the benches.
- Drive your elbows into the benches and bring your hips toward the ceiling.
- Keep your body parallel to the ground.
- Use your upper back muscles and keep a total body tension.
- Hold this position for 40 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds, and repeat again for 3-5 sets.
- Keep going to reach a single-leg version for even more hamstring engagement.
This is also great as a rest between sets to support upper back muscles. For example, one set of deadlifts, then a 30 second reverse plank.
You could even hold for a 10-second plank before doing deadlifts to support upper back activation during your lift. You will have less likelihood to round your upper back as you lockout.
Now, gyms might be busy and not everyone has two benches and a Swiss ball, along with plenty of floor space for this move. So don’t worry, you can still do this move at home using your couch.
At-Home Variation
Author: Blake Ambrose
