How To Hyperextend The Back Video

Increase flexibility and learn to avoid hyperextension of the back. Learn how to hyperextend the back with a repetitious exercise in this training video.

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Raise one arm & opposite leg at same time
Repeat exercise
Raise both arms & legs to increase difficulty

About this Author

Michelle is a personal trainer at a gym in NC and has been a personal trainer for several years. She is certified through ACE and is a certified aerobics instructor as well. Her Specialty is weight lifting and she enjoys training aspiring female body builders as she is one herself. She focuses on helping her clients stronger, healthier, and sending them out feeling better for it. The best part of her job is when she see people living a better life as a result of the physical training. She was also a Marine physical trainer before she was employed at the gym.

MICHELLE TRAPP: I'm going to show you how to hyperextend the back or what most of you probably heard it called, it's called supermans; that's the more well-known name of the exercise. What we're going to be working is our low back right here, our erector spinae. We're going to start this exercise on our stomach. A couple different levels on this exercise; if you've never done this before and you have a weak back like most of us starting out in exercise do, you're going to start out arms and legs out. What I'm going to have you do is you're going to raise one arm and your opposite leg at the same time. Head facing forward, you're going to come up and you're going to hold and squeeze for a count of two seconds. You're going to come back down the start then you're going to take the other arm and the opposite leg and you're going to come up and squeeze. Hold for a count of two seconds and back down. Up and squeeze and back down. When this becomes fairly easy for you and you're ready to kick it up a notch, what you can do is just raise the arms up and down or hyperextending the back right here, up and down. Then you can take it and just raise your legs up and down. Again, another high rep exercise, I like 12 to 15 reps for this. When you've mastered that and you're ready for the third level, this is an actual superman. You're going to raise your arms and legs at the same time, you'll squeeze your glutes, you're going to feel this on your low back. Head facing forward, you're going to come up, you're going to hold for a count of two and we're going to come back down to start. Up, hold for a count of two, back down to start. That's how you hyperextend the back. Remember, start levels, level 1, one arm, one leg, level 2, either your arm's or your leg's off, work your way up to the full superman on the way up. Again, you will feel burning your back working and if you feel any pinching, tugging, stabbing pains, stop, take it back down a level, give your back a break for a little bit. That's how you hyperextend your back.

How to Hyperextend The Back Video

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