maratoolBack Extension on Stability Ball
How to do the back extension on stability ball
- Lie prone (on your stomach) on a Stability Ball with your toes firmly planted on the floor for balance.
- With your hands across your chest or at your ears, raise your chest off the ball so you are hyperextending your spine.
- Slowly return your chest to the ball.
- Repeat.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the spinal erectors running either side of the lumbar spine, which hold the spine extended instead of letting it round under load.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down.
Every exercise for:Lower backAbdominalsHamstrings
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
The exercise ball is an unstable base on purpose. It shortens the leverage you can hold and demands constant small corrections, so the trunk works even when the movement is aimed elsewhere.
Every exercise using:Exercise ball
These train the lower back too, using equipment this one does not:
- Barbell Dead Liftsbarbell
- Dumbbell Dead Liftsdumbbell
- Hyperextensionsbench
- Hyperextensions With No Hyperextension Benchbody only
- Lower Back-SMRfoam roll
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.