maratoolDancer's Stretch
How to do the dancer's stretch
- Sit up on the floor.
- Cross your right leg over your left, keeping the knee bent. Your left leg is straight and down on the floor.
- Place your left arm on your right leg and your right hand on the floor.
- Rotate your upper body to the right, and hold for 10-20 seconds. Switch sides.
Muscles worked
The muscles under tension are the spinal erectors running either side of the lumbar spine, which hold the spine extended instead of letting it round under load.
A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.
Nothing travels, but holding the position is not the target muscle’s job alone: the abductors stop the knee collapsing inward and hold the pelvis square; the glutes finish hip extension.
Every exercise for:Lower backAbductorsGlutes
How this movement works
Nothing travels once you are in position. The muscle holds a length under tension instead of working through a range, so effort is measured in seconds rather than repetitions — and the honest progression is more time in a good position, not a deeper one forced early.
It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.
What you need
These train the lower back too, using equipment this one does not:
- Deadlift with Bandsbarbell
- Dumbbell Dead Liftsdumbbell
- Hug A Ballexercise ball
- Hyperextensionsbench
- Hyperextensions With No Hyperextension Benchbody only
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 35 lower back exercises in this database, 11 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.