Pyramid

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 deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.

Every exercise for:Lower backShoulders

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

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:

• Rack Pull with Bandsbarbell
• Smith Machine Dead Liftssmith machine
• Supermanbody only
• Dumbbell Dead Liftsdumbbell
• Hyperextensionsbench

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.