Core and stability exercise

# Bird dog exercise

From your hands and knees, you reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back while keeping your back still. It is one of the most widely used exercises for back stability.

Also called: bird dogs, quadruped opposite arm leg raise

- **Type:** Core and stability

- **Equipment:** No equipment

- **Area:** Lower back

- **Level:** Beginner

- **Starting dose in Remedy:** 3 sets of 5 per side, holding each rep for 10 seconds

## How to do it

- Start on your hands and knees, hands under shoulders and knees under hips, with a flat back.
- Gently brace your stomach.
- Slide one leg back and lift it to hip height while reaching the opposite arm forward to shoulder height.
- Hold for about ten seconds, keeping your hips level and your back still.
- Lower with control and switch sides.

## Form cues

- Reach opposite arm and leg.
- Keep the back still and the hips level.

## Common mistakes

- Lifting the leg too high, which arches the low back.
- Rotating the hips open. Imagine balancing a cup of water on your lower back.
- Rushing between sides.

## Easier and harder versions

- **Easier:** [Dead bug exercise](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/dead-bug)

- **To make it easier:** Move only the arms first, then only the legs, before combining them.

- **Harder:** [Side plank from the knees](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/side-plank-knees)

## Why it helps a sore back

It trains the muscles along the spine and around the trunk to keep the back steady while the hips and shoulders move. Remedy uses short holds of about ten seconds, repeated, which tend to work better than one long shaky hold.

## How Remedy uses it

In the app it is called **Bird Dog**. Remedy is more likely to pick it if you say your back is bothered by bending or lifting or standing or walking. A typical starting dose is 3 sets of 5 per side, holding each rep for 10 seconds, and the program adjusts reps as the weeks go on. Every exercise in the app has a demonstration video.

General fitness information, not medical advice. Stop any exercise that causes sharp pain, or pain, numbness, or tingling spreading down a leg.

## More core and stability exercises

[Core and stability

### Side plank from the knees

A shorter-lever side plank with your knees on the floor.
No equipment · Intermediate](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/side-plank-knees)
[Core and stability

### Side plank

A side plank on your feet.
No equipment · Advanced](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/side-plank)
[Core and stability

### Suitcase carry

Walking while holding a weight in one hand, like carrying a suitcase.
Band or dumbbells · Advanced](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/suitcase-carry)

## Guides that use it
[Guide
### Lower back pain exercises
The kinds of exercise that help a sore lower back, with a simple routine to start.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/lower-back-pain-exercises)[Guide
### Core exercises for back pain
What “core” really means for a sore back, and a progression from floor to standing.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/core-exercises-for-back-pain)[Guide
### Sore back after the gym
Normal soreness vs a tweak, and how to keep training without guessing.Read the guide](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/sore-back-after-gym)

[More exercise guides](https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/)

## Get a back program you can actually keep

Free to download on the App Store. Answer a few questions and your first session is ready in minutes.

[](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remedy-back-pain-relief/id6813745106)[Read the guides](https://remedyrecoveries.com/guides/)

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Source: https://remedyrecoveries.com/exercises/bird-dog
Remedy is a fitness and wellness app, not medical care.