How to Do the Bird Dog Exercise: Abs Workout

Muscles Target: Abdominals, Lower back, Glute, Thigh Muscles

Level: Intermediate

The bird dog exercise is the best move for strengthening the core muscles. It is also known as Quadruped exercise that’s tones your Abs, Lower back, butts, and thighs in your body. It also promotes your posture and increases your range of motion.

This is the best bodyweight workout with no equipment. You only need a room and a yoga mat, where you make the position of bending knees on the floor at hip-width and hands are planted on the floor at the shoulder-width. In a stability motion, you want to do maximum reps with 3 sets.

Benefits of Birds Dog

The bird-dog exercise is used by both athletic trainers and physical therapists.
This exercise allows working your erector spinae, rectus abdominis, and glutes. That builds your correct movement, control, and stability of the whole body.
This exercise focus on lower back concern, including hypermobility.
Improve your posture, strength, balance, and flexibility.
It may reduce low back pain and is the best exercise to recovery from your back injury.
Also involving core muscles, when you twist or bend helps to build your core strength.
Best for reducing fat from overall areas in your body especially the belly and thighs.

How to do Bird Dog?

Make a position of the dog, like your hands below your shoulders and knees below your hips.
Now lift the straighten your right leg back at hip level and at the same momentum also extend your left arm straight at shoulder level.
Engage your core, bring the right knee and left elbow towards each other on the elbow the chest.
Return to starting position and do 12-14 reps each set.
Repeat on another side with the same procedure and momentum.

Safety Tips and Proper Techniques to do Bird Dog

Don’t lift your leg too high to allow your spine to curve, make a natural position.
Engage your core, while doing the exercise and keep your spine neutral to prevent your back.
Don’t allow your chest to let down toward the floor.
Keep your shoulder blades back, down, and away from your ears.
Make a straight line from your neck to spine.
Do the reps in a slow and controlled way.

Variation of Bird Dog

Weighted Bird Dog

Start on all fours. Your knees under your hips-width and your hands are under your shoulder-width. Now raise your arm holding a dumbbell and left leg with weighted ankle brace at the same time same as normal bird dog position.

Bird-dog on the exercise ball

Lie on the exercise ball under your hips and plant your toes on the floor. Do the regular alternate side bird-dog from this position.

Push-up Position Bird Dog

Make a push-up position rather than put your knees on the ground. Now, here want to do the original bird-dogs position by raising your alternate leg and arm.