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Bird dog is a popular strengthening exercise. It is taken from yoga and aims to work on stabilizing the body. The bird dog also increases the flexibility and functionality of our muscles and joints. Making a bird dog is so easy, and the safety of this exercise is high, that it can be practiced by almost everyone. Do you want to learn the secrets of the popular bird dog? Learn how to do this exercise step by step and learn its variants.

Contents:

  1. Bird dog - what is this exercise?
  2. Bird dog - how to properly make it?
  3. Bird dog - the most common mistakes
  4. Bird dog - variants
  5. Bird dog - what is this exercise for?

Bird dogis an exercise known from yoga, therefore, in accordance with this system of exercises and breathing practices, it creates ideal conditions for our body for comprehensive body work. Although the bird dog is an exercise performed on the mat while kneeling, it is quite exhausting. Most of the exercises that focus on stabilization and deep muscles look quite inconspicuous. However, you can be pleasantly surprised at how great the effects of regular bird dog performance are! This exercise engages the muscles of almost the entire body, improves flexibility, stretches tense muscles, works on the mobility of joints and increases their functionality.

Bird dog - what is this exercise?

Bird dog is an exercise that develops core and deep body muscles responsible for the correct and economical work of the entire figure. It is characterized by a fairly low endurance aspect and a high endurance aspect. Bird Great Dane is performed on a mat while kneeling.

The exercise involves alternately one side of the body, then the other side - thanks to which it prevents injuries, overload and evenly develops the body. The bird dog uses virtually every muscle to work and can be treated as a universal exercise. It is suitable for both advanced athletes and beginner sports enthusiasts.

The exercise is done quite slowly, controlling the movement and focusing on stabilization and breathing. Here, the most important thing is accuracy, not the dynamics of the exercise. Contrary to appearances, the bird dog is very exhausting, and a few series of this exercise can tire even an experienced athlete.

Bird dog - how to properly godo?

Wondering how to properly make a bird dog? Here are tips on how to make a bird dog correctly, step by step:

  • Step 1 - Assume a propped kneeling position. Keep your knees hip-width apart, but don't bump your toes. The feet should rest on top of the mat. Place your hands under your shoulders, gently threading them into the mat and activating the shoulder blades and shoulders. Don't mess your head - look at the floor.
  • Step 2 - Now it's time to activate the larger parts of your muscles. Tighten your abdominal muscles by bringing your lower ribs closer to your pelvis and pointing your shoulder blades towards you, activating your back muscles. Don't hyperextend your elbows! To avoid this, imagine that you are playing the piano, then your elbows will bend slightly and your fingers will stick to the mat, taking the pressure off your wrists.
  • Step 3 - The last move before you start this exercise. Stabilize the pelvis and tuck it slightly under you, just like a dog curls a tail. Make sure that the pelvis remains level throughout the exercise and does not tilt sideways, even when you lift your leg up.
  • Step 4 - Break off your leg and the opposite arm and stretch them out in front of you so that the palm is at shoulder level and the foot is at hip level. The palm of the hand should be facing the side. Tighten your buttock tightly and hold it up for a while. The limbs should be straight.
  • Step 5 - While exhaling, lower your limbs down and begin to bring them closer to you. This is where you should tighten your stomach tightly.
  • Step 6 - Touch your hand to your knee and, inhaling, lift your limbs up again.
  • Step 7 - Once you've completed the specified number of repetitions on one side of your body, move on to the other side by doing the same step-by-step movements.

Bird dog - the most common mistakes

  • Raising limbs too high

You can often see trainers doing bird dogs in training videos, lifting their limbs very high. This is a big mistake!

When we allow such a deep range of motion in this position, our lumbar spine curves unnaturally, and the abdominal muscles and pelvis lose their tension and position.

The hand, leg and head should be an extension of the spine and stretch our body back and forth, increasing the intervertebral spaces and making soft tissues more flexible. Back bends are desirable, but not in a bird dog.

  • Unstable pelvis

Bird dog is a stabilization exercise that improves uniaxial body work.Therefore, the most important goal that we should meet when starting this exercise is to stabilize the pelvis and not allow it to change its position, regardless of the movement of our limbs.

Unfortunately, a quite common mistake is leaning to one side during a bird dog or rocking the pelvis sideways while extending and bending the limbs. This is evidence of weak deep muscles, a simple lack of control over them, or a lack of focus while exercising.

Therefore, set the pelvis in the neutral position and keep it in a horizontal line at all costs, even when your leg and the opposite hand are breaking away from the mat. Bird dog is an exercise that requires control and attention.

  • Excessive flexing of the lumbar spine

The spine of a dog dog should be positioned neutral, maintaining all its natural curves, i.e. in the lumbar and cervical spine. However, the natural curvature, and the hyperextension of one of the spine segments, is a huge difference.

To keep the lower back from bending too much, we need to keep our abdomen constantly tense. How to tighten it correctly? Imagine you need to bring your pelvis closer to your lower ribs and reduce the distance between them.

Remember: contracting the abdomen does not equal pulling it in or loosely clamping it into any position. There must be a relationship between the ribs, pelvis and diaphragm for the abdomen to be activated in a he althy and effective way.

Besides, excessive flexing of the loins is also often caused by a lack of control over the buttock. To avoid this, "walk" your foot up until you feel the maximum tense of the gluteal muscles, and stop when you feel or see in the mirror the lower back activating and compensating for the movement.

  • Kneeling on a surface that is too hard

Any exercise that requires a propped kneeling or some other kind of kneeling should be done on a medium-soft surface. Mats or an ordinary soft rug will work best in this case.

Performing a bird dog on the floor without any knee pad is a great strain on the knee joint and leads to its damage. The hard pressure of the patella to the bone causes enormous stress on the delicate structures of the knee, which is one of the most exploited joints on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, in the gym you can still meet with the fact that trainees perform exercises such as a bird dog kneeling on a "bare" floor.

  • Hoarding head

Bird dog is an exercise in which the spineit creates a line, the extension of which should be our limbs and the head. If we disturb this line with some additional curvature, the entire body system will fall apart, and even slight deviations in the position of the vertebrae can quite strongly affect the effectiveness and disrupt the mechanics of the exercise on muscles and joints.

Raising the head upwards strongly strains the neck and neck muscles and changes the position of the remaining spine segments. The head should extend the back and the forehead should extend towards the mat.

  • Inactive belly

A loose, hanging belly during a bird dog is not always a sign of excessive fat in this area, but a lack of tension and activity of the rectus abdominis muscle.

Before we start the main part of this exercise, i.e. limb abduction and adduction, we should first properly position each segment of our body and ensure stabilization of the body.

Before starting the active part of the exercise, let's tighten the abdomen and make sure that it stays active throughout each phase of the bird dog. If we do not take care of it, the exercise will lose its effectiveness and will not fulfill its basic task - strengthening the body and stabilizing muscles.

Bird dog - variants

Apart from the basic version of the bird dog exercise, indicated at the beginning of the article, there are several variants of bird dogs that slightly change its mechanics and characteristics. By allowing other versions of this popular sequence to train, we actually do other exercises, though still based on the classic yoga variant.

Bird dog is such an effective and pro-he alth exercise that any other exercise created on its basis will be equally valuable for our body. Let's get to know the variants of the bird dog a little closer:

  • Bird dog in plank position

Bird dog can be performed in the plank position. This variant is much more difficult and reserved rather for advanced practitioners.

In the plank bird dog, you need to ensure the strength of the limbs and prevent their hyperextension, and additionally provide them with greater stabilization than in the classic bird dog version.

  • Bird dog with straight limbs lifting

Bird Great Dane can also be performed without bending the limbs, only by lifting the arm and leg up. Then we lower the hand and foot onto the mat, gently touching its surface, and we make the rise again.

This bird doga variant will work for people with injuries who are just working on the flexion mechanism in the joints.

  • Static bird

Thisa variant of the bird dog exercise, which increases the isometric work of the muscles and translates more emphasis into static stabilization, in contrast to the classic version of the bird dog, where we work on the stabilization dynamically.

Static bird dog consists in lifting the limbs up and holding them in this position for several or several dozen seconds.

Bird dog - what is this exercise for?

Bird dog is an exercise that activates almost all muscles of our body to work. The shoulder joint, hip joint, elbow joint and knee joint work during the bird dog performance.

What's more, the muscles of the spine strengthen and the vertebrae nourish and increase their mobility and stabilization at the same pace. Bird dog increases the strength of the limbs and the body, which is responsible for the endurance of the entire figure. In addition to the strength aspect, the bird dog increases flexibility, making muscles and tendons more flexible.

Bird dog improves body stabilization in the mechanics of its everyday work. Due to the fact that this exercise is performed alternately, involving the other side of the body once. In fact, most of our daily movements are done using one side of the body, the simplest examples being walking or running. Therefore, it is worth strengthening the body in the indicated mechanics, because it supports the basic human movement patterns.

This exercise is perfect for working on improving joint mobility and increasing muscle flexibility and strength. There are practically no contraindications for performing a bird dog, therefore it is considered a comprehensive and universal exercise.

About the authorMałgorzata Kośla She is a qualified fitness instructor and certified personal trainer. Since childhood, her greatest passion was sport - she played football and basketball. Then a new love came - dance, especially dancehall. He likes to sweat at the gym and relaxes in yoga and meditation sessions. He is constantly expanding his knowledge about training and a he althy lifestyle. What besides sports? He runs a store with natural cosmetics and he althy food, writes his own blog (stylzyciadowolny.pl) and deals with copywriting.

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Anatomy