This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Bird Dog is a core body exercise that strengthens the lower back and abdominals while helping your body learn to balance and find stability. If you learn how to do bird dog, you will have an exercise that helps teach and train your body to be stronger in the center, providing you with more strength overall.
Save This Article To Read Later
Enter your email below and we’ll email you the post right to your inbox to read later! 📥
Bird Dog Instructions
Here are the steps to performing Bird Dog:
- Kneel on the mat on all fours.
- Reach one arm long, draw in the abdominals, and extend the opposite leg long behind you.
- Repeat on the other side.
Tip: If you’re struggling to balance, try practicing this move little by little. Start with just extending your arm, then put your hand back down and practice just extending your leg. Once you can do each of these separately, then put the two together!
See the video below to see Chris Freytag break down how to properly perform Bird Dog.
Bird Dog Benefits
The bird dog exercise is an awesome core strength move that works your abdominal muscles, lower back and stabilizers.
Here are the most noable bird dog exercise benefits:
- Builds a strong lower back: The bird dog move focuses on stability, strength and the overall health of your core and lower back. This helps you avoid low back pain and injury by keeping the muscles that surround your spine strong and capable.
- Sculpts your abs: There are so many exercises available for getting tight abs. Bird dog is different than most because it doesn’t rely on crunching movements or flexing your spine. By holding your arm and leg out away from the middle of your body, your abdominal muscles are drawn in tighter and work hard to keep you stable.
- Improves your balance: Extending one arm and the opposite leg poses a good challenge for your balance and stability. The beauty of this move is you can really feel how your core muscles engage every time you start to wobble!
Easy Ways to Incorporate Bird Dog Into Your Workouts
The bird dog exercise is the perfect addition to any core workout! Here are a few I’ve put together that incorporate this fantastic move:
- Ab Workout at Home: Best Core Exercises (No Equipment)
- Best Lower Ab Workout For Women (15 Toning Exercises!)
- How to Get Rid of a Lower Belly Pooch Fast: 10 Tips
- Yoga for Core Strength: 8 Poses You Can Do Anywhere
If you like the bird dog and the results you get from it, here are a few more exercises you might want to try.
