Superman Holds Form Guide and Tips

Superman holds train your back and glutes with no equipment. You lie face down, lift your arms, chest and legs a few inches, and hold still while your erector spinae and glutes keep you lifted.

The exercise is useful, but it is not a contest to lift as high as possible. Lift only a few inches, keep breathing and keep your glutes squeezed; a higher arch does not make the exercise better.

Muscles Worked

Primary muscles: the erector spinae and the glutes. The erector spinae, the long muscles beside your spine, hold your chest and upper back lifted, and the glutes lift and hold your legs up from the hips. Because you hold still, they work by staying tense rather than by moving through a large range.

Secondary muscles: the hamstrings, on the backs of your thighs, help the glutes hold your legs up. The middle and lower trapezius and the rhomboids hold your shoulder blades back and down while your arms reach forward. The transverse abdominis, your deep belly muscle, braces so your lower back does not sag into a deeper arch.

Mechanism: reaching your arms and legs long, away from your body, makes the hold harder even when the lift is small, so reach long rather than lifting high. A slight bend in your elbows and knees shortens the reach and makes the hold easier, which is fine.

Evidence: a 2008 study of low back muscle activity found that the superman, lifting both arms and both legs while lying face down, produced high activity in the back muscles along the spine, about 77 to 82 percent of a maximal contraction, while arm and leg raises, face down or on hands and knees, stayed under 50 percent (Ekstrom et al., 2008). Lifting fewer limbs at a time, as in the alternating version below, makes the exercise easier.

Step-by-Step: How to Perform Superman Holds

Lift only a few inches, enough to feel your glutes, the muscles along your spine, and your upper back working. Any lower back pain means stop.

Step 1: Set Your Starting Position

Lie face down on a mat or flat surface. Reach both arms forward past your head, about shoulder width apart, palms down or facing each other, and extend your legs behind you, together or about hip width apart, with your toes pointed. Rest your forehead on the floor so your neck starts in line with your spine.

Step 2: Brace and Squeeze Your Glutes

Before you lift, brace your abs and squeeze your glutes. Your belly and hips stay on the floor the whole time.

Step 3: Lift Arms and Legs Together

Exhale and lift your chest, arms, and legs a few inches from the floor at the same time while your belly and hips stay on the floor. Reach forward through your fingertips and backward through your toes. Your elbows and knees can be straight or slightly bent. Height is secondary.

Form tip: stay low. Keep your belly on the floor and your arms and legs just a few inches up, reaching long from your fingertips to your toes.

Step 4: Hold with Steady Breathing

Hold still while you keep breathing steadily until the time is up. Keep your glutes squeezed, your abs braced, and your eyes on the floor just ahead so your head stays in line with your back. Never force a deeper arch, and stop if your lower back hurts. End the hold when your arms or legs start sagging to the floor, your back starts arching harder, or you can't keep breathing steadily.

Form tip: breathe out as you lift, then keep breathing slowly and steadily through the whole hold. Keep your neck long, with your eyes on the floor rather than looking forward.

Step 5: Lower with Control and Reset

Lower your chest, arms, and legs slowly to the floor. Rest long enough to reset your breath, then repeat.

Common Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Watch for these mistakes and use the fix for each one.

• Cranking your neck upward. Looking forward bends your neck back. Fix: keep your gaze on the floor and your neck in line with your spine.
• Lifting too high. Chasing height arches your lower back hard and can lift your belly off the floor. Fix: lift only a few inches, keep your belly and hips down, and reach longer through the arms and legs.
• Holding your breath. Fix: breathe out as you lift, then keep breathing slowly and steadily through the full hold.
• Letting the glutes switch off. The glutes are one of the two main muscles in this hold: they lift and hold your legs up from the hips. Fix: squeeze the glutes before you lift and keep that squeeze through the hold.
• Using momentum to pop up. Jerking up off the floor makes the lift fast and uncontrolled. Fix: lift slowly into the hold, hold still, and lower slowly.
• Letting your arms and legs sag. When your arms or legs start sagging back to the floor, or your back starts arching harder, the hold is done. Fix: lower slowly, rest, then lift again. A short, steady hold is better than a long, strained one.

Superman Hold Variations

Pick the version that lets you hold a clean, low position. Any lower back pain means stop.

Alternating Superman (Easier)

Lift one arm and the opposite leg, lower them, then switch sides. Lifting fewer limbs at a time asks less of the muscles along your spine.

Low or Short Superman Hold (Easier)

Lift your arms, chest, and legs only an inch or two off the floor, or let your elbows bend a little and your arms angle slightly wider so the reach is shorter. Shorter holds with a breath on the floor in between also make it easier.

Superman Hold (Standard)

Lift both arms, your chest, and both legs a few inches while your belly and hips stay down, and hold for time. The FitCraft app teaches the superman as a hold, rated Intermediate. Progress when you can complete 3 sets of 30 seconds with steady breathing and a clean, low position.

Long-Lever Superman Hold (Harder)

Straighten your arms and legs fully and reach them long, fingertips to toes, then hold longer in the same low, steady position. Keep the lift to a few inches.

Moving Superman (Alternative)

Lift your arms, chest, and legs, hold briefly at the top, and lower slowly for reps instead of one long hold.

When to Avoid Superman Holds

If any of the situations below applies to you, check with a doctor or physical therapist before you do superman holds. A burn in the muscles you're working is normal; any pain in a joint, your lower back, or your neck means stop.

• Lower-back pain, pain down a leg, or a known disc problem. See a doctor or physical therapist before you do superman holds, and do them only once they clear you. Any lower back pain, or numbness or tingling in a leg, means stop.
• Lower-back pain during the hold. Stop right away; it is not a normal part of the exercise. See a doctor or physical therapist before you do superman holds again.
• After giving birth, or diastasis recti. Get clearance from your doctor or a pelvic-floor physical therapist before you do superman holds, especially after a C-section, and follow their plan for when to start. Any pain means stop.
• Recent abdominal surgery, hernia, or pelvic-floor dysfunction. Get clearance from your surgeon or doctor before you do superman holds, and follow their plan for when to start. Any pain in a joint, your lower back, or your neck means stop.
• Pregnancy. Superman holds are done lying face down on your belly. Check with your doctor or midwife before you do them, and ask which exercises fit each stage of your pregnancy. Any pain in a joint, your lower back, or your neck means stop.
• Neck pain. See a doctor or physical therapist before you do superman holds, and do them only once they clear you. Then keep your eyes on the floor so your head stays in line with your back, and stop if your neck hurts. Numbness or tingling in your arms also means stop.

Related Exercises

These exercises train the same muscles, or the front of your trunk, in other positions:

• Same face-down lift: Back Extensions lift your chest from the floor with your arms by your sides, and moving your arms toward your head makes them harder.
• Easier option: Bird-Dogs work the glutes and the muscles along the spine from hands and knees, lifting one leg, or one arm and the opposite leg, at a time.
• Front of the trunk: Deadbugs, Forearm Planks, and Hollow Holds train the front of your trunk.
• Hip lift: Glute Bridges train your glutes as you lift your hips while lying on your back.
• With added weight: Romanian Deadlifts and Good Mornings train the back of your body with added weight once you can brace well.

How to Program Superman Holds

Use superman holds to build a steady hold, not to test how high you can arch your back. The American College of Sports Medicine's resistance-training progression model supports matching sets, rest, and weekly frequency to the trainee's level (Ratamess et al., 2009). It sets no hold times for supermans. Treat the hold times and weekly sessions in the table below as starting points rather than ACSM figures, and hold only as long as your belly and hips stay down and you keep breathing steadily.

Where in your workout: Put superman holds near the end of a strength session, in a core block, or as a short, light set before deadlifts or other hip-hinge exercises. Avoid tiring your erector spinae before hard deadlifts, squats, or rows.

Stop when your form slips: end the hold when your head starts to lift, you start holding your breath, your arms or legs sag, or one side drops, and stop right away if your lower back hurts. A short, steady hold is better than a long, strained one.

How FitCraft Programs This Exercise

Knowing how to do superman holds is the first step; knowing how long to hold them and when to progress is the next.

FitCraft handles that. During your personalized diagnostic assessment, the app maps your fitness level, goals, and available equipment, then builds a balanced training plan for your level. The app has one superman hold exercise, rated Intermediate: a short start into the pose, then a still hold for the workout's timer, shown in a 3D demonstration.

FitCraft's programs are designed by its lead exercise scientist, an NSCA-certified strength coach.