How To: Develop core strength with quick build back arches

Learn how to develop core strength by doing quick build back arches. Presented by Real Jock Gay Fitness Health & Life.

Benefits
Back arches develop core strength while working your legs and shoulders. Go from a flat to a fully arched position, pressing through your legs and shoulders as you stabilize through your center.

Starting Position
Lie on your back on the floor. Bend your knees, keeping your feet flat on the floor, and put your hands on the floor above your shoulders, with your fingers pointing toward you. Your elbows will be sharply bent toward the ceiling.

Exercise
1. From the starting position, swiftly but smoothly press your hips and shoulders off the floor, coming up to a fully arched position. Use your core strength to create the feeling of being pulled upward from above, rather than shoving against the floor. Avoid craning your neck.
2. From the fully arched position, lower yourself back to the starting position in a single swift but controlled movement. Be careful not to thump down—lower yourself from above. Repeat the back arch for a full set of 10 repetitions.

Variation
If you find the back arches too difficult, you can modify them by placing a small stability under your middle back in the starting position, which otherwise stays the same. Press up off the ball into your back arch, and lower yourself back onto the ball to complete the repetition.