How to do the Bird Dog
Step by step
- Start on your hands and knees with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
- Draw your belly in so your back stays flat like a tabletop.
- Reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back until both are level with your body.
- Keep your hips square to the floor and avoid twisting.
- Return slowly and repeat with the other arm and leg.
The thing people get wrong
Do not let your hips rotate or your back sag - move slowly and keep the torso as still as a table.
Coaching cue
Reach long through your fingertips and heel instead of lifting the arm and leg high.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Extend just the arm, or just the leg, one at a time.
- Harder: Hold each rep for 3 to 5 seconds at full reach.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core, Glutes
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.