How to do the Cat Cow
Step by step
- Start on your hands and knees with hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
- Slowly round your back toward the ceiling and tuck your chin (cat).
- Then reverse: drop your belly, lift your chest and tailbone (cow).
- Move smoothly between the two shapes with your breath.
- Keep the motion gentle and take short breaks whenever you need.
The thing people get wrong
Move slowly through your whole spine with the breath - do not rush or force the range at either end.
Coaching cue
Start each shape from your tailbone and let the motion roll up your spine one bit at a time.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Do the same rounding and arching sitting in a chair if wrists or knees hurt on the floor.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Core, Hips
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.