The prone cobra is done lying face down: you lift your chest a few centimetres off the floor, turn your thumbs up and pull your shoulder blades back and down, then lower again. It trains the muscles along your spine and around your shoulder blades together, with nothing to set up but a patch of floor. Done for reps rather than held, it makes a good warm-up before pulling or pressing, or a light back finisher at home.
How to do it
- Lie face down with your arms by your sides, palms down, and squeeze your glutes.
- Lift your chest a few centimetres, turn your thumbs up and pull your shoulder blades back and down.
- Pause for a moment, then lower slowly with your eyes on the floor.
Common mistakes
- Craning your head up to look forward, which bends the neck instead of lifting the back.
- Heaving the chest as high as it will go — the lift should come from the shoulder blades, not a hard bend in the lower back.
What it trains
- Lower back
- lifts the chest and holds the spine extended at the top of each rep
- Rear delts
- draw the arms back and turn them out as the thumbs rotate up
- Traps
- the middle and lower parts pull the shoulder blades back and down and hold them there
- Glutes
- squeeze to anchor the pelvis, so the lift comes from the back rather than a kink in the lower spine
Variations and alternatives
Common questions
Is the prone cobra the same as the yoga cobra?
No. The yoga cobra pushes the chest up with the hands and stretches the front of the body; in the prone cobra the hands stay off the floor, so your back muscles do the lifting. That makes it a strength exercise rather than a stretch, which is why you count reps.
Should I hold the prone cobra or do reps?
Reps, with a short pause at the top of each — two seconds is plenty. StackUp tracks it as a rep-based exercise and raises your target reps once you beat the top of your range, so every set stays a number you can improve. Long holds tend to end with the chest sinking and the shoulders drifting forward, which is less work for the back, not more.
How high should I lift my chest?
Only a few centimetres off the floor. What matters is the shoulder blades moving back and down, not how far the chest rises; heaving it higher just folds the lower back. Keep your eyes on the floor so your neck stays in line.
How do I make the prone cobra harder?
Lengthen the pause at the top to five seconds, then hold a light plate or small dumbbells in your hands. StackUp lets you add weight to a rep-based exercise, but a kilo or two in each hand is already a big jump here, so add reps first.
In StackUp. Logged as reps per set. Add weight if you use a belt or a dumbbell and StackUp progresses it like any other lift. Get the app.
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