Pushup Bridge with Crossed Under Leg - Lower Back Pain Exercises

by Charles Tackett
(Clarksville, IN , USA)

I'm a lifetime athlete who has had problems with disabling lower back pain. Lately, I'm been working on stretching correctly, corrective flexibility, muscle balance, increase my core strength, and solving my pain problem. I've lost weight, I sleep better and I've only just begun to modify my workouts to include more stretching and core strength exercises.

One stretch I do doesn't have a name. I've never seen in in books either, but I doubt that I invented it, it's probably just a nameless stretch. Let's call this a push-up bridge, with one leg straight, and one crossed under. See, that's a terrible title for it. I love this stretch because it feels so good and I have total control of the intensity of the stretch.

Instructions: lay on stomach. Bridge up into a push up position (not from the knees but instead from the toes). One leg remains straight, while the other leg crosses over under your bridged body. You'll end up on the side of the crossed leg's shin resting on the floor. Lowering yourself down on your arms will stretch the crossed under leg, stretching the deep gluteal, and the hamstrings muscles in the back of the thigh. If the leg is closer to the body, it is a soft, basic stretch. Crossing the leg over further away will increase the stretch to more advanced levels.

This stretch needs a good name, like "Push-up Shin Cross" or "Gluteal Cross Stretch" or something like that.