What Muscles are Working in a Backbend?

Back bending moves like wheel pose in yoga and cocoon on pole are super impressive, and super challenging! If you’re blessed with some natural flexibility, training these can actually be fun. If you’re not born naturally flexy, they can be a struggle for sure! Most people, on either end of this spectrum, believe that back bending stretches the back, but that’s not actually the case! In this blog post, I’m going to cover which muscles are contracting (or doing the work) and which muscles are being stretched in any basic, back bending position.

First, let’s talk about the muscles that are actually going the brunt of the work in a backbend. Contrary to popular thought, the muscles of the back are not stretching in a backbend. They are contracting! Crazy, right? Yep, you need all of the muscles in the back to work together to open up the front of the body enough to bend.

But it’s not just the back muscles contracting here; the muscles in the butt are key players in this game as well. Having strong glutes can help keep the bend out of the lower back, where compression can cause pain.

Ok, now on to the muscles that are actually being stretched in backbends. Once the back and butt muscles are working, this allows the muscles in the front of the body to open up. The abdominal, chest, shoulders and hip flexors are all being elongated, or stretched at some point in back bending positions. These muscles still need to be strong however!

Building strength in your glutes and hip flexors with exercises like hip thrusts and glute bridges is a great way to begin to strengthen your body for backbends. It is especially important for those who have natural flexibility or hypermobility to build strength for back bending to prevent injury.

Not sure how to start? Always work with a coach or trainer who specializes in flexibility training. Getting a movement assessment by a professional can help you get started in your backbend process and save you a lot of time and frustration!

If you’d like to start working on your backbends, I can help! Book a FREE discovery call HERE and let’s chat about how to best help you reach your bendy goal both on and off the pole!