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Welcome to Day 12 of the BWF Primer Community Workout!
Hey folks!
Today we’ll be doing:
– Some reading on how to do another Core exercise; Birddogs! The thematic counterpart to the deadbug.
– You guessed it, another workout!
Today’s Learning: How to do Birddogs.
So the deadbug taught you how to brace, and it can be used to strengthen that brace over time. The Birddog will teach you how to integrate that brace into many different exercises.
Simply put, the birddog will teach you how to extend your upper back, generating as much tension in the top half of your spine as the brace does in the bottom half, but without disrupting your rib position. It will also teach you how to maintain that position while moving the limbs against gravity.
It will also exercise your spinal erectors, as well as another muscle in your “intrinsic core” (that you learned about on day 10 and 11), The Multifidus! This does well to balance (re: the Day 4 reading) the core development you get from the deadbug, which is one of many reasons why these exercises pair so well together.
Anyway, read away!
Birddog Guide
After reading this guide, and practicing it, You might notice if you did the birddog set-up, then stepped your legs back out behind you and straightened them, you’d be in a perfect top position of a push-up.
If you then flipped that upside down; boom. Perfect bottom position of a row.
The concept of ‘Extended upper back, ribs down, braced abdomen’ widely applies to so many exercises and contexts (If you have any aspirations of learning to lift weights, this exercise will quickly become your best friend because this is needed in basically every barbell exercise ever), and this is why the birddog is my second favourite core exercise, trailing just behind the deadbug.
Workout #12:
| Exercise | Sets/Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Static Birddog Hold | 3x10s | 60s |
| Static Deadbug Hold | 3x15s | 60s |
| Squats | 2×8 | 60s |
| Glute Bridges | 2×10 | 60s |
| Rows (Or Reverse Push-ups) | 2×12 | 60s |
| Push-ups | 2×12 | 60s |
Ok, I did it!
Congratulations!
If you want to chat about your experience so far, I’ve set up a new ‘beginners zone’ in the /r/bodyweightfitness discord server, so you can come chat with other new exercisers in a friendly environment, with friendly helpers with experience with exercise that have volunteered to answer any questions you may have!
Cheers,
Nick-E
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