Exercise of the Week - Back Extension on the Foam Roller

The foam roller is one of those pieces of equipment trying to make the jump from the rehab/physical therapy world into mainstream fitness. In fact, you may see foam rollers lying around at the gym just waiting for someone to figure out what to do with them and you'll certainly start seeing more videos and other resources out there as time goes on. While the foam roller isn't a mainstay in my workouts, I do like it for core and balance work as well as flexibility exercises and one of my favorite core moves is the back extension.

A regular back extension is kind of boring, when you think about it. You lift up...you lower down. Yawn. Adding an exercise ball can spice it up, but it still seems to lack something. But, use a foam roller and you suddenly add a whole slew of muscles to the mix. The idea is to use the roller to press your arms down at the same time you draw your shoulder blades down so you're engaging almost every muscle in the upper back. Then, as you lift the chest, you'll involve the lower back as well and y'all know how I feel about compound exercises.

Do it right: Lie on the floor with arms stretched out in front, wrists resting on roller. Squeeze the shoulder blades together and down and press the arms into the roller as you lift the chest off the floor, pulling the roller towards you a little. Keep the abs contracted throughout the movement. Lower and repeat for 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps.

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