The hyperextension is a great exercise for targeting your entire posterior chain, specifically the lower back, glutes and hamstrings. This makes it a great exercise for improving athletic performance and reducing the risk of injury, given the huge contribution of these three muscle groups to things like sprinting, squatting, deadlifting, or jumping.

However, people often shy away from the Hyperextension Bench because they don’t know how to use it effectively.

We’re here to tell you that the hyperextension bench and hyperextension exercises can be utilised in a variety of simple ways to match your training goals!

Hyperextension Techniques

Lumbar erector focused hyperextensions

To put a greater focus on the lumbar spine, focus on getting a little bit more extension from the lower back at the top of your hyperextension reps. A nice way to help with this is to think about showing your chest to the sky or directing your eye gaze to the sky. This is particularly successful because of the way the lumbar follows the movement of the upper back, through something called regional inter-dependence (of the kinetic chain).

Hamstring Focused Hyperextensions

To push the focus towards the hamstrings, we want to focus on pushing the hips back on the way down, keeping the back flat, similar to a strict RDL, before using the hamstrings to pull the body back up to the start position.

Glute Focused Hyperextensions

To make the exercise more glute dominant, we need to completely change the look of the upper body; you need to hunch the upper back as much as possible, thus helping to lock the lumbar into place, shifting the focus to the glutes.

A nice tip to help with this is to cross your arms over your chest as if you are giving yourself a big hug. From there, you focus on trying to drive your hips through the bench, squeezing your bum as much as possible at the top of the exercise, keeping your back hunched throughout.

Most Common Hyperextension Mistakes

Setting the Pad at the Incorrect Height

If the pad is too low the then pad will be uncomfortable on the quads and the knees. If it is too high, it will increase spinal flexion excessively, in relation to the goal of the movement, reducing the amount of hip flexion possible.

Fix - Set the pad just below the crease in your hip so that your hips can flex and extend comfortably!

Having Bent Knees

During our hyperextensions, we want the knees locked out in a straight position. This forces us to work the hamstrings at long muscle lengths because the knees cant flex to take the load away from them. This can often also be caused by an incorrect pad height.

Fix - Squeeze your quads as much as possible in your start position to lock out your knees, again, making sure your pad is at an appropriate height.

If you are looking to get a strong posterior chain, the hyperextension is a fantastic choice. But remember, just like any other exercise, progressive overload is essential for long term continued progress. Once comfortable with your hyperextensions, no matter which muscle you are targeting, make sure you use extra resistance to make it even harder. This can be done with Dumbbells, Kettlebells, or by holding Bumper Plates.

Give them a go and, as always, Happy Lifting!

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond.

For more content, follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and on our official Mirafit Facebook page.

Tags: Equipment > Benches ; Exercise Type > Strength