StrengthIn review

Band Dead Bug

A dead bug that holds band tension while the legs extend one at a time.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Anti extension
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Alternating
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Secure a resistance band to a fixed post or bar behind the head, close to floor height.
Lie on your back with hips and knees bent to about 90 degrees. Hold the band in both hands over the chest with light tension.

Do the rep

Brace the abdomen and keep both hands still against the band tension.
Extend one leg toward the floor without lifting the lower back.
Return that leg and repeat with the other leg.

What counts as a rep

One rep extends one leg and returns it while the lower back and hands stay still; count both sides together.

Breathing

Exhale through the effort and inhale during the controlled return.

Cues

Keep the ribs down.
Use a stronger band when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Arching the lower back
What you seeThe lower back lifts as the leg extends.
FixUse a shorter leg reach and less band tension.
The draft trains resistance to trunk extension.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
End the set if the lower back lifts or the band shifts.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Obliques · moderate confidence
Rectus abdominis · moderate confidence

Assisting

Shoulders (coarse UI group) · moderate confidence
Hip flexors · moderate confidence

Equipment

Resistance band

Check the band for damage. Use a fixed bar or post as the anchor, not a door. Secure a resistance band to a fixed post or bar behind the head, close to floor height. Lie on your back with hips and knees bent to about 90 degrees. Hold the band in both hands over the chest with light tension.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Manual

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 6, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 in #340. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment remain candidates; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_dead_bug, the closest Wave 1 record. Its review evidence does not approve this draft.
Rule 2 gives every bodyweight and band core row the trunk role.
The CSV movement pattern anti-rotation becomes anti-extension to match the drafted movement.
The CSV says bilateral. The draft alternates legs and counts both sides together, as ex_dead_bug (rule 1).
Bodyweight-reps only replaces the CSV load-and-reps. No kg are logged. Use a stronger band when reps get easy (rule 1).
Skill tier beginner: a new user can perform one clean rep or brief hold in the first session. Failure cost low: the user can stop on the floor or release band tension safely (rule 3).
The anchor is setup text only: a fixed bar or post, not a door. This draft uses resistance-band and needs no mini-band loop.
The CSV anti-rotation becomes anti-extension: this draft uses an overhead band hold and alternating leg extensions, with the hands still.
The draft selects an anchored long band rather than a loop around the feet. Coach review must confirm the band path and anchor height.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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