CalisthenicsIn review

Body Saw

A forearm plank that moves the body backward and forward over the toes.

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

Pattern: Trunk stability
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Place the forearms on the floor with the elbows under the shoulders.
Extend the legs and hold a straight line from head to heels.

Do the rep

Push the body a short distance backward so the shoulders move behind the elbows.
Keep the hips level as you rock over the toes.
Return the shoulders over the elbows.

What counts as a rep

One rep moves the straight body backward and returns the shoulders over the elbows without the hips dropping.

Breathing

Breathe in as you move back; exhale as you return.

Cues

Move as one unit.
Use a short range.
Keep the hips level.

Common mistakes

Back arching
What you seeThe abdomen drops during the backward movement.
FixReduce the range and brace the trunk.
A shorter range preserves the plank position.
Moving only the hips
What you seeThe hips rise and fall while the shoulders stay still.
FixMove the shoulders and hips together.
The body must move as one unit.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
End the set when the back arches or the shoulders cannot return under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

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

Assisting

Hip flexors · moderate confidence
Shoulders (coarse UI group) · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

Place the forearms on the floor with the elbows under the shoulders. Extend the legs and hold a straight line from head to heels.

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 5, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12. 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 follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints unless a correction is listed below; 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_forearm_plank, the closest Wave 1 record. The draft carries no Wave 1 review evidence.
CSV equipment bodyweight|floor-mat|pull-up-bar-optional is normalized to required bodyweight and optional floor-mat. The CSV floor-mat is optional under the existing catalog normalization. Required equipment follows the movement and the owner picker rules.
Skill tier intermediate: A controlled long-lever plank excursion needs months of trunk and shoulder training. The CSV says beginner. Failure cost low: the movement ends on the floor or in a stable stand.
The CSV rep-or-duration-candidate hint maps to manual tracking because it is not a schema capability. Camera support stays false and public capability stays manual_only.
The draft uses a short toe-rocking body saw on the floor. It does not require sliders or a suspension trainer. Review must confirm the range and whether a sliding variation needs a separate record.
The CSV reps-or-duration maps to bodyweight-reps as the primary kind, with duration also allowed. Timed use follows the named Wave 1 reference.

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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