CalisthenicsIn review

Cobra Lift

A face-down back exercise that lifts the chest a little and turns the thumbs out while the shoulder blades squeeze together.

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 extension
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Lie face down with the arms at the sides and the palms facing the floor.
Rest the forehead on the floor or the mat, and look down.

Do the rep

Lift the chest and the hands a little off the floor.
Turn the thumbs out and squeeze the shoulder blades together and down.
Hold for two seconds, then lower under control.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the chest and the hands lift off the floor with the shoulder blades squeezed, hold for a moment, and return to the floor.

One rep starts face down with the arms at the sides, lifts the chest and hands with the shoulder blades squeezed, holds for a moment, and lowers.

Breathing

Exhale as you lift; inhale as you lower.

Cues

Squeeze the shoulder blades down toward the back pockets.
Keep the head in line with the spine.
Hold each lift longer when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Lifting too high
What you seeThe lower back arches hard and the chest lifts far off the floor.
FixLift the chest only a little.
A small lift trains the upper back without pinching the lower back.
Shrugging
What you seeThe shoulders move up toward the ears.
FixPull the shoulder blades down before you lift.
Shoulders down keep the work in the upper back.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you feel pain in the lower back or the neck.
End the set when you cannot lift and lower under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Upper back · moderate confidence
Trapezius · moderate confidence
Spinal erectors · moderate confidence

Assisting

Rear deltoids · moderate confidence
Rotator cuff · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

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 3, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 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 rules page; 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_face_pull, the closest Wave 1 record.
Rule 2 names the prone Y, T and W raises only. This row moves the arms against gravity face down in the same way, so it takes the same back roles (secondary_pull, isolation_target), not trunk.
Skill tier and failure cost follow rule 3: beginner, low.
Timed use copies ex_face_pull (disallowed), but the record allows duration as a prescription, as the CSV does.

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.

Train it in Allena

Allena plans your week around the days you can train, logs every set, and coaches your form from the camera.

Get the app