Adductors + back line

Pancake good morning

Seated straddle, chest tall, hinge forward from the hips with a long spine and return. Borrowed from the ATG playbook: loading the fold, not just falling into it, is what makes the range stick.

How to do it

1. 01Sit on the floor (or the edge of a cushion) with legs straddled comfortably wide.
2. 02Sit tall first; if tall is hard here, raise the hips higher on the cushion.
3. 03Hinge the chest forward from the hips with a long spine, hands reaching along the floor.
4. 04Return to tall with control; eight slow hinges, range growing rep by rep.

Mistakes that waste your reps

• ×Rounding the spine to fake forward distance; the fold happens at the hips or not at all.
• ×Straddling wider than you can sit tall in.
• ×Yanking with the hands instead of hinging with the trunk.

Where this comes from

Discomfort that eases as you move is normal; pain that sharpens is a stop sign. If this area is injured or persistently painful, a clinician outranks this page.

Written by Kyle Jenkin · updated August 31, 2026 · how we grade evidence

Pairs well with