POV, you start doing reverse planks every day and your pelvic tilt vanishes, your stomach looks flatter, and you can finally start feeling your deep core muscles. But what this viral clip doesn't show are the common mistakes that can make this exercise either a complete waste of time or a game-changer at reversing the poor postures you get from sitting all day. Let's talk about the science. Now, at first glance, this movement looks simple, but the reverse plank can actually be an excellent counter move to the poor postures many adopt when sitting all day. They tighten your hip flexors and chest while the glutes and postural muscles on your back atrophy. Unlike the front plank, this exercise targets your body's posterior chain, your spinal erectors, your [music] glutes, and core while actually giving you a nice stretch to your chest and opening your shoulders. Now, before I show you how to perform this exercise, let's see how well it can possibly change your posture. One thing we know is that those who have rounded forward shoulders often have a difficult time getting their arms completely over their head. So, here's the test. You're going to stand next to a wall with your hips and low back flush to the wall. Then, raise your arms as high as you can. Video [music] your results because we'll come back to this in a few minutes. Now, if you have really rounded shoulders due to stiff and tight pecs, you'll notice you can't get very high towards the wall. And if you have weak or poorly coordinated stability with your core, you'll notice that as you raise your arms, your core is going to relax and your low back will try to arch so that you can touch the wall. [music] Either way, the reverse plank may just be the antidote that you need. [music] To perform, sit on the floor, legs straight, hands positioned slightly behind the hips. Don't just push up, think open your chest. Push through the forearms, lift your hips until your body's in a straight line. Now, common problems with this include letting the chest sink and the hips go back down towards the ground. So, what you want to think about is lifting your chest towards the sky as you pull your shoulder blades back and down and squeeze your glutes. That will really help you make sure that you're in a rigid, straight position connecting your entire body. Now, if this is too tough on your shoulders, just go from your hands and that will be a little bit less extension demand on the mobility for your shoulders. >> [music] >> Interestingly, researchers actually tested this on rounded shoulder posture. They had participants perform five sets of 30-second holds and immediately after they found the muscles that were underactive from their forward shoulder posture >> [music] >> spiked in activation while the tight overworked muscles like the pecs and upper traps saw decreased activation. You're effectively resetting your nervous system for better posture after performing these. >> [music] >> Now, this isn't a magic fix for your posture, but it is an extremely effective tool. Try your retest now and see if you were any closer to the wall than before. If [music] so, this could be an important exercise for you to do frequently throughout the week. You can use it as a warm-up, a finisher after your workout, or just a midday break. Now, if you're having any aches and pains while performing this, be sure to check out my injury fix book Rebuilding Milo. You can [music] find a link for it in the description of this video. And for more core stability exercises, check out this video I recently made on my top 10 core exercises most people skip.