By Elizabeth Towe
Objective: Dead Bug on the BOSU will improve strength and muscular endurance of the flexors of the hip and the spine and strengthen the deep stabilizers of the spine.
Doing this exercise on the BOSU instead of the floor will train your nervous system to find the internal stability from your own body when you don’t have an external surface to brace against.
Exercise:
- Lie on your back on the dome side of the BOSU with your lower back at the center of the dome.
- Lift your legs until your knees are bent at 90 degrees and the knee is directly over the hip joint. You will have to contract the transverse abdominals (gently pulling the back of the belly button toward the spine) and the rectus abdominis (bring the ribs toward the pelvis without losing your neutral curve of your lumbar spine)
- Keep your neck in neutral (imagine holding an apple under your chin) and place your hands behind the head for additional support.
- Keeping the trunk in a stable, neutral position, slowly begin to lower the leg to touch the toe on the floor. Bring back to start position and alternate legs.
- Repeat 5-10 times on each side OR until fatigued. (If your back begins to arch, fatigue has overcome your ability to stabilize the spine. Do not try to push through if you have lost stable-neutral spine.)
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Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for more than 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life – and to remember to have fun doing it.
