Hollow Body Hold
The hollow body hold is a floor-based gymnastics hold: lying on your back, you press your low back into the floor and hold your shoulders, arms and straight legs just off the ground in a shallow dish shape. It trains the abdominals and hip flexors to keep the trunk rigid, and it is the base body position for many gymnastics and calisthenics skills.
Also called: Hollow Hold, Hollow Body, Dish Hold, Banana Hold · Equipment: bodyweight · Pattern: isolation
Step by step
- Lie on your back with your legs straight and together and your arms by your sides.
- Tilt your pelvis backwards, tucking your tailbone slightly and drawing your ribs down towards your hips, until your whole low back is pressed into the floor.
- Breathe out and tighten your abdominals. Curl your head and shoulder blades off the floor, with your chin slightly tucked and your neck long.
- Raise your straight legs a little off the floor, starting high, where keeping your back flat is easier. Point your toes and keep your knees locked. If your low back lifts, bend your knees into a tuck or raise your legs higher.
- Reach your arms overhead beside your ears. Bring your legs closer to the floor only as far as your low back stays pressed down.
- Hold the dish shape still, taking short, shallow breaths while your abdominals stay tight.
- To finish, bring your arms back to your sides, set your feet down and rest your head and shoulders on the floor.
- Low back pressed into the floor
- Ribs down, tailbone tucked
- Reach long through your fingers and toes
- Legs higher if your back starts to lift
- Long neck, eyes towards your toes
- One rigid dish from hands to feet
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Rectus abdominis: upper | Prime mover | C |
| Rectus abdominis: lower | Prime mover | C |
| Hip flexors | Prime mover | C |
| Obliques (internal/external) | Secondary | C |
| Quadriceps: rectus femoris | Secondary | D |
| Transverse abdominis | Stabiliser | D |
| Quadriceps: vastus lateralis | Stabiliser | D |
| Anterior deltoid | Stabiliser | D |
| Serratus anterior | Stabiliser | D |
| Erector spinae | Stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Low back lifting off the floor
Fix: Raise your legs or tuck your knees until your low back stays flat on the floor.
Chin poking forward
Fix: Keep a long neck with the chin slightly tucked, and curl up from the upper abdominals.
Folding at the hips into a V
Fix: Keep arms, trunk and legs in one shallow curve from fingertips to toes.
Holding the breath
Fix: Take short, shallow breaths while keeping your abdominals tight.
Holding on after the shape is lost
Fix: End the hold when your low back lifts; a clean shape matters more than time.
What the research says
Rehab & prehabGeneral fitnessSport performanceEndurance
- Hold time and progression — There is no direct research on hold durations for the hollow body hold. A common approach is several timed holds at the longest lever you can keep your low back flat, progressing from a tuck to one leg out, then both legs straight, then arms overhead.
- Endurance — Research on resistance training finds local muscular endurance responds best to lighter loads worked for longer sets. Timed holds apply the same idea, although no study has tested it in this exercise.
- Muscle size — Research comparing ranges of motion finds full-range training gives equal or greater gains than partial ranges. The hollow hold works the abdominals in one short, fixed position, so it is usually programmed for body position and endurance rather than muscle size.
- Frequency and placement — The hold carries little fatigue, and gymnastics programmes commonly practise it several times a week, often in the warm-up before handstand or bar work. This is coaching practice rather than a research finding.
- Evidence gap — No published muscle-activation or training study has examined the hollow body hold itself. Its muscle targeting is inferred from studies of related core exercises.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the hollow body hold in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.