Lying Prone A Raise
What Is the Lying Prone A Raise?
Lying Prone A Raise is an isolation exercise that primarily targets the back, and it also engages the rear shoulders and the muscles that pull the shoulder blades down. It is a beginner-level movement performed face down on the floor with no equipment, so the only resistance is the weight of the arms themselves.
What defines this variation is how low the arms stay. They rest alongside the torso, angled slightly away from the hips with the thumbs turned up, so the body traces the shape of a letter A. From there the hands lift back and up, which combines shoulder extension with retraction and depression of the shoulder blades. That low arm angle keeps the effort in the lower trapezius and the lats and asks for almost no overhead shoulder range, which makes it the most forgiving entry point in the prone raise family.
Coaches often assign the A position first to people whose shoulders feel pinched when the arms go overhead. Because the hands never travel past the line of the shoulders, the joint stays in a comfortable range while the mid back still learns to hold the blades down and together. Once that feels reliable, the arm angle can be opened out through the Lying Prone T Raise for horizontal pulling, the Lying Prone W Raise for external rotation, and the Lying Prone Y Raise for the full overhead position.
Anyone who spends long hours at a desk or under a bench press tends to lose the habit of setting the shoulder blades down, and this drill trains exactly that. It works as a warm-up before pulling sessions, as filler between pressing sets, and as low-fatigue postural work on days between hard training. The visible range is small, so attention matters more than effort, and the useful thought is sliding the shoulder blades toward the back pockets rather than chasing hand height.
Muscles Worked
- Lower Trapezius
- Primary
- Deltoid
- High
- Latissimus Dorsi
- High
- Rhomboid Major
- Medium
- Teres Major
- Medium
- Gluteus Maximus
- Minimal
Instructions
- Lie face down on a mat with the legs straight and the forehead resting lightly on the floor.
- Place the arms alongside the torso, angled slightly away from the hips so the body forms a letter A.
- Turn the thumbs up so the palms face in toward the legs.
- Draw the shoulder blades down and together before the arms move.
- Lift the hands and arms back and up as far as the shoulders allow without shrugging.
- Hold the top position for one to two seconds with the neck long and the ribs resting on the floor.
- Lower the arms under control until the hands lightly touch down.
- Repeat for the prescribed reps while keeping the hips and legs still.
Common Mistakes
Shrugging the shoulders
Letting the shoulders ride toward the ears turns the drill into a shrug and removes the lower trapezius work it exists for.
Arching the low back
Pushing the hips into the floor to raise the hands higher shifts the effort onto the lumbar spine.
Lifting the head
Looking forward extends the neck and adds tension that has nothing to do with the target muscles.
Bending the elbows
A folding elbow shortens the lever and lets the hand rise while the shoulder blade does nothing.
Letting the arms drift outward
Sliding the arms away from the hips turns the A position into a T and loses the shoulder extension emphasis.
Swinging the reps
Throwing the arms up and dropping them removes the tension that makes such a small range worthwhile.
Injuries
Lying Prone A Raise is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The load never exceeds the weight of the arms, the spine stays close to neutral, and the shoulders work below shoulder height, so there is little that can go wrong mechanically.
The two areas that tend to complain are the neck and the low back. Lifting the chin to look forward compresses the back of the neck, and pressing the hips into the floor to win a little extra arm height turns the drill into a lumbar extension. Keeping the forehead down, or resting it on a folded towel, and letting the abdominals hold the ribs against the mat removes both problems. A mild pinch at the front of the shoulder usually means the arms have drifted behind the body faster than the shoulder blades have retracted, so shorten the range until the blades clearly lead the movement.
If even the unloaded version is fatiguing, work one arm at a time or drop the pause at the top. To progress, hold the top position longer, add small plates or a light band, or move on to the Lying Prone T Raise and the rest of the family. Stop the set if you feel sharp pain inside the shoulder joint, tingling down the arm, or cramping in the low back, and restart only after checking that the head and hips are staying quiet.
- Primary Focus
- Back
- Equipment
- Body weight
- Modality
- Strength
- Difficulty
- Beginner
Alternative Exercises
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: How many reps should I use?
Two or three sets of 10 to 15 slow reps suit most people. Since the resistance never changes, movement quality and a short pause at the top matter far more than the rep count.
- Q: Should I hold at the top of each rep?
A hold of one to two seconds is worth adding as soon as the movement feels controlled. It gives the mid back time to switch on properly instead of the arms bouncing up and down.
- Q: Can I add weight to this?
Light plates, very light dumbbells or a band across the hands all work, but only once you can complete a full set without shrugging or arching. Adding a longer pause is usually a better first step than adding load.
- Q: How is this different from Superman?
Superman lifts the chest and legs together and is mainly a spinal extension drill. Lying Prone A Raise leaves the torso and legs on the floor so the work stays in the shoulder blades and shoulders.
- Q: Do I need to do all four letters?
No, they can be used on their own. Many coaches run them as a short circuit because each arm angle stresses a slightly different part of the same system, but picking the one or two positions that feel weakest is perfectly reasonable.