Posterior Pelvic Tilt or ‘Straighten your back!’

Hey, calisthenics community! It's Artem Morozov and today we are going to talk about posterior pelvic tilt.

posterior pelvic tilt 1

First of all, let's take a closer look at what the posterior pelvic tilt actually is.
It is a rotation in pelvic joint which is made by Abdominals, Hamstring and Gluteus muscles. It's important to say that this move is uncommon for everyday life and used in calisthenics for a couple of reasons. Using this pelvis position you will get more control of your legs and core. Why? It is simple and clear: muscles of the abs and legs really stressed in that position and you will be able to hold legs and core position more effectively. Let me explain why. For example, you are doing pull up: from bent arms in initial position it is much easier because you should spend less energy. Same trick works with pelvic tilt. Muscles fix position really strong and you need only add some stress to move it easily.

So, what do we need this position for and where is it used?
Planche, hanstand, one arm handstand, front lever and many more. As you can see in almost every trick. As I said above, this move helps you with your core so if you use that tilt in Front lever you will decrease burden on ABS and waist. In handstand it will help to hold immobile your legs. In planche and back lever it will help you to get that nice and straight line.

How to train it and what exercises to use?
Firstly, it isn't a trick or an exercise. Thus, you just need to understand the move and look into the mirror to check and fix the form if it's wrong.

  • Stress target muscles and help with your hands manually as shown on the pic.2 Also, in this exercise you can compare normal tilt and posterior pelvic tilt (pics 3,4)
posterior pelvic tilt 2
pic.2
posterior pelvic tilt 3
pic.3
posterior pelvic tilt 4
pic.4
  • Next one and I think the best is on the pics 5,6. Lay down on the floor, relax and put palms under your waist. That is your normal tilt so let's fix it. Stress target muscles especially ABS and press down stomach to touch the ground with your waist. Your hips will tend to lift up and it is completely okay in this exercise.
posterior pelvic tilt 5
pic.5
posterior pelvic tilt 6
pic.6

Hope this article was helpful, and thank you for reading. If you want more useful info on how to learn calisthenics moves and perform it perfectly, we recommend you to check out the shop. There you can find lots of useful high-quality content and some of the blocks are even free!

Leave comments under the article if you have any problems with any exercise and you will surely get answers.


Stay strong and train smart with
Calisthenics School

Artem Morozov & Calisthenics School Team 

3 thoughts on “Posterior Pelvic Tilt or ‘Straighten your back!’”

  • Thanks for sharing all this precious tips Artem.
    I have recently discovered your website and I´m reading all the articles you have to try to improve my calisthenics movements.
    The only thing, its that you only have 4 articles for the moment, and my question is, are you planning on realeasing any new content for the moment?
    I miss one for improving my handstand. Thats a move that I admire so much your neatness.
    Thank you! 🙂

    • hi one question on pics number 3,4 are those example of having posterior pelvic tilt? which is bad i guess right?

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