Purpose

Sitting on the floor with the legs straight, the child practices leaning back as far as possible without falling backwards.  This gets the neck flexor and abdominal muscles working, teaches the child to flex the neck and trunk as he/she goes backwards. 

The neck and abdominal muscles work to control the backwards movement of the trunk, and then work to lift the trunk up again. 

Sit backs with the legs straight 

Start position

Start sitting on a mat with the legs straight in front of you.

►   Cross your arms across your chest.

►   Put your chin on your chest, look down towards you belly button and bend your back a little. 

Now lean backwards as far as you can without toppling over backwards.   

►   Hold this position for 5 counts. 

►   Come up straight again. 

►   How far can you go before you fall backwards?  

►   Now you know how far you can go before you fall backwards. It should be a little difficult to hold this position. 

►   Remember to keep your head bent forwards. 

Repetitions:  Start with 5, increase to 10.

How to make the exercise more difficult

• Try to go back a little further. 
• Hold the position for longer.
• Increase the number of repetitions in a set.

Sit-backs with the legs bent 

Once the child can lean back at least halfway with the legs straight, you can make the exercise more challenging by sitting with the legs bent. 

Instead of sitting with the legs straight, bend the hips and knees with the feet flat on the floor. 

Now practice leaning back as far as you can, and then coming up again.