Reverse Tabletop Pose
अर्ध पूर्वोत्तानासन
Ardha Pūrvottānāsana — a beginner backbend that works the glutes, hamstrings, shoulders.
How to do Reverse Tabletop Pose
Read all of it before starting, and read the cautions further down before starting at all.
Sit with the knees bent and the feet flat on the mat, hip-width apart.
Place the hands behind the hips with the fingers turned towards the feet.
Press the feet and hands down and lift the hips until the torso and thighs are level, like a tabletop.
Stack the knees over the ankles and the shoulders over the wrists.
Keep the head upright or let it tip back gently, hold, then lower the hips down.
Hold: 20–30 seconds, 2 rounds. Keep the breath moving throughout — if you are holding it, the pose is too much for today.
Muscles worked
Where the effort and the lengthening land. Primary groups do most of the work; secondary groups assist or are stretched.
What Reverse Tabletop Pose does
Described mechanically — what the movement does to muscle and joint. Not a list of conditions it treats, because a pose does not treat conditions.
- Strengthens the glutes and hamstrings in hip extension with less demand than the full plank version.
- Loads the shoulders and the front of the chest in extension behind the body.
- Trains the whole back line to hold a level horizontal position.
Reverse Tabletop Pose is one of 43 backbends in this library and one of 88 poses rated beginner. Poses that extend the spine and open the front of the body — chest, hip flexors and abdomen.
Who should skip Reverse Tabletop Pose, or change it
- Wrist injury — turn the fingers out to the sides or come onto the fists.
- Shoulder impingement, which the arms-behind-the-body position can aggravate.
- Neck injury: keep the head upright and the chin level.
- Knee pain when the feet are placed too far from the hips.
- Later pregnancy, where the arms-behind position is uncomfortable — take a supported chest opener instead.
General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing any health condition, ask your doctor before starting a practice, and learn the pose itself from a qualified teacher who can see you move.
Common mistakes in Reverse Tabletop Pose
What tends to go wrong, and the specific correction — not "engage your core".
MistakeHips hanging low so the shoulders take all the strain.
FixPress the feet down and squeeze the glutes until the hips reach knee height.
MistakeShoulders hunching towards the ears as the chest struggles to open.
FixDraw the shoulder blades down the back and widen the collarbones before lifting higher.
What a practice like this costs in energy
Nobody has measured a single asana in a metabolic cart. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values per style of practice, so Reverse Tabletop Pose is mapped to the nearest published code — 02150, yoga, Hatha, 2.5 MET — and the figures below are for a practice of that kind, not for holding this one pose.
| Time practising | 10 min | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 60 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 31 | 61 | 92 | 138 | 184 |
Calculated as MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 kcal per minute — the standard ACSM relationship, shown in full on the method page. Scale it to your own weight by multiplying by your weight in kilograms and dividing by 70. The whole activity dataset, including every non-yoga activity, is at BurnLab.
Questions
How do you do Reverse Tabletop Pose?
Sit with the knees bent and the feet flat on the mat, hip-width apart. Place the hands behind the hips with the fingers turned towards the feet. Press the feet and hands down and lift the hips until the torso and thighs are level, like a tabletop. Stack the knees over the ankles and the shoulders over the wrists. Keep the head upright or let it tip back gently, hold, then lower the hips down. Hold for 20–30 seconds, 2 rounds.
What does Reverse Tabletop Pose work?
Primarily the glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, with the quadriceps, chest, triceps assisting or lengthening. In mechanical terms: strengthens the glutes and hamstrings in hip extension with less demand than the full plank version.
Who should not do Reverse Tabletop Pose?
Wrist injury — turn the fingers out to the sides or come onto the fists. Shoulder impingement, which the arms-behind-the-body position can aggravate. Neck injury: keep the head upright and the chin level. Knee pain when the feet are placed too far from the hips. Later pregnancy, where the arms-behind position is uncomfortable — take a supported chest opener instead. This is general information, not medical advice — if any of these apply to you, ask your doctor and learn the pose with a qualified teacher rather than from a page.
Is Reverse Tabletop Pose suitable for beginners?
Yes. Reverse Tabletop Pose is a beginner-level pose on this site, which means it is learnable in a first class and has a version that works for most bodies. The cautions above still apply.
How many calories does Reverse Tabletop Pose burn?
The honest answer is that nobody has measured a single asana. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities publishes MET values for styles of yoga, not for individual poses. Reverse Tabletop Pose sits closest to Compendium code 02150, yoga, Hatha, at 2.5 MET — about 92 kcal for 30 minutes of that kind of practice for a 70 kg adult. Holding one pose for a minute is a rounding error either way.
Related poses
More backbends — first at the same level, then the rest of the family.
Asana names are traditional. Every step, benefit and caution on this page is written for YogaPath rather than reproduced from any book, studio or other library — see how this site is written. Energy figures derive from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. General information only — not medical advice. Some asanas are unsuitable during pregnancy, injury or specific conditions. Learn from a qualified teacher and stop if anything hurts.