By Carmen Curtis

 

Forearm Planks: Teaching & Alignment Discussion

 

In AIReal Yoga™, the aerial hammock becomes more than a fun prop—it’s a tool for deepening your practice. By suspending your forearm plank in the hammock, you’ll discover new challenges and alignment nuances that fire up your entire body while keeping your spine safe.

Depending on how we use the hammock, it can modify a pose to make it easier, help refine alignment, or challenge the pose more deeply than floor-based versions. When practicing forearm planks with the hammock, the posture becomes more challenging than the traditional floor-based version. The legs are lifted off the ground, requiring greater core engagement and stabilization throughout the body.

 

If you’re new to AIReal Yoga™, check out our Introduction to AIReal Yoga™.

 

 

To maintain proper alignment and protect the spine, practitioners should:To help students:

Engage the core by hollowing through the belly.

Slightly scoop the pelvis to avoid lumbar compression.

Actively press through the legs and arms for total-body engagement

This variation enhances strength in the arms, shoulders, core, and legs more than a standard plank. It demands increased activation and stabilization throughout the entire body.

 

 

Mobility Considerations

 

Tight Shoulders:

For students with limited shoulder mobility, forearm planks—both on the mat and with the hammock—may be especially challenging. While they may have the strength, they often lack the mobility to stack shoulders directly over the elbows, which is essential for proper alignment. As they progress into hammock-supported forearm planks, tucks, or pikes, they may struggle to maintain this stack.

 

 

For Teachers: Common Misalignments & How to Guide Through Them:

You may observe:

Shoulders drifting forward past the elbows Hips lifting too high or lagging behind in tucks/pikes Difficulty maintaining the hollow body position, especially when trying to stack their hips up above their shoulders, it will be common for them to have an arch in their lower spine because they are more focused on trying to get the stacking correct, but ultimately it’s more important to keep the hollow body and a scoop in the pelvis to protect the spine and less important to stack their hips. Stacking of the hips and shoulders can only happen once they have more shoulder mobility, they do not want to compromise the spine to get the stacked body.

 

To help students

Encourage them to press into the hands on the mat and legs in the hammock, too push their shoulders back in line with the elbows.

Along with pressing into the hands, elbows and forearms to broaden their shoulders across the back, protecting them from dumping and dropping down into their shoulders. Although this may not be possible due to their shoulder flexibility, they still need to be encouraged to work towards it.

Guide them to keep hips lower if necessary, maintaining a strong, hollow body rather than over lifting the hips in forearm Plank Tuck and Pike, as it’s more important to maintain a strong hollow body protecting the spine, than to over-extend, arch or dump into the spine and shoulders.

Remind them that working toward correct alignment (shoulders over elbows, hips over shoulders in tuck or pike) takes time and practice, therefore it’s better to modify with hip lower or behind the shoulders, as having limited mobility in the shoulders, makes this pose more challenging physically for them and demands more strength from them. When the shoulders are stacked over the elbows, the stacking creates efficiency and uses less strength. Because their mobility inhibits them from stacking properly, they actually have to engage the rest of the body and use more strength throughout the entire body to do even the modified pose.

Emphasize core activation over hip height in tucks and pikes to protect the spine

 

Modifications and Progressions

 

Remind them that working toward stacking (hips over shoulders, shoulders over elbows) is a process that improves with practice and mobility work.

Until shoulder mobility improves, modifications are necessary. A key setup cue is to have hands placed forward at the top of the mat to provide more space and better alignment.

Encourage your students to be patient and consistent in their practice.

Progress will come with a combination of body awareness, strength-building and most importantly increased flexibility in the shoulders.

Once they have proper alignment and are able to stack correctly, therefore having shoulder mobility and strength, they can progress by moving their hands, a little bit farther back towards the middle of the mat, which makes this more challenging to stay in the correct stacked alignment and more challenging to keep the hollow body and core active because of the momentum one feels from the hammock being farther away from the plumb line.

 

Momentum and Hammock Height

In regards to momentum, one might feel from the hammock being farther away from the center, plum line depends on hammock length and ceiling height. The higher the ceiling and the longer the hammock, the last momentum or push you will fill from the hammock.

When you have a shorter hammock and a lower ceiling you will feel the challenge more when even a little off the center. Therefore, with a shorter ceiling and lower hammock, the farther towards the front of the mat, the hands are the easier it is to do planks, and if the hands are even just a little bit back from the very front of the mat even a little bit of a shift back with the hands, you will feel a great amount of challenge.

When the hammock is higher, you will feel more challenge, when the ceiling is higher and the hammock is longer, you will have to move farther away from the plumb line to feel a challenge. The push or pull that one feels from the hammock being away from its center or plum line changes, depending on the length of the hammock, the height of the hammock and the ceiling height.

Therefore, the amount that one can move their hands forward to make it easier or back towards the center to make it more challenging, and progressive will vary, depending on hammock height, hammock length, and ceiling height. In general, the shorter the hammock, the lower the ceiling and the higher the hammock is, the more dynamic and powerful the momentum is from mild shifts in front or behind the plum line. The longer the hammock, the lower the hammock, and the higher the ceiling the less momentum you feel when being off the center or plum line, therefore, you will have to move much farther back to feel the momentum to progress.