{"id":185159,"date":"2026-08-21T01:23:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=185159"},"modified":"2026-08-25T08:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:40:37","slug":"how-many-supermans-should-you-do-a-day-benchmarks-by-fitness-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/how-many-supermans-should-you-do-a-day-benchmarks-by-fitness-level\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Supermans Should You Do a Day? Benchmarks by Fitness Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people can safely do 16-20 Superman raises a session as a complete beginner, working up toward 60-80 at an advanced level, spread across three non-consecutive days a week rather than daily. Supermans load the lower back and glutes against gravity alone, and unlike ab-flexion moves (crunches, leg raises), the muscles you’re working are the ones that keep your spine extended<\/em> under load all day — the same muscles a desk job spends eight hours quietly weakening.<\/p>\n

How Many Supermans Should You Do a Day? Quick Benchmarks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Level<\/th>\nPer-Session Target<\/th>\nSuggested Structure<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Complete beginner<\/td>\n16-20 total<\/td>\n2 sets of 8-10, lifting arms and legs a few inches, holding briefly at the top<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beginner (1-3 months)<\/td>\n30-36 total<\/td>\n3 sets of 10-12, full range of motion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Intermediate<\/td>\n36-60 total<\/td>\n3-4 sets of 12-15, adding a 1-2 second hold at the top of each rep<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Advanced<\/td>\n60-80 total<\/td>\n4 sets of 15-20, or alternating opposite arm\/opposite leg for a slower tempo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Older adults \/ back-sensitive<\/td>\n12-16 total<\/td>\n2 sets of 6-8, small range of motion, no hold<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

These are bodyweight-and-gravity numbers — a Superman needs no equipment and no anchor, since gravity is doing the resisting the moment you lift your limbs off the floor. Quality matters more than count: a controlled lift that stops well short of hyperextension beats a bigger number that bounces off the floor between reps. If you feel pinching or sharp pain in your lower back rather than a working sensation through your glutes and spinal erectors, shrink the range before you add reps.<\/p>\n

A 30-Day Superman Progression Plan<\/h2>\n

Week 1: 2 sets of 8-10, three days that week. Week 2: 3 sets of 10, again three days that week. Week 3: 3-4 sets of 12, three days that week, adding a 1-2 second hold at the top of each rep. Week 4: 4 sets of 15-18, holding a 2-second squeeze at the top, three days that week. Three sessions a week is the plan’s own frequency, not just a suggestion — repeated spinal extension work wants a rest day between sessions the same way rotational core work does, so running this daily would work against the progression rather than speed it up. By day 30, a beginner who started at 8-10 a set can commonly hold clean form through 15-18, which lands inside the table’s advanced row.<\/p>\n

Where Supermans Fit in a Real Program<\/h2>\n

Supermans are the extension half of a core routine that’s usually all flexion — crunches and leg raises curl the spine forward, and a program that only does that builds an imbalance the lower back eventually notices. Two or three sets, twice a week, alongside your regular core work covers the gap. Daily Burn’s at-home programs pair full-body workout videos with 1:1 nutrition coaching, so posterior-chain work like this gets programmed in rather than left for you to remember on your own — and you can try it risk-free, backed by a money-back guarantee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n

Can you do Supermans every day?<\/h3>\n

You can, but most guidance recommends resting a day between sessions, the same reasoning as the plan above: it’s spinal extension under load, and the lower back recovers better with a day off between sessions than it does grinding through daily volume. Three non-consecutive days a week is the base recommendation here, not a fallback for advanced lifters only.<\/p>\n

What muscles do Supermans work?<\/h3>\n

Primarily the spinal erectors running the length of your lower and mid back, with real involvement from the glutes and hamstrings on the leg-lift side of the movement. It’s one of the few bodyweight moves that trains the back extensors directly rather than as a stabilizer.<\/p>\n

Are Supermans bad for your back?<\/h3>\n

Not when done with a controlled range and a brief hold rather than a fast, bouncing lift. Anyone with an existing lower-back injury or a history of spinal issues should check with a clinician before adding loaded spinal extension to a routine, the same caveat that applies to any back-loading exercise.<\/p>\n

For a broader routine, see our Best Back Exercises You Can Do at Home<\/a> and Best Lower Back Exercises<\/a> guides, or pair this with how many crunches you should do a day<\/a> to balance flexion and extension work in the same week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people can safely do 16-20 Superman raises a session as a complete beginner, working up toward 60-80 at an advanced level, spread across three non-consecutive days a week rather than daily. Supermans load the lower back and glutes against gravity alone, and unlike ab-flexion moves (crunches, leg raises), the muscles you’re working are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":185179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185160,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185159\/revisions\/185160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}