The one training exercise Usyk ‘doesn't like' - and why he's still been doing it for Dubois rematch

Independent

20 hours ago

Oleksandr Usyk 's training is not geared towards building muscle. He needs enough size to compete as a heavyweight, but beyond this superficial factors are largely unimportant.
'In boxing, big arms [do not equal] a win,' his sports director Sergey Lapin tells DAZN. 'You win first here [he taps his head] and second here [he taps his heart].'
Instead, performance improvements are the driving force behind all of Usyk's strength and conditioning training. And during his preparations for the Daniel Dubois rematch, the reverse hyperextension exercise – or reverse hyper, for short – has been a non-negotiable part of this.
'This is an exercise I don't like,' Usyk admits, before adding, 'But this is an exercise that makes me strong.'
Read on to find out why the reverse hyperextension can be a gamechanger for athletes.
What is the reverse hyper?
The reverse hyper is performed on a specialist bit of kit of the same name. It involves lying your torso chest-down across a padded platform at roughly navel height and letting your legs hang towards the floor. Next, you attach your ankles to a weighted pendulum below the platform via a couple of straps, then lift your legs so they rise just beyond parallel with the ground – you can see Usyk demonstrate this move 50 seconds into the DAZN video above.
The result is a rarely-matched strength-boosting stimulus for the posterior chain – or the muscles along the back side of your body. This includes the glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae and other muscles in the lower back. It also swerves the spinal loading of free weight alternatives like the back squat or good morning, making it a top option for prehab and rehab work.
The reverse hyper was invented by Louie Simmons, founder of renowned strength training facility Westside Barbell – a name you can see printed on the side of Usyk's own machine.
An elite-level powerlifter, Simmons experienced a severe back injury which left him on crutches for 10 months. On his return to training, he found he was unable to perform a simple back raise to restore strength to the injured area. So, he decided to try the movement in reverse, building a contraption that allowed him to raise his legs under load, rather than his back.
Simmons noticed that performing the exercise in this way increased blood flow to his lower back, leading to less sciatic pain – pain that runs along the sciatic nerve, stretching from the lower back down the back of both legs.
'From the fighter that has a stronger erector muscle for throwing punches out of his dominant stance, to the person that spends hours seated at a desk, we all want to avoid lower back pain,' an article on the Westside Barbell website reads. 'The reverse hyper helps for strength training, prehab, rehab and to strengthen the posterior chain for increased athletic performance.'
Benefits of the reverse hyper
The reverse hyper is not the only movement option that bolsters the lower back; the good morning, back extension, superman and any deadlift variation will also recruit the relevant muscles and strengthen the surrounding tissues. But it does so in a way that alternative exercises cannot compete with.
Firstly, it allows you to lift heavier loads for a lower number of repetitions to target improvements in strength. Exercises such as good mornings and back extensions, on the other hand, are limited by the weight you can support with your upper body.
The reverse hyper also allows for a greater range of motion at the hips, which is likely to lead to increased activation within the working muscles.
A 2019 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared the biomechanical differences between the standard hyperextension and the reverse hyper. It concluded: 'The reverse hyperextension is preferable because it provides greater hip range of motion with less angular stress and equivalent erector spinae activity.'
A 2021 study from the same journal also looked at the 'electromyographical (EMG) differences' between the two moves. For this, electromyography electrodes were placed on subjects' erector spinae, gluteus maximus and biceps femoris (part of the hamstring) to measure electrical activity in the muscles during both exercises.
The research found that the reverse hyper delivered 'significantly greater' peak EMG in all muscles tested during both the flexion and extension phases of the exercises.
'Therefore, the reverse hyperextension could be considered as a higher-intensity exercise for the posterior chain muscles compared with the hyperextension, potentially eliciting greater increases in strength of the posterior chain muscles,' it summarises.
The movement was initially developed as a prehab and rehab exercise, mitigating lower back pain by strengthening the surrounding muscles and increasing circulation to the area. But it has also been adopted by elite athletes like Usyk for its many sporting performance perks.
Not only will strengthening the posterior chain reduce his risk of injury, but stronger glutes can also contribute to overall stability, postural control, power development and force transfer from the ground up – all key elements when throwing a punch.