Otis Up

How to do the Otis Up

1. 1Lie on your back with your knees bent to about 90 degrees and your feet flat on the floor.
2. 2Hold a weight plate or dumbbell with both hands and press it straight overhead, elbows locked, so the load sits above your forehead.
3. 3Flatten your lower back into the floor and brace your abs before the first rep.
4. 4Exhale and curl your chin toward your chest, then peel your spine off the floor one segment at a time, arms still locked overhead.
5. 5Keep rising until your torso is upright over your hips, with the weight tracking in a smooth arc directly above your shoulders.
6. 6Pause briefly at the top with a tall, neutral spine and the arms vertical.
7. 7Inhale and lower under control, reversing the curl segment by segment until your shoulders touch the floor.
8. 8Reset your brace and repeat, then bring the weight down to your chest before setting it aside at the end of the set.

Form tips

• Keep your elbows locked and the load stacked over your shoulders throughout — the long lever is the whole point of the exercise.
• Curl the spine to move the weight rather than throwing your head or chin forward; the neck should follow the torso, not lead it.
• Leave your feet unanchored if you can complete full reps that way — it keeps the iliopsoas and abs sharing the work instead of letting a foot anchor carry the rep.
• Pick a load light enough for a 2-second lift and a 2-second lower; on this movement a 10 lb plate overhead feels heavier than a 25 lb plate on your chest.
• Lift on a mat and clear the space behind your head so a missed rep never puts the plate near your face.

Common mistakes

• Bending the elbows on the way up: this drags the weight toward your body, shortens the lever arm, and cuts the load on the abs and hip flexors — you end up doing an ordinary sit-up.
• Swinging up with momentum: jerking through the sticking point hands the rep to elastic recoil instead of the rectus abdominis, and the whip at the bottom loads the lumbar spine when it is least braced.
• Letting the arms drift forward of vertical: the weight stops resisting trunk flexion and instead hangs off the shoulders, which is both less effective and rough on the shoulder joint over volume.
• Slamming the eccentric: dropping back to the floor skips the half of the rep where the abs work hardest and can bang the load against the ground behind your head.
• Yanking against a foot anchor: hooking the feet and pulling hard lets the hip flexors alone finish the rep, so the abs get less work than the load on the bar suggests.

Frequently asked questions