Rotate your hips and shoulders to your left, pivoting on both feet, as you lower the bar to about waist height while keeping your arms straight. Hold the other end at a 45-degree angle to the floor with both hands and your arms straight. Set up a barbell in a landmine core trainer, or secure one end in a corner with towels or a sandbag. (See a demonstration of the exercise in this video.) If your fitness level is more advanced, Robertson recommends the full-contact twist. Another great option is the vertical Pallof press, invented by Nick Tumminello, a trainer based in Fort Lauderdale. You can also try it half-kneeling, with the knee closest to the machine or attachment point on the floor. You can hold each rep for 5 seconds, then 10, then 15. Over time, you can try a lot of variations. “All you have to do is square up and hold that position.” It also makes it easy to feel the contraction of your obliques as they work to prevent your torso from bending and rotating. “It’s incredibly easy to perform,” Robertson says. Do 10 reps, turn and face the opposite direction, and repeat. Push the handle straight out in front of you, pause, pull it back to your chest, and repeat. Grab the handle or the end of the band with both hands and stand sideways to the machine or attachment point. Pallof pressįor relatively inexperienced lifters, or anyone who’s dealt with back pain in the recent past, Robertson recommends the Palloff press, which you can see demonstrated by Boston-based trainer Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., in this video. (You should also check out this back-saving workout.)Īttach a band or set a cable pulley to about chest height. Twisting from that position increases the risk, especially with a heavier weight.įortunately, Robertson says, there are much better exercises to use in your core workouts. For another, leaning back with your upper body unsupported automatically puts your lumbar spine in a vulnerable position. For one thing, your lower back is only able to rotate 10 to 15 degrees. “It puts a ton of stress on the lumbar spine,” says strength coach Mike Robertson, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training. So if the Russian twist directly targets the obliques with a movement the muscles are designed to perform, what’s the problem? Someone who hasn’t heard the news that no exercise can target specific pockets of fat might use it to “get rid of love handles.”Įveryone else has the goal of developing the external obliques, which have a major role in three primary movements: rotating your torso (as in a Russian twist), bending to the side (as in a side bend), and flexing forward (as in a crunch or situp). Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play An athlete might use Russian twists to develop rotational power for baseball, golf, hockey, or any other sport that involves throwing or striking (which, come to think of it, is pretty much all of them).īJ Explains: How to Plank Without Back Pain: From that starting position you rotate your shoulders to the left and right. In most variations you hold something in front of your chest, usually a medicine ball or weight plate. Sit with your torso leaning back at a 45-degree angle, knees bent, and your feet either on the floor or elevated a few inches. You probably know what the Russian twist looks like: Today the exercise seems more popular than ever, at least in my gym. Never mind that it isn’t actually Russian as fitness historian Terry Todd, Ph.D., once told me, it was first used by British soldiers in the late 19 th century. Whatever your motivation, when you search for exercises that target the obliques, you’ll soon come across the Russian twist. It’s like the face-hugger from Alien is part of his anatomy. Or you might see a picture of a shredded fitness model and wonder what’s going on with those fingerlike muscles on the sides of his waist. You might notice your own, if you’re lean enough. At some point, not long after your legs stop growing, you figure out those muscles respond to training, too.īut the real test of your muscular awareness comes when you start to wonder about all the ones in between, like your obliques. You quickly realize there’s also some interesting stuff on the other side: lats, traps, triceps. You start with what you see in the mirror: biceps, chest, shoulders, six pack. A guy’s awareness of his muscles has a simple progression.
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