Russian Twist
Trains the Abs and Obliques.
- Equipment
- Body only
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat or slightly lifted.
- Lean your torso back to roughly forty-five degrees and hold that angle, keeping your back straight rather than rounded.
- Hold a weight, medicine ball or plate in both hands close to your chest.
- Rotate your torso to one side, turning your shoulders rather than just moving your arms, until the weight is beside your hip.
- Rotate back through the middle and over to the other side. That is one repetition — count both sides.
- Keep the movement controlled; the weight should stop where you stop it.
Common mistakes
- Moving the arms while the torso stays still. The shoulders have to turn — if the ribcage is not rotating, the obliques are not working. Watch that your chest changes direction, not just your hands.
- Rounding the back and collapsing into the position. Sit tall with the torso leaning back as one straight piece.
- Swinging the weight for momentum. The point is controlled rotation against resistance; a weight that swings is a weight moving you.
- Doing more repetitions to one side. Rotation is one-sided by nature and it is easy to favour a dominant side without noticing — count both.