Russian Twist

How to perform

1. 1Lean back slightly with a tall chest and rotate side to side.
2. 2Turn your shoulders, not just your arms; lift your feet to progress.

Technique in detail

Sit with your knees bent and heels resting lightly on the floor. Lean your torso back until you feel your midsection switch on, keeping the chest tall and the spine long rather than rounded. From there, rotate your ribcage to one side until your hands point past your hip, then rotate all the way to the other side. The hands only follow — the turn comes from the trunk. Move at a tempo you control, exhaling as you turn. When heels-down feels easy, lift your feet off the floor; add weight only after that.

Common mistakes

• Rounding the lower back to lean further. Sit tall and lean back less — a smaller angle with a long spine works the midsection harder and treats the spine better.
• Swinging the arms across while the shoulders stay square. If your chest still faces forward, you are waving, not twisting — turn the shoulders with every rep.
• Chasing speed. Fast side-to-side rocking turns the exercise into momentum; slow down until each turn has a start, a middle and an end.

Equipment

• No equipment