Russian Twist is a great abdominal exercise for people who play baseball, hockey and golf. By fully stimulating the obliques which are the ab muscles at the sides, you will build stronger body power you need for faster swing, stronger throw and harder punches. The real reason why this exercise is known as Russian twist is unknown. But, some believe that the Russia trainers developed this workout for the top athletes during Cold War.
This is an exercise which you can do at home and it takes less than 15 minutes a day. Though it can be done at home, however, based on my experience, it is an intense abs workout. So, I do not recommend this exercise to anyone, especially people who have not done any abs workout before.
The main muscle being worked out is the abdominal muscle. Lower back will be trained too.
Steps:
- Secure your feet by getting someone to hold it or placing them under something that will not move. Of course, if you are able to do it without securing your feet, go ahead.
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- With your knees bent, slight lean back while keeping your torso straight. When you lean back, you could feel your abs is contracting.
- Hold your hands in front of you. Arms straight.
- Moving only at the trunk (shoulders and chest), rotate to one side. Rotate the upper body and not just the arms, allowing your head to track behind the arms and shoulders. Your hips should stay at the place.
- At the end of your range of motion, quickly reverse the movement and rotate to the opposite side.
- Repeat in a rapid fashion for the full number of reps. I do it until failure.
Tips
- You can also hold a weight or medicine ball to increase the difficulty.
- If you have not done any crunches or sit up before this, take this exercise slowly.
- Once you have mastered the seated Russian Twist, you can try the decline Russian twist. It is tougher, but extremely effective. Everything is the same except you anchor yourself on an decline board.
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Category: Abs 
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Tom Parker // Sep 14, 2009 at 6:14 AM
Wow. Looks interesting. I’ll have to give these russian twists a try next time I do my ab workout.
kennymah // Sep 14, 2009 at 12:31 PM
What with this and then kettlebells, the Russians sure are masters of fitness! :)