Emma’s Exercise
“Twisting Sit-up”

It’s time to twist! (AKA Spinal rotation)

⚠️If you can’t lie down on your back, you can do this seated.⚠️

This is one of my favorite exercises! Anything that works the obliques and whittles your middle. The obliques are a beautiful set of muscles. They’re in my top 3 favorite muscles because they do so much. They form a giant X across your belly. Imagine that across the front of your torso while you are twisting. Think about opposite rib to opposite hip. You are trying to close down that space.

This is subtle work and takes a lot of body awareness. This one takes a little re-training on how to twist your sit-up. For that reason, we are only going to focus on two of the basic principles. #1-pelvic position #2-p.f. and t.a. (core).

#1-Decide if you are going to use a neutral pelvis or imprint. Typically a neutral pelvis is used BUT if you have too much tension in the lowback then it is fine to move towards an imprint(lumbar flexion-slight posterior tilt). Use whichever position works best for your body and MAINTAIN that position throughout the ENTIRE exercise. Neutral is the most shock absorbing position but can take time to achieve.

#2-Use your core BOTH directions. Usually we tend to use our core only one way in a twist. Typically we are good about the rotation and lose it on our de-rotation. Avoid that! Make your core work to twist away AND come back to center.➡️⬅️

For now, that’s it. Can you maintain your pelvic positioning once you add movement? Can you keep an imaginary bowl of hot water on your tummy still while you twist side to side? Can you fire your core from side to side to move your torso/ ribcage?

Answering these questions is challenging and fun!

I’d love to know what you experienced while you were attempting this!

This is deep corework at its greatest!

Have fun practicing!