Move of the Month: Core Rotation and Anti-Rotation
by GRP Rower Sophie Calabrese
Coming back at you with the final blog in my series all about your core! Here’s the lowdown if you missed my previous two articles (1, 2): the core plays a crucial role in connecting the upper and lower halves of your body, enabling movement and transferring force between them. Because of this, it’s responsible for both generating motion in any direction and resisting excessive movement, especially flexion, in any plane. It’s about striking a balance: the core needs to provide mobility for smooth movement while also offering stability to protect against injury and ensure efficient force transfer. This last blog is all about how to train your core’s rotation and anti-rotation abilities.
Just like lateral core work, rotational core work engages your obliques (both internal and external), but also your transverse abdominis (TVA), or your deep core. The obliques connect your ribs and your pelvis, but run in opposite directions, allowing them to contract in different ways. Their position on the side of your body means they are responsible for squeezing your ribs and pelvis together, which creates a relative rotational movement. Your TVA is a deep muscle that lies beneath your six pack and acts like a natural corset, stabilizing your pelvis and spine. Engaging it properly will prevent rotational movement and keep your torso steady.
Kneeling Banded Twists
My go-to move for isolating core rotation is the kneeling banded twist. Here’s how to do it:
Find an appropriately difficult band (I prefer the red Rogue Fitness band). Attach it to an immovable anchor point, like a weight rack, at about knee height.
Kneel down next to it so it’s on either your right or left side and hold the band out in front of you with both hands. There should be enough tension on the band at this start point that the band is just pulled taut.
Rotate away from the rack while keeping your hips still and feeling your obliques twisting you around.
Rotate back in a controlled manner to just past your starting point, still keeping your hips steady.
Repeat steps #3 and #4 for 3 sets of 10-15 reps on each side!
Pallof Presses
For core anti-rotation, keep the band out and stay in the same position because we’re going to do some kneeling Pallof presses next! Here’s how:
Begin with the same band and starting position as the kneeling banded twists, except kneel a little farther away from the rack so you feel slightly more tension on the band and start with the band close to your body.
Keeping your hips and torso still, press the band out. Engaging your TVA will keep your body from rotating as the band tries to pull you in.
Moving slowly through the movement, press the band out and bring it in. Do 3 sets of 10-15 Pallof presses.
That’s a wrap on my series all about your core! If you’re wondering where to go from here with all this information, try a core circuit using each of the six exercises I’ve written about. Also, keep an eye out for future blog posts where I’ll include a number of other movements that work your core in every which way.