Russian twists - technique and variations

What muscles work?

When performing a fold, the oblique abdominal muscles are perfectly activated, and the rectus and transverse muscles are also involved. In short, Russian twist crunches make your entire core work. There are several variations of the exercise. The result of this physical activity:

a beautiful flat stomach with defined muscles;
the volume of the abdominal cavity becomes smaller, the internal organs are kept in the correct position thanks to strong muscles;
a strong frame is necessary when practicing various sports: football, hockey, tennis, various martial arts;
beautiful posture;
strong lower back;
good coordination of movements;
strength and endurance.

You cannot practice if you have problems with the spine; it is allowed only after consultation with a specialist. It is necessary to listen to the sensations; if pain or discomfort occurs, it is better to stop pumping.

Russian crunches or Twist as the best exercise for the oblique abdominal muscles

The development of the oblique abdominal muscles is effectively achieved by regularly performing the Russian twist exercise, designed to tighten the waist area, making the side line ideal. The technique can be used by people with different levels of physical fitness, choosing a variation that is compatible with their anthropometric data. The main load during work falls on the oblique, rectus, and transverse abdominal muscles.

The content of the article:

Doing exercises with a ball is aimed at creating a flat stomach. The muscles acquire the necessary elasticity and support the internal organs in the required position.

How to do it?

Russian crunch exercises have several varieties. There is a classic performance, on the basis of which many others were invented.

Sit on the mat, bend your knees, lean your body back slightly, round your back, and keep your core tense. Your arms are extended in front of you.
The legs should be lifted off the floor and begin to make a fold. The knees cannot be straightened; turns against the body are allowed.
Perform three or four approaches 20-25 times, depending on your preparedness. Abdominal training should be done to failure, that is, without long rest until the muscle fibers begin to burn, and there is no strength left for the next approach.

Crunch options

There are several ways to diversify your training.

Bicycle, complicated method. You need to lie on your back, legs static, rise with a rotation of the torso, that is, the elbow is pulled to the opposite knee. A safe way for the spine is to exercise on a fitball.
Twisting with weights. This is the same fold, but with a weight in your hands (ball, dumbbell, etc.).
Fold on an inclined bench. Here you need to fix your legs and perform the exercise as usual.
Leg raises or reverse crunches. In this exercise, you need to tear off not the upper part of the body, but the lower one.
The oblique muscles can be additionally worked with an exercise that is done while lying on your side. This is a rather complex pumping, which is used only by experienced athletes.

Russian abdominal crunches while kneeling or standing at full height. In the first option, you need to kneel facing the projectile, grab the handle and, as you exhale, pull it towards the floor. The abs are as tense as possible. In the second option it’s the same, but you need to stand at full height. The amplitude increases, so the load on the muscles increases.

These are some of the most popular options. When working on relief, try to do as many repetitions as possible. This is necessary for the treasured cubes to appear. And also don’t forget that you exhale during the effort, that is, when you lift your body, exhale. The moment you fall to the floor, keep your stomach tense. It is not advisable to lie down completely on the floor; this reduces the load.

Making a fold requires a lot of energy. This is due to the fact that a large number of muscles are involved in the work: the abdominal muscles, back, core, arms, legs and even pectoral muscles. Among other things, you can develop good coordination of movements. Training has a beneficial effect on the functioning of internal organs, since they receive more oxygen at the time of work. You shouldn’t overload yourself with daily trips to the gym, two or three times a week is enough. In the breaks between workouts, muscle fibers will recover. This kind of work on yourself will quickly give the desired result.

Variations of the Russian twist

You can alternate the classic version of the exercise with the following variations:

Side turns on a fitball. The technique is similar to the classic one, but in this version you need to lie with your back on the ball, and not on a mat lying on the floor. This option is considered safer for the spine. Find even more abdominal exercises on a fitball here.
With knees raised. When turning the body to the sides, you need to add a lift to the knee and move it in the direction opposite to your hands.
With the use of a projectile. To increase tension, you can pick up a ball or a dumbbell, or a small plate from a barbell.
Reverse crunches. This type of exercise involves fixing the upper part of the body, while the movement is performed not with the arms, but with slightly raised legs. In this case, the load on the lower part of the press increases.

For beginners, you can do crunches that keep your feet on the floor. The heels should be placed on the floor and crunches should be performed as described in the standard version.

To increase the intensity of tension, various variations of the Russian twist are used:

Performing the exercise with fixed legs. The essence of the exercise is that a partner or a device that will help immobilize the lower limbs of the person performing the turns will allow the latter to concentrate on more intense body movements.
Execution with knee lift. This variation allows you to slightly complicate the exercise. When turning to the side, a person needs to bring the knee of the same half of the body closer to the body and move it to the side opposite to the hands. You can also supplement the body turns with a “bicycle”.
Russian twist on fitball. To perform this, we lie with our backs on the ball, placing our feet wider than shoulder level so that they stand flat and firmly on the surface. We bend our knees at a right angle, stretch our arms in front of the body. Next we perform body rotations.

Performed with additional weights. To make it more difficult, you can pick up small dumbbells, barbell plates, weights, or other weights that are convenient for holding with outstretched arms. If you decide to lift significant weight, bend your elbows for easier execution.
Russian twist with rotations of the pelvis instead of the torso. This variation is used to shift the center of tension to the lower abdominals. When you take the starting position, the body will now be on the surface, and the legs will be raised up and bent at the knee joints at a right angle. To maintain balance, your arms can be spread to the sides. Next, we move our knees, as we did with the torso, to the left and right sides. Make sure that your lower back does not sag.
Russian twist with T-bar. Perform in a standing position, with legs bent at the knee joints, positioned shoulder-width apart. In the starting position, hold the T-bar straight in front of you with straight arms. At the same time, we hold the bar by the end closer to which the pancake/pancakes are located. We remember that you should perform the exercise with a straight back, without bending in the lumbar region, keeping the abdominal muscles in constant (static) tension. We move our arms with the barbell to the sides to the extreme possible point, twisting the body and hips.

How to make it most effective

To make it more difficult, you can lift your legs off the floor, this additionally loads the oblique abdominal muscles. This is due to the fact that static stress increases, making it more difficult to maintain balance. Also, to increase the load, you can increase the amplitude of turns to the side. Experienced athletes can use additional weights such as plates, kettlebells or medicine balls.

If it is difficult to keep your legs on the floor, you can use the help of a partner or secure your legs using a bench or a special device.

In addition to all of the above, it is worth paying attention to the position of your hands during the exercise. If you are a beginner, then you can place your hands closer to the pelvis, this will slightly reduce the load. In a word, the further the hands are from the pelvis, the more difficult the physical activity. Experienced athletes should keep their hands as far away from the head and pelvis as possible to increase the load. The rest between approaches should not be long; half a minute is enough and you can proceed to the next approach. Don't ignore stretching, it relieves pain after training, stretches muscle fibers and improves blood flow. Stretching is enough to do after the main workout for 10-15 minutes.

Russian crunches on a fitball

This option involves an even greater load when maintaining balance, since the body position is not on the floor, but on an unstable surface. You can perform the exercise with or without equipment. For weights on a fitball, it is better to use a medicine ball or small dumbbells.

Sit on the ball with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Place your feet wider for stability.
Tilt your body, moving your pelvis forward a little, your lower back should lie on the ball. The spine is slightly rounded. Raise your arms perpendicular to your body.
As you exhale, smoothly twist your torso to the side without lifting your lower back from the ball and maintain your balance.
As you inhale, return to the center.
Exhale and twist in the opposite direction.

Is it possible to lose weight?

No matter how hard you work in the gym, no matter how much you pump up your abs, you won’t be able to lose weight if you don’t adjust your diet. The most important rule for losing weight is to spend more than you consume, that is, a calorie deficit. In this case, a beautiful, toned, muscular body will not keep you waiting. Moreover, crunches will be good helpers for you, since this is a rather energy-intensive physical activity.

In addition, if you dream of a thin waist, you should not get carried away with lateral crunches with weights, as it develops the lateral muscles and increases their size. Enough training without additional weight. If your goal is a sculpted body, pronounced muscles, then dumbbells or pancakes will help you.

Errors in technology

In any training, the main thing is to approach the matter competently. This case is no exception. If you do not follow the technique, you will not only not get beautiful cubes, but you can also harm your health.

You can’t throw your head back or drop it too far forward. There should not be strong tension in the cervical vertebrae. The head should be in line with the body.
The amplitude cannot be reduced. This technique helps to fully engage the oblique abdominal muscles.
The back should be round. A straight back can damage the spine, and efficiency decreases.
The knees must be locked. They should not be turned or tilted to one side.
Don't skip the warm-up before, it can lead to injury.

Contraindications

Russian crunches for the abdomen load the lumbar region, so if you have problems in this area, then give them up. They are also contraindicated for people with intervertebral hernias, osteochondrosis and other diseases associated with the lumbar region. If pain or discomfort appears during training, then you should stop working or replace the exercise with a safer one. During pregnancy, twisting is also prohibited.

Follow some rules to maximize engagement of the rectus and oblique muscles and avoid unnecessary injuries:

correct breathing - while lifting, you need to exhale powerfully, loudly, this helps to maximally load the desired area and increase the effectiveness of the workout;
do not lower your head and shoulders to the floor, this reduces physical activity;
your back should be pressed to the floor;
It’s better to keep your hands at your temples, this eliminates the temptation to pull yourself forward by your head;
jerking is prohibited, movements must be slow;
linger at the top point for a few seconds, this increases the load several times.

Do ten to twenty-five repetitions in 3-4 sets. Over time, you can increase the number of repetitions and also add weights. It is worth working at an intense pace if you want to remove fat from the abdominal area. Speed should not affect technique; if you speed up the pace, make sure you do it correctly.

There is controversy over which part of the workout you should work your abs in. Some say at the beginning, others say at the end. But if you consider that crunches are quite energy-intensive work, then it is better to move it to the end of the workout.

Exercise technique

Before training, you need to do a general light warm-up. To warm up the muscles and prepare the spine, standing on all fours, alternately tilt your pelvis to the left and right, trying to touch the floor with your thigh.

You need to do this exercise without weights. They will be needed only if the goal is not to narrow the waist, but to increase muscle volume for pronounced relief.

Performing a Russian twist begins with taking the starting position. To do this you need:

Sit on the mat, tilt your body back and fix it at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the floor surface.
Bend your knees, fix your feet on the floor.
Stretch your arms forward in front of your chest and hold them in this position, clasping your palms together.

The process of performing the exercise looks like this:

The athlete tenses his abdominal muscles and rotates his body to the side, while at the same time moving his arms behind his torso.
Having reached the extreme position, the athlete lingers in this position, taking a short pause.
Then the reverse movement occurs. Hands return to their original position.
Twisting is performed in the opposite direction.

One repetition is two turns made to the right and left.

Watch the video with the male and female versions of the exercise:

Beginners should repeat crunches 10 times in 3 sets. People with an average level of training are recommended to increase the number of repetitions to 15 times; they should also be repeated in 3 sets. Advanced athletes need to do 20 crunches in 3 sets.

Alternative

If for some reason twists are not suitable for you, then they can be replaced with other, no less effective physical exercises. You can use all types of planks, of which there are quite a few. The plank does not put much strain on the lumbar region, but there are also several rules that must be followed:

from the top of the head to the heels - one straight line, do not bend the lower back;
The plank can be performed from the knees with support on a roller or ball;
Walking plank or rock climbers, plank jumps, side plank are effective.
These and other options will help you work your abdominal muscle fibers.

As described above, Russian crunches are a good, useful activity that can develop not only muscles, but also endurance and strength. Be sure to follow the correct technique in order not to harm your health. By following all the recommendations, you can quickly bring your figure closer to your dream figure.