Anti-Rotation

If you have a weak, floppy midsection you are weak in the arms and legs, more importantly, though, you are  putting yourself at risk for injury. Try doing a complicated movement, or an uncomplicated movement  at high intensity, without a strong and stable core and you are risking injury to your back, shoulders and knees. Mike Robertson talks about a study on his blog. It says “ in a study by Sherry [1], injured athletes who completed a rehabilitation protocol that included core stability exercises not only got back on the field faster than controls, but only 7% reported another injury in the next year.  In comparison, 70% of the controls suffered a recurrence of their hamstring injury in the following year.” They added in core stability exercises – that’s the only difference! Wow!

By the way, before I forget to mention, your “core” is more than just your abs – it includes the pelvic floor and hip musculature, glutes and spinal erectors, too.

Try this anti-rotation exercise to stabilize your core and ditch the crunches. I’ll have more “Anti” movments for you in the future!

THE EXERCISE:
This move, anti-rotation in the seated position, when done properly, will simply resist rotation around the lumber spine (and get some anti-extension in there, too) . NOTE: It’s important not to just swing the dumbbell from side to side or tap a med ball left to right.

ANTI- ROTATION, SEATED:
Sit on the floor, knees bent, heels into ground.
Lean back slightly.
Brace abs.
Chest up.
Shoulder blades slight squeezed together to avoid rounding forward.
Hold dumbbell to front.
Rotate dumbbell side to side by moving upper spine and shoulders.
Do NOT rotate lower back.