Lunge and rotation exercises are great total body exercises that build your flexibility and the strength you need to help avoid injury. These are the best rotation exercises to build your core muscles. Add them to a lunge rotate workout to find your strength for a perfect lunge.
Why you need rotation exercises
Why you need rotation exercises Think about how many times you rotate during the day. You’re rotating whether you’re shoveling snow, picking up a baby or collecting your Amazon deliveries from your doorstep.
Being able to produce rotation AND resist rotation are vital components of your training. After all, don’t you want to throw a ball to your children without worrying you’ll throw out your back? You also want your body to be able to able to handle the torque you may feel if you slip on ice or carry an uneven and heavy load.
That’s why you’ll see a mix of rotation and anti-rotation each week in STRONG By Emily, my online personal training program. The workouts build your core and make you stronger!
The best rotation exercises include:
- Medicine ball rotational throw
- TRX Chop
- Turkish get ups
- Windmills
These are the best anti-rotation exercises:
- TRX Ward
- Single-leg deadlift
- Side planks
- Single-arm farmer carry
Lunge and rotation exercises are great total body exercises that build your flexibility and the strength you need to help avoid injury. With these tips, you’ll make sure you’re isolating the right muscles and finding your strength so you can do a perfect lunge and build your core muscles with a lunge rotate workout.
Rotation exercise tips
Think about how many times you rotate during the day. You’re rotating whether you’re shoveling snow, picking up a baby or collecting your Amazon deliveries from your doorstep.
Being able to produce rotation AND resist rotation are vital components of your training. After all, don’t you want to throw a ball to your children without worrying you’ll throw out your back? You also want your body to be able to able to handle the torque you may feel if you slip on ice or carry an uneven and heavy load.
That’s why you’ll see a mix of rotation and anti-rotation each week in STRONG By Emily, my online personal training program. The workouts build your core and make you stronger!
Best rotational exercises to build your core
When you’re ready to build your core with rotation exercises, there’s one thing to keep in mind. My number one tip is to move well THEN move fast.
I know, I know… it’s so tempting to speed through the movements to check your workout off your list but it’s easy for our lower back to take over in rotational exercises which is not the purpose of these movements.
Follow this sequence for a perfect rotation movement:
- Engage your glutes to find the power in your hips.
- Pivot your foot.
- Hide your ribs.
- Move slow.
- Then move fast.
This video shows you how to perform the perfect lunge, which you can learn more tips about the lunges here, and drills to master your rotation exercises. Keep the movement out of your back. The power for rotation exercises comes from your hips. The key is the pivot, and the power will follow.
The concept is the same whether you’re using a medicine ball or a TRX rip trainer for a rotation exercise.
Anti-rotation exercises
Anti-rotation is in so many of our exercises. If you’re working through STRONG by Emily, you’ve seen a few of these exercises!
They’re great core exercises and even alpine skier Lindsey Vonn is a big fan of them. Her trainer told Self one of her go-to exercises is a standing anti-rotation hold. She holds 30 pounds of resistance on each side of her body for 30-60 seconds. She repeats it twice.
Again, you don’t want there to be movement in your lower back. Think about creating as much tension in your body as possible and fighting the urge to rotate.
Often times with anti-rotation exercises you have an uneven load so one side of your body is working hard to move the load but the other side needs to work equally as hard to resist the movement.
Anti-rotation movements strengthen your core, add power, and stability.
It also helps with muscle memory so you work your core when you should during other exercises.
When you’re working out, include a training program that covers all planes of motion and movement patterns. In addition to lunge / rotate, there’s squat / pull and hinge / push. I focus on all three in my workout video training system. This prevents over-training, corrects muscle imbalances, and helps prevent injury. Plus, it keeps things fresh and exciting in your workouts to keep your body moving in all the ways that it was designed to move!
Online personal training
Lunge and rotation exercises are just one way to build your core. Get my FREE “Restore Your Core” guide that shows you 10 other core movements and the connection between a strong core and your health.
I hope these tips have been helpful and please reach out to me if you have any questions! Time to Find Your STRONG!
You can do that with my online personal training program, STRONG By Emily. You get 3 workouts a week, an accountability group, healthy recipes, and fitness tips and motivation. Try it for FREE today!
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