Abdominal Side to Side Touches

Abdominal Side To Side Touch Basics

Primary muscles worked: Obliques

Synergist Muscles: Rectus Abdominus

Mechanics: Isolation

Equipment: Open Floor Space

How To Perform Abdominal Side To Side Touches

• Have a sit on the floor with your legs extended out three-quarters of the way, with a slight bend in your knees.
• Lean back about 45-degrees or about six to eight inches at the waist.
• Bring your arms together out in front of you.
• Now, rotate at the trunk and twist to the right, make sure the movement comes from twisting at your waist and obliques.
• Once you touch the ground on the right side, twist to the left and touch the ground on the left side of your body.
• Continue rotating left and right until you have completed your desired number of twists.

Abdominal Side to Side Touch Tips

• You can adjust the difficulty of this exercise by leaning more backward, which makes the exercise more difficult, or lean more forward, which makes the exercise easier.
• Another way to make the exercise more difficult is by lifting your feet off of the ground. This requires exceptional balance and core strength.
• Make sure you don't just reach with the arms to touch side to side. You need to get ample rotation to touch each side, and it is tempting to just reach with the arms when you start getting fatigued.

Abdominal Side to Side Touch and Sports Application

Side to side touches are a great exercise for sports that require a lot of rotational strength. Rotation at the waist is crucial for force transference from the legs to the upper body which makes it useful for athlete training. For example hitting in baseball requires great rotational strength so that you can hit a ball further or throw the ball harder. Other sports that might benefit include football, tennis, hockey, and lacrosse. These sports all require a twisting at the waist to generate force.