Seated Russian Crunch
Starting
Position
- To perform the seated
Russian crunch, start by lying on the floor face up with your knees
bent.
- Cross your arms over
your chest and lift your shoulders off the ground as if doing a crunch
to about 45 degrees.
- You should be
comfortable enough to maintain your neutral position and breath normally
- If you can't breath
normally, try a more rudimentary exercise
Action
- Twist your right
shoulder up toward your left knee hold that position.
- Twist your left
shoulder up toward your right knee and hold that position.
Prime
Movers
Physio
Tips
- Squeeze your chin
toward your chest as though there were an orange there to activate neck
stabilizers and prevent neck strain.
- Pressing your tongue
to the roof of your mouth will assist in activating deep neck flexors
to help stabilize your neck.
Progression
- Try the Russian twist
on the exercise ball by starting in a crunch position on the ball.
The
seated Russian
crunch exercise is a little more advanced for a floor exercise. It
forces you to stabilize your spine while incorporating a functional
movement pattern. This is something required in activities such as
vacuuming,
golfing, paddling a kayak,
swinging a bat, and
throwing a ball.
If
you are new to the Russian twist, practice just holding the "sit-up
position" for 10 seconds. Then introduce short rotation movements just
from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock. Do these slowly, controlled, with normal
breathing. As your ability improves you can push further into the
rotation.
If
you find this exercise difficult go back and practice
abdominal hollowing
in different positions - on your back, and in standing, and get a feel
for your neutral position. Doing some basic crunches will also assist
in simply achieving the starting position.
Hold each position for
1 seconds and repeat 10 times.
Hold each position for
3 seconds and repeat 10 times.
Hold each position for
3 seconds and repeat 30 times.
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