Often people neglect direct core training, leaving gains on the table. The core has many important functions, playing a key role in exercises and activities in the gym, sport and in daily life.

One of these important functions of the core is the ability to work in the transverse plane to produce and resist rotational forces.

What is the Difference Between Rotation and Anti-Rotation Exercises

Rotation exercises work the core and obliques through isotonic contractions (moving through rotational), whereas anti-rotation exercise work the muscles isometrically (resisting rotational movement).

Which is Best?

Rotation exercises elicit greater muscle activation, however, they require more mobility and are thus inherently more advanced on multiple levels, so you may find them harder than anti-rotational exercises if you are a beginner. Therefore, we recommend putting a greater emphasis on anti-rotation exercises at the earlier stages of your training journey. But you can also swap between the two during different phases of your training, even when more advanced. In this article we are going to talk you through our favourite rotation and anti-rotation exercises to get a rock-solid core…

Top 11 Rotation and Anti-Rotation Exercises

1 - Pallof Press

• Stand with your feet shoulder with apart, with a cable attachment attached to a Cable in your hands, held tight to your chest, pulling perpendicularly from you.

• Step away from the cable system until you feel resistance on the cable, keeping the handle in the middle of your chest.

• Press your hands out toward the wall in front of you until your elbows are locked out, keeping your hands in line with your midline throughout, resisting the forces trying to pull you into rotation, before returning to your start position.

• Perform multiple reps on one side before swapping sides and repeating the same.

Benefits - The pallof press with a bilateral stance has a large base of support, allowing you to load up the resistance heavily, allowing you to massively improve your anti-rotation strength.

2 - Unilateral Dumbbell RDL

• Stand tall on one foot with a Dumbbell in the same corresponding hand.

• With your back leg staying straight and raised off the floor, reach back to the wall behind you with your heel, until you feel a nice stretch in your hamstrings, thinking about pointing your knee to the floor throughout.

• Reverse the movement to stand back up and complete the rep.

Benefits - The unilateral Dumbbell RDL uses a small base of support and uneven loading to challenge your stability in the transverse plane (along with other elements of stability, like the ankles) in order to effectively, unilaterally load the hamstrings and glutes.

3 - Alternating Dumbbell Renegade Row

• Assume a high plank position, with your hands holding dumbbells.

• Lift one dumbbell off the floor, pulling you elbow past your torso, focusing on keeping the rest of your body still, as if balancing a tennis ball on your back that you don’t want to fall off.

• Repeat on the other side, alternating between the two for the desired reps.

Benefits - The renegade row is a very challenging variation that challenges your anti-rotational abilities, while moving your upper body, which also works on your upper body strength and full body coordination.

4 - Plank Shoulder Taps

• Assume a high plank position.

• Lift one hand off the floor and touch your opposite shoulder, focusing on keeping the rest of your body still, as if balancing a tennis ball on your back that you don’t want to fall off.

• Repeat on the other side, alternating between the two for the desired reps

Benefits - This is a great regression to the renegade row if they are too hard and can also be done during home workouts if you don’t have access to dumbbells.

5 - Bird-Dog

• Assume an all-fours position.

• Simultaneously reach towards the wall in front of you with one hand and the wall behind you with the leg on the opposing side, before returning to the start position.

• Focus on keeping the rest of your body still.

• Repeat on the other side, alternating between the two for the desired reps.

Benefits - This is another great anti-rotational core exercise that can be used as a main exercise or as a warm-up to prime you for other, more advanced movements. It improves both your coordination and core stability.

6 - Lunge Pallof Press

• Assume a lunge position, with a resistance band in your hands, held tight to your chest, pulling perpendicularly from you.

• Press your hands out toward the wall in front of you until your elbows are locked out, keeping your hands in line with your midline.

• Perform multiple reps on one side before swapping sides and repeating the same.

Benefits - The lunge position challenges your hips isometrically to avoid transverse plane rotation (internal and external rotation), thus, this variation works the hips and the trunk transversely.

7 - Landmine Twists

• Stand tall with your feet shoulder width and a landmine in your hands, with your arms extended out in front of you.

• Twist side to side, pulling the landmine down to either side of your hip.

• Keep your feet planted throughout to put the core through as much rotation as possible.

Benefits - The landmine twists are great for heavy rotational work because of the arced pathway, making it a great variation for rotational strength.

8 - Kettlebell Russian Twists

• Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet raised off the floor and a kettlebell held in front of your chest in both hands.

• Slowly rotate the kettlebell toward the floor on one side, aiming to touch the floor.

• Rotate back the other way doing the exact same, before returning to the start position to finish the rep.

Benefits - The kettlebell Russian Twist works your core through rotation while also challenging your hip flexors to keep your feet off the floor and your general coordination.

9 - Staggered Hammer Tyre Slam

• Stand with feet staggered in front of a tyre and a gym hammer held between both your hands.

• Open your body to the room as you reach the hammer up and to the side of your body.

• Slam the hammer back down onto the tyre as hard as possible.

Benefits - The staggered hammer tyre slam is a great variation to introduce to improve rotational power due to the ballistic nature of the exercise.

10 - Banded Lateral Punch

• Stand tall with feet shoulder width apart, holding a band perpendicularly from the power rack, with your arms locked out in front of your chest.

• Rotate away from the rack, showing your chest and fists to the opposing wall to punch the band away.

• Slowing return to the start position.

Benefits - The banded resistance makes the movement progressively harder so that you are forced to work hard the further into rotation you go.

11 - Kettlebell Woodchop / Rotational Kettlebell Swing

• Stand tall with your feet shoulder width and a kettlebell in your hands as if you were to do a regular kettlebell swing.

• Swing the kettlebell Down past your pelvis, toward the floor to one side of you.

• Explosively drive the kettlebell back the other way, towards the sky on the other side of your body.

• Rhythmically repeat reps before swapping over and repeating the same number the other way.

Benefits - This variation allows you to rhythmically perform high volumes of high-power rotational reps, which is great for improving your general capacity levels within rotational exercises.

Add these rotational and anti-rotational exercises into your programme, to build a solid core and leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of gains.

Check out more anti-rotational exercises with our pallof press variations guide or our list of the 20 best landmine exercises.

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond.

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Tags:; Exercise Type > Strength