Practice the Pallof Press for a Tight Tummy!

Training the Abdominal area or “The Core” is unfortunately, one of the most misunderstood muscle groups to train. Everyone wants to train the core with crunches, twists, bends, and other movements, when in fact, the core is actually designed to resist movement! That’s right… your core was designed to resist flexion and extension, resist rotation, and resist lateral flexion.

That being said, here is one of my favorite exercises to really work the core the way it was supposed to be worked! It’s called the Pallof Press and it’s a fantastic anti-rotation exercise.

• Stand with your feet about 6 inches apart with a cable machine about 1-2 feet away to your right.
• Grab a handle that’s around waist height and extend your arms out from your body. The weight will be pulling you to the right but you must resist. Keep your abs tight, your shoulders back and down, your chest out, and your glutes tight.
• Hold it for 3 seconds and repeat 8-10 times.

Here is a great video of the Pallof Press, although I personally prefer a narrower stance than what is shown, as  a more narrow base of support forces you to engage your abdominals more.

Molly Galbraith, Owner, J&M Strength and Conditioning

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Swimsuit Ready Challenge

This exercise is part of our Swimsuit Ready Challenge (April 2-30, 2012). Do this exercise and comment below “I did this!” to be entered to win our $100 and $50 giveaways. You may enter up to one time per day through April 30th.

Also – be sure to share this on Facebook, Pinterest and other sites to let your friends cheer you on or – better yet – join in on the challenge so they can hang out on the beach with you this summer! read more →