Torso twist
Muscles worked : Obliques, trunk mobility · Spine
How to do it
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, firmly planted.
- Bend the knees slightly and let the arms hang relaxed.
- Rotate the torso to one side, letting the arms follow rather than throwing them.
- Continue to the other side at a steady rhythm, the pelvis staying square to the front.
Common mistakes
- Pelvis turning with the torso: the rotation stops happening in the trunk and moves to the hips.
- Thrown arms dragging the torso instead of following it.
- A rhythm fast enough to turn mobilization into a jolt.
Where you should feel it
A rotation that frees up progressively along the trunk, with no marked muscular effort and no jolt in the lower back.
Range of motion
Turn to the end of what is comfortable, without forcing. As with any mobility work, the range opens up across the repetitions.
Tempo and breathing
Steady and moderate, roughly one rotation per second. Breathe freely, without holding your breath at the end of the turn.
What works, precisely
The external and internal obliques produce trunk rotation, while the deep intersegmental muscles mobilize each vertebral level. The glutes and legs stabilize the pelvis, which is precisely what forces the rotation to come from the trunk.
Movement mechanics
Alternating spinal rotation in the transverse plane, under light load (the weight of the torso alone). The fixed pelvis is the reference: it is what separates a true trunk rotation from a simple hip pivot.
Benefits
- The only trunk warm-up in this library, complementing cat-cow which works flexion and extension rather than rotation.
- Prepares the anti-rotation bracing exercises such as the dead bug and the bird dog.
- Done standing, with no equipment and no mat.
Precautions
The lower back should never be the engine of the rotation: if discomfort appears there, reduce the range and check that the pelvis is still square to the front.