We love the burning sensation in our abs after doing a set of seated Russian twists. This flat-belly move strengthens and tones the obliques, too, for a strong and sleek core. Let us help you learn how to build up your strength to tackle this classic exercise and master the basics, and then you can play around with our favorite variations.
This is the best exercise for building up strength and flexibility to do the seated Russian twist. Since you are seated upright as you twist, this move is less taxing on the abs. It's also a great stretch for the hamstrings, and one of our go-to moves for warming up.
As you work on your Russian twist, you can hold your hands in a variety of places: hands clasped at your chest, arms at chest height with palms together, or hands behind your head (which is the most challenging).
Lifting the feet off the ground forces the abs to work more. You will feel this in the lower part of your abs, too.
Adding a weight with the feet off the floor is an advanced version of the Russian twist. The farther you hold the weight from your chest, the more challenging the exercise.
In this variation, the abs work to maintain stability as you pull the dumbbell away from your center. It's a great complement to the twisting motion in all the other variations.
Try your twist standing with this variation that's also known as the flashlight. We love it for the intense focus on the abs and obliques. Straighten your arms to increase the difficulty. Once you master the move, try speeding up.