Craving a Strong Core? Try These Anti-Rotation Moves!

There’s a “core” fact that us fitness professionals wish was more widely understood with the public. A strong core  - one that supports the upper and lower body is not represented by social media boasted 6 packs.

​In fact, someone with NO 6 pack can have a stronger core than that buff jacked guy online. Visible abs simply mean low body fat.   Someone with no visible abs can be 10x stronger than someone who has a 6 pack.

​A strong core is really about how much that middle part of the body can support & resist movement. The ability to hold a plank, keep the body in a parallel line to the floor, is one of the fundamental core exercises.  It’s a great place to start - but it's not everything.

The ability to hold the body steady while being challenged by movement or weight is what our bodies do in everyday life of carrying grocery bags or our kids, taking things down from a shelf, holding our workbag on one shoulder.

Anti Rotation (fitness lingo) exercises are an underemphasized & essential strategy to strengthen the core.  These are exercises where the body WANTS to move because of balance challenges or offset weights, but we use our core to keep us stable (aka not letting the challenge or weight push us around). Shoulder taps, renegade rows, chops are all examples of anti rotation exercises that strengthen our core in ways a plank cannot.

I have to work really hard not to move in those exercises. And that’s where the secret sauce is. 

Whether a beginner, learning how to do strength training or an old hand at fitness, anti-rotation core exercises are essential to our quality of movement.

To help you understand more, I made a YouTube video below to better discuss anti-rotation core exercises.