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Windmills.

Description: An exercise that targets the obliques and other muscles.

Motions trained: Torso flexion with twist.

Main muscles used: Oblique abdominals
Other muscles: Lower back and hamstrings

How to do it:


Stand with your feet pointing straight ahead. Rotate one foot to 45 degrees. This foot is henceforth dubbed the front foot.	Reach towards the front foot bending at the waist. You should rock back over the rear foot. The rear leg should have most of the weight on it and stay more or less straight.	A view from the front.

Indelicate as it is, the best way to get the right action is to image that as you bend you are shoving your butt towards something, grabbing it with your anus and pulling it as you stand up. This engages the abs in just the right way.

How to work up to it: You can cheat with the front arm. Run this along the inside thigh of the front leg to lessen the load. This is a good thing to do the first few times you try this, escpecially if you have a history of back trouble. This is a generally safe movement, but some people don't feel too stable the first time or two.

Ramping it up: Grab a dumbbell.

Do's and don'ts: Don't lean back. Think of rotating and looking at the ceiling the whole time. If you lean back this will put you in a bad habit when you get a weight and you might end up on the floor really fast.

Comments: One of the best exercises for the obliques. I used to do a ton of various weirdly twisted situps until I started doing these with a bell.