Russian Twist

Muscles worked by the Russian Twist

Primary

ObliquesOblique AbdominalsAbsRectus Abdominis

Secondary

Hip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

Also called: oblique, obliques, side abs, external oblique, internal oblique, abs.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Russian Twist

1. Sit on the floor with knees bent, lean back slightly.
2. Hold your hands together or hold a weight at chest level.
3. Rotate your torso to one side, then the other.
4. Keep your core braced throughout.
5. Repeat.

Form tips

• Rotate from the torso rather than just swinging the arms.
• Keep your chest lifted and your spine long as you twist.
• Move at a controlled tempo instead of racing through reps.

At a glance

Russian Twist in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Bicycle Crunch
• Cable Crunch
• Crunches
• Dead Bug
• Decline Crunch
• Dragon Flag
• Kettlebell Russian Twist
• Machine Seated Crunch

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "russian-twist",
  "name_en": "Russian Twist",
  "name_de": "Russian Twist",
  "name_es": "Giro Ruso",
  "description_en": "A rotational core exercise targeting the obliques.",
  "description_de": "Eine Rotationsübung für den Rumpf, die die Obliques beansprucht.",
  "description_es": "Un ejercicio de core rotacional que trabaja los oblicuos.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "obliques",
    "rectus_abdominis"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "hip_flexors"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "crunch",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Sit on the floor with knees bent, lean back slightly.",
    "Hold your hands together or hold a weight at chest level.",
    "Rotate your torso to one side, then the other.",
    "Keep your core braced throughout.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Setze dich auf den Boden, Knie gebeugt, leicht nach hinten gelehnt.",
    "Verschränke die Hände oder halte ein Gewicht auf Brusthöhe.",
    "Rotiere den Oberkörper zu einer Seite, dann zur anderen.",
    "Halte den Rumpf die ganze Zeit angespannt.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Siéntate en el suelo con las rodillas flexionadas e inclínate ligeramente hacia atrás.",
    "Junta las manos o sostén un peso a la altura del pecho.",
    "Rota el torso hacia un lado, luego hacia el otro.",
    "Mantén el core apretado en todo momento.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Rotate from the torso rather than just swinging the arms.",
    "Keep your chest lifted and your spine long as you twist.",
    "Move at a controlled tempo instead of racing through reps."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Rotiere aus der Körpermitte, nicht nur mit den Armen.",
    "Halte den Rücken lang, statt ihn einzurunden.",
    "Atme mit jeder Drehung bewusst aus."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Gira desde el torso, no solo con los brazos.",
    "Mantén la espalda recta aunque estés ligeramente reclinado.",
    "Hazlo lento y controlado; la velocidad resta trabajo a los oblicuos."
  ],
  "met": 3.5,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/russian-twist-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/russian-twist-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "russian-twist");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.