What does the twist machine do for ya?

[curling]

My gym has got a new twist machine where you rotate your body left and right with resistance. What exactly does that do? I mean I don't want my love handles any bigger so what is the point of that thing?

 

[Cynical Simian]

To give the obliques a workout that's inferior to what they get with dumb/barbell isolation exercises or as stabilizers for compound lifts. And to give the people who'll be crowding your gym for the next two weeks before giving up on their new year's resolutions the hope that they can spot reduce their love handles away.

 

[vin01]

LOL.. I love watching all the Resolutioners line up for that machine thinking it's going to suck away their handles and guts.

 

[stilleto]

lol... curling, it can't give you more fat, or take fat away.
its for your obliques, as stated. can you add resistance? if not, its really just a warm up/stretch/cardio type of machine, although stretching your spine and obliques like that IS a good idea.

 

[redguru]

It is just another machine that plays upon the myth of spot reduction. But if it moves more people through the gym conveyor belt, the gym owners are happy.

 

[curling]

lol. the ole new years resolution people. I have seen some new faces already. I wonder how long they will last this year. 2, 3 or 4 weeks before they are back to the couch and crowding my workout space. But for the people that stay at it more power to them.

 

[Protobuilder]

It's kind of the laughing stock machine, but I wish I had one. Trunk rotation is such a common, functional movement yet we don't have a very good way to train it w/ free weights. Or at least I don't know of many. Most back injuries seem to occur when folks rotate and reach.

 

[cubuff27]

Q: What does the twist machine do for ya?

A: It wastes about 15 minutes of your life everytime you go to the gym unless you are below 10% BF and can actually even see that you have obliques. It then gives you a false sense of satisfaction that you are actually doing any bit of good at all at the gym and then discourages anyone that feels they are there for any reason other than trying to fool themselves into thinking that this piece of crap machine actually does anything. After you are done with this machine please head on over to the leg machine area where you can do those abductor/adductor exercises for another 15 minues. Then please head to the elispsical machine and put it on Level 1 with zero incline and prented to walk for another 15 minutes. So far you have been "working out" for 45 minutes and have basically ZERO to show for your efforts.

 

[Jim Ouini]

@ cubuff27. No need to candy coat it

It's kind of the laughing stock machine, but I wish I had one. Trunk rotation is such a common, functional movement yet we don't have a very good way to train it w/ free weights. Or at least I don't know of many. Most back injuries seem to occur when folks rotate and reach.

If you like Chek, he has some exercises that simulate this fundamental twisting motion. It's one of his 'movements that matter', hearkening back to the days of the caveman when one had to rear back and fling a spear at a sabretooth tiger.

Anyway, off the top of my head 'chopping' with high and low cable pulley would be good, and one where you have it at mid-height and do some simulated 'bow and arrow' movement with trunk rotation.

My wife does it, but it's a bit on the side for me.

 

[wakefib]

@ cubuff27. No need to candy coat it



If you like Chek, he has some exercises that simulate this fundamental twisting motion. It's one of his 'movements that matter', hearkening back to the days of the caveman when one had to rear back and fling a spear at a sabretooth tiger.

Anyway, off the top of my head 'chopping' with high and low cable pulley would be good, and one where you have it at mid-height and do some simulated 'bow and arrow' movement with trunk rotation.

My wife does it, but it's a bit on the side for me.

i have some other good ones... one easy one is squat plate twist, you can do this with two feet, on the bosu or one just one foot on the ground.
another one is like the cable chop but alittle different.
1) but the cable at chest height
2) place a stability ball on your chest and you are standing with your shoulder facing the pulley (so your front is turned 90 degrees away from the pulley)
3) grab the pulley infront of the stability ball and twist away from the cable
you have to let the cable sort of wrap around the stability ball while you are twisting away. i hope that explanation is good enough

 

[silver_shadow]

ahhh... the good ole new yrs resolution crowd.... and the good ole twist machine... put them together and you have an excellent way to keep idiots occupied so you can have somewhat free squat racks (where they'd otherwise be curling) and benches.

 

[redguru]

i have some other good ones... one easy one is squat plate twist, you can do this with two feet, on the bosu or one just one foot on the ground.
another one is like the cable chop but alittle different.
1) but the cable at chest height
2) place a stability ball on your chest and you are standing with your shoulder facing the pulley (so your front is turned 90 degrees away from the pulley)
3) grab the pulley infront of the stability ball and twist away from the cable
you have to let the cable sort of wrap around the stability ball while you are twisting away. i hope that explanation is good enough

Wouldn't a "Windshield Wiper" accomplish similar movement?

Crossfit.com has a slideshow at the bottom of their exercises list.

 

[wakefib]

Wouldn't a "Windshield Wiper" accomplish similar movement?

Crossfit.com has a slideshow at the bottom of their exercises list.

for some reason the slide show didn't open...

 

[redguru]

for some reason the slide show didn't open...

It's a javascript slideshow, you may not have java installed, or maybe an old version.