KEY AREAS: Obliques, Core, Flexibility
START POSITION: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart (or a little wider).
Place one hand on your hip and raise the other arm above your head.
NOTES: Lean over to one side, bringing your raised arm over the top of your head and keep leaning it over until you feel a stretch on your opposite side (Obliques). It’s ok if you need to let your opposite foot raise upwards in order to increase the stretch. How far you go with this exercise depends very much on your fitness level and flexibility.
I prefer to place my supporting hand with the wrist resting sideways on the top of my leg, and fingers pointing outwards or with fist slightly clenched. This is more comfortable for me because I have long arms.
You may also find that you induce a bigger stretch if you look slightly back over your shoulder as you lean the arm over.
NEVER perform this exercise with jerky movements – keep it all smooth, slow and controlled. Try to keep your legs and hips as static as possible. If it feels wrong in any way then seek help from a coach or skip the exercise for now and come back to it later.