Exercise of the Week: Deadbug Pallof Hold

It's been quite awhile since I threw up an Exercise of the Week.  It's not because I ran out of exercises.  I've just been slacking on the blogging end between joining Fitness Revolution, training for the Boston Marathon, training clients and god knows what else.  And before playoff hockey kicks up I figured I should get something up before I become a real slacker.

So here is another Exercise of the Week, the Deadbug Pallof Press.  This is an exercise I stole from strength coach Tony Gentilcore.  I saw him perform it on one of his videos, decided to give it a shot and it has quickly become one of my current favorite core stability exercises.  This exercise trains core stability in a few ways, anti-extension and anti-rotation.  It can also be done a few ways.  A regression to this exercise would be to leave the feet on the floor the duration of the set. Or you can use a resistance band if you do not have access to a pulley system.  Or the sets and reps can be done a few ways.  In the video I perform the set doing three 10-second holds.  You could also do ten individual presses.  Or you can just do one 20-30 second hold each way for 2-3 sets.

Important coaching tips to think about while executing this exercise.

• Press your lower back hard into the floor to resist extension through the lumbar spine.
• There's no need to load up the weight or tension.  In the video I'm only using 10lb of resistance from the low pulley.  Just a little weight or tension will get you trembling.  
• Press your knees together to help fight the rotational forces.