Russian twist form check

Please tell me what you think. I'm using 20lbs here, and I feel it much more on the shoulders than on the obliques...

http://youtu.be/b1o2usManUM

I'm going to quote Rayne-William in this one "The new SL/PE1 (Russian Twists) is a lot tougher than the old one (Arch Body Hold).  Especially if you use just the core muscles to move the upper body while holding onto the free weight in your hands with a loose grip."

And again "Five pounds is plenty. To get the most oblique development out of the exercise slower down your rotations and focus on using just your core muscles to lift and rotate your upper body while you hold onto the free weight in your hands with aloose grip."

Personally I find keeping a slight bend in my arms allows me to focus more on my obliques. Keeping my arms completely straight puts the focus on my shoulders.

Is that better? I still don't feel it much in the obliques, it's frustrating.

https://youtu.be/zhTkgFQVkAI

I also find pretty tricky to understand the proper form of this one, so my begineer suggestion is to try to execute the exercise as close as possible as the course video. Two differences I can spot is that you should keep your knees together and lean back a little more (about 90 degrees between thighs and torso). I'm not sure that these are really important points, but doing the exercise exactly as Orench does in the video will at leat remove all the first order variables fromt he equation.

JDelage said:

Is that better? I still don't feel it much in the obliques, it's frustrating.

Did you try with bent arms as well?

Nope

JDelage said:

Nope

...are you going to? 

When I hold my arms straight, all I feel is my upper back and deltoids. With bent arms I can feel my obliques working.

Sounds like something I should try, yes.

JDelage said:

Sounds like something I should try, yes.

I guess you missed my previous post. 

Give it a try.