You don’t need to be too aggressive with the loading, actually. Typically, I’d say with start most people in the 20-40 lb range, depending on their fitness level. Progressions include:

Increasing the load, obviously
Narrowing your stance
Split stance and tall kneeling variations

What sort of load do you guys use on the Pallof Press?

VERY solid point! Nick Tumminello had a post on that exact same thing last week, I believe. Why can’t I ever remember to mention these things when I write a half-way decent post??? You’re always making me look bad….;O) Thanks for reminding me (and my other readers)

Dave,

To be honest, I’m MUCH more a fan of the rotary (anti-rotation) variations than I am the actual rotational ones. I tend to program both chops and lifts equally, however. No real set preference towards either one. As well, I’ll generally start people in the half kneeling position, and then progress them to “tall” kneeling (both knees).

In terms of the rotational specific variations, again, I don’t have any set preference towards a chop or lift. I will say, though, that I do tend to program lift variations before chops. Not really sure why, I just do. How’s that for a scientific answer?!?!

When it comes to rotational training with an emphasis on the T-Spine, do you tend to favor lifts versus chops, or would that skewing mostly apply to someone with a tendency towards some degree of excessive kyphosis? In an ideal world, a balance of both would probably be best, but I am just curious if you notice any patterns in terms of how often you find yourself programming one versus the other.

This is very timely as I have a buddy who’s looking for tips on improving his swing for softball. His current workout includes rotational training which I was a bit inclined to urge against in favor for Pallof Presses and the like. Your last paragraph addresses this. I need to point him in the direction of some thoracic mobility stuff although I’m not sure about how to get him the right training for the mechanics of the swing. I’m in a different city.

I also actually use this exercise as an assessment tool to look for hip internal rotation deficits: if the foot on the outside plant leg starts to flare out, it tells me the individual is lacking.

On a side note, back before I had any idea what I was doing (but boy I thought I did), my training partner and I used to perform negative only-using the entire weight stack-seated torso rotations on a medx machine. How I didn’t blow out a disc is beyond me: our hips were completely fixed and it was all through the lumbar. We’d do like 2 sets of 6 (8 second eccentric reps). To be young and dumb! :)

PJ Striet