Pallof press

What it is

Anchor a band at roughly chest height. Stand side-on to it and hold the end in both hands at your sternum. Step away until there is real tension.

Press your hands straight out in front of your chest until your arms are extended, hold briefly, and bring them back. Your torso does not move at all.

Do a set facing one way, then turn around and do the other side.

What it demands

Nothing from the arms beyond holding position. The whole movement is the trunk resisting a rotational pull.

As you press your hands away from your body, the band's leverage on your trunk increases — the same tension acting further from your spine. So the movement gets harder the further out you go, and full extension is the hardest point. That is the opposite of most pressing movements and it is why the hold at the end matters.

The work is done by the obliques and the deep trunk muscles including multifidus, with the hips and legs holding a stable base.

What usually goes wrong

Turning towards the anchor. The whole torso rotates a little and the trunk stops working. Standing with your back near a wall makes it obvious.

Pressing across the body. The hands drift towards the anchor side. Press straight out from the sternum.

Hips shifting. The pelvis slides away from the anchor to counterbalance. Feet planted, hips still.

Too much tension. It becomes a whole-body brace rather than a trunk exercise.

Where it sits

The trunk has three jobs — resisting extension, resisting side bending, and resisting rotation — and this is the clearest movement for the third.

That completes a set: the plank for anti-extension, the side plank for anti-lateral flexion, and this for anti-rotation. The bird dog does the same job without equipment but with a much smaller rotational demand, and the suitcase carry applies a related sideways load while walking.