Dumbbell Seesaw - standing ab exercise
How to Do the Standing Dumbbell Seesaw Core Exercise | In-Depth Guide [VISUAL LEARNERS]
Proper Form | Home Resistance Training
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE?
QUICK DEMO
QUICK DEMO
MUSCLES THIS WORKS
MUSCLES
MAIN MUSCLES WORKED IN the Dumbbell Seesaw
ERECTOR SPINAE & TRANSVERSE ABDOMINIS
OTHER MUSCLES WORKED:
- Quadratus Lumborum
- Latissimus Dorsi
- Gastroc
- Soleus
- Upper Back Muscles (Mid trap, Rhomboids, Rear Delt)
- Gluteus Maximus
- Hamstrings
STARTING POINTERS
Starting Pointers
WHAT WE'RE DOING TODAY
ALL WE'RE DOING:
Holding a dumbbell to the front of you, you'll bend at the hips and lower your torso and arms. Then straighten the hips as the arms go overhead.
This is an easy standing ab exercise with a light dumbbell for beginners that doesn't involve crunches - do it with one leg at a time and you'll turn it into a balance exercise for stability as well! This is a functional core strengthening movement because it trains the hip hinge pattern, which is one of the healthiest ways to move our bodies in everyday life when we are moving up and down. Additionally this will get your back muscles involved as well- another part of the core we sometimes don't think about. If you want a strong core & stronger abs, this is a good one to add to your routine.
This version of the See-Saw uses a dumbbell for resistance. This will be easier than using a band for resistance. When you use a band, the band pulls your body forward and you need to use the muscles on the back of your legs to help prevent yourself from falling forward. With the dumbbell, the core will still need to stabilize against the movement of the weight, but you are not being pulled forward.
Work on making the movement smooth and continuous - like a See-Saw, hinging forward and pulling the arms down, standing back up, and lifting the arms overhead. Don’t worry if, in the beginning, you need to break it down into steps. Focus on the large ball and socket joints of the hips and shoulders doing the work. The knees will bend as you hinge forward and straighten back up, but still soft with a slight bend, at the top of the movement.
If you are having trouble getting the rhythm of the movement, try it without weight in the beginning. If you have any restrictions in your shoulders or upper back, you don’t need to lift your arms all the way up overhead, just stop where they feel comfortable.
HOW TO DO THE EXERCISE
LOOKS
HOW Dumbbell SeesawS SHAPE OUR BODY
Nice upright posture, graceful movement, toned waist. Toned buttocks and shoulders.
PROPER FORM
PROPER FORM: Dumbbell Seesaws
EQUIPMENT, SETS & REPS
EQUIPMENT
SUGGESTED STARTING WEIGHT FOR WOMEN:
8 pounds
SETS & REPS:
10 -15 reps
PACE:
Controlled, smooth and continuous movement
BODY POSITION
BODY POSITION FOR THE Dumbbell Seesaw
FEET: Hip-width apart.
BODY STANCE: Neutral spine position, knees slightly bent, sternum lifted, shoulder blades in and down your back, space between the top of your shoulders and your ear lobe. Chest wide - this is important to avoid rounding your shoulders in. Abdominals gently engage
ARMS: Arms in front at midline - lifted up so that your hands are approximately belly level. Elbows straight or just slightly bent.
GRIP: Both hands gripping the handle of the dumbbell with a neutral grip.
HOW TO DO
HOW TO DO Dumbbell Seesaws
CUE: Movement comes from your hips and your shoulders, keep your torso still.
Hinge forward at your hips, keeping a neutral pelvis and spine.
Pull your arms back between your legs as you are hinging. Your knees will bend a little bit as you hinge down and pull your arms between your legs.
Reverse your hip hinge to return to upright standing. Your knees straightened but not quite all the way - keep your focus on your core muscles.
As you stand up, raise your arms up overhead (within comfort).
Hinge at your hips and pull your arms back down.
Repeat this see-saw movement for the desired number of repetitions.
HOW TO SAFELY GET OUT OF THE EXERCISE
From the standing position, squat down to set the weight on the floor.
WHAT WE'RE DOING TODAY
WHAT & WHY
BENEFITS OF TRAINING THE core MUSCLE
WHAT
FULL BODY WORKOUT
The See-Saw is an advanced core exercise. It is a full-body workout - using the muscles of the feet all the way to the neck. You should be very familiar with activating the muscles to hold the spine in a neutral position (the Bird Dog & Dead Bug core exercises are good for learning this), and also be able to do a good hip hinge movement (learning the Romanian Deadlift is good for this) before trying this one. The movement begins in upright standing. As you hinge forward, you pull the hands back between your legs. Reversing the movement, you straighten back up and lift the hands overhead. The spine is moving from a vertical position into a horizontal position - this will increase the downward pull of gravity and the muscles on the back of the body will contract to prevent you from falling forward, or the spine from sagging down.
Adding arm movement will not only make the back muscles work harder, but it also challenges your motor control and works the upper back and arm muscles.
I love this because many training programs, especially home ones, have difficulty focusing on the muscles of our backside as well, in part because of the difficulty in getting our bodies into a position where these muscles will be challenged.
This exercise works our back extensor muscles, specifically what’s called our erector spinae- a group of muscles that lie alongside either side of our spine - these muscles work to keep our back from rounding in 2 ways with this move:
- At the top of the movement, the band is pulling us forward, so the muscle work to counteract that to prevent our spine from rounding
- As our torso moves downward, gravity starts to pull at our torso & the muscles have to work against gravity to keep the spine from rounding as well.
It is helpful to note that all of the muscles that hold the spine in a neutral position will be active, but the muscles on the backside of the body will be challenged more than the abdominal muscles.
WHY BOTHER DOING IT?
WHY
WHY DO WE EVEN CARE?
WHAT’S TO LOVE ABOUT EXERCISES FOR YOUR BACK
It is pretty common for the muscles on the back side of the body to be weaker, and even neglected in workout programs. The classic symptom of weak posterior muscles is poor posture - slouched forward, flat lower back, standing with locked knees, rounded shoulders, and even the head leaning forward. This position puts a tremendous amount of strain on the spine. When you stand up nice and tall, the ligaments, joints, and muscles of the spine can maintain the position with very little stress. But with poor posture due to weakness of the back side, the weight shifts forward, and the stress on the ligaments, joints, and muscles increases. This can be very fatiguing to the body. Moving becomes more difficult and over time, the stress on the support structures of the spine can become damaged and less effective.
Anytime that we lift, carry, push, or pull items in front of us, the muscles on the back of the body must work harder to hold us in the safest, most effective, and most efficient position possible. The See-Saw movement trains the muscles of the core to stabilize the spine during movements of the hips and shoulders under load (band or dumbbells). The role of the trunk is to provide a stable base of support for the arms and legs to work from. When you hold the spine still in a neutral position, all of the muscles need to work together. When you add arm and leg movements, the muscles need to make continuous changes to accommodate the changing forces because of the movement.
Strengthening the muscles on the back side of the body will improve your ability, and increase the safety of doing other strength training exercises like deadlifts, squats, and overhead presses. Although the focus of this movement is the muscles on the backside of the body, all of the muscles that hold the spine will be working together, this includes the muscles on the front of the torso, the transverse abdominis, and the obliques. As the resistance increases, more muscles will be getting involved to hold the torso still.
This exercise also works the hip extensors (gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, and hamstrings) and the shoulder flexors (anterior deltoid, biceps, pectoralis major, coracobrachialis).
EVERYDAY LIFE
EVERYDAY LIFE &
MUSCLE FUNCTION
HOW WE USE OUR core MUSCLES IN EVERYDAY LIFE
1. THE MUSCLES OF THE BACK, UPPER BACK, LEGS (FROM THE NECK TO THE FEET), AND ARMS NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO HOLD OUR SPINES STABLE DURING:
- Painting walls with rollers and brushes
- Hanging string lights- anything where you are having to reach & move arms up & down and away in various ways
- Washing windows
- Lifting objects (especially heavy objects from the floor and overhead)
- Carrying heavy objects in front of you
- Vacuuming
- Laundry - especially heavy WET laundry- like sheets & your hubby's thick work pants!
- Folding heavy blankets
- Carrying in firewood
- Putting firewood in the stove
- Moving patio furniture around
- Pushing a wheelbarrow
- Shoveling
SCIENCY STUFF
SCIENCY STUFF
SPIFFILICIOUS FACTS ABOUT MUSCLES & MOVES
When you are standing up tall with good posture, your weight is distributed straight down from head to feet, with the line of gravity falling just in front of the ankles. The muscles on the back of your legs and hips are active to prevent you from falling forward. This is a very small amount of activation and the soleus muscles in the calf are the most responsible for holding you upright when you are just standing. As soon as you lean forward or add weight in front of the body, the muscle activity on the backside of the body will increase.
ALLLL MUSCLES & WHEN
ALL MUSCLES WORKING & WHEN DURING THE Dumbbell Seesaw
The core stabilizers (erector spinae, rectus abdominis, multifidi, quadratus lumborum, obliques, transverse abdominis) work
to hold the spine in a neutral position throughout the exercise. Rotator cuff (infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, teres
minor) to stabilize the shoulder joint as the arm moves. The scapular retractors (rhomboids and mid traps) and depressors (latissimus dorsi, lower traps, pectoralis, and ant serratus) position the shoulder blades.
The exercise begins with a hip hinge: the back extensors, lower leg muscles (gastroc/soleus), hamstrings, and gluteus maximus work eccentrically as the upper body leans forward. The back extensors (erector spinae) become more active as the torso moves closer to parallel to the floor.
The pectoralis major, triceps, and lats move the arms and move the arms back between the legs. The shoulder blades are rotated downward by the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, levator, and pectoralis muscles.
Concentric contraction of the hamstrings, adductor magnus, and gluteus maximus extend the hips to return the torso to an upright position.
The arms reach up (flexion): the anterior deltoid, biceps brachii, coracobrachialis, and pectoralis major work concentrically, and the serratus anterior and trapezius rotate the shoulder blade upward. The muscles of the forearm will work isometrically to hold the wrist in a neutral position.
The rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and obliques contract to hold the spine in neutral against the force of the backward pull of the arms overhead.
The anterior deltoid, biceps brachii, coracobrachialis, and superior fibers of the pectoralis major work eccentrically to lower the arm back down to the starting position (hinging at the hips).
PIN IT FOR LATER!
