If you closely examine most sports you’ll see that they entail considerable rotation of the hips and shoulders. This is seen most vividly in the throwing and hitting sports such as baseball pitching, quarterback throwing, baseball hitting, track and field throws, and in MMA punching, kicking and in many takedowns. To prepare for such actions many athletes rely on the crunch with a twist, chopping actions and windmill type actions.
However, these exercises are only marginally effective. They are either limited in their range of motion or do not work the muscles fully against gravity to get the full strength possible. To prepare for the rotation that is needed you should first analyze the movement to find out if it involves both hip and shoulder rotation or only one of these actions. You should then select an exercise to develop the muscles to duplicate the same action in the same range of motion. If it involves both hip and shoulder joint actions then it is necessary to closely examine your technique to make sure that it is effective and if not, to make technical changes for improvement.
This will help you more than merely doing exercises for greater strength. If you look at some of the best throwers, hitters or MMA performers you will see that they are not always the most muscular. This is where the use of the Active Cords™ can be of great value. With them you can duplicate and develop a feel for hip rotation, as well as develop strength as you execute this action. Also beneficial in the early stages is to do the reverse trunk twist to develop the flexibility needed for separation of these two actions.
Probably the best exercise to develop the strength of the abdominal oblique muscles which are responsible for shoulder (trunk) rotation is the Russian twist. It is best executed on the Yessis Glute Ham Back machine which has the adjustability and positioning needed for effective execution. It should also be noted that what many people call the Russian twist is not a true Russian twist. This exercise, which the West got from the Russians, is done with the body supported horizontally, not angled at a 45° angle as typically occurs in a seated position. When you are seated you are not working against gravity and the amount of tension developed by the muscles does not even come close to what is achieved when horizontal. Even though this is not an easy exercise some of the best throwers are capable of holding a 50 pound plate in their hands as they do the exercise with strict form. Everyone does not need to use this amount of weight as you can get great results with much less.