EVER SEE A SERIOUSLY RIPPED FITNESS MODEL’S SIDE TORSO? YOU KNOW, THE AREA ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SIX-PACK? REMEMBER SEEING A COLLECTION OF SLASHED MUSCLES STREAMING FROM THE SIDES OF THAT AREA? THOSE ARE OBLIQUES. BUT IF YOU THINK OBLIQUES ARE JUST A COLLECTION OF LUMPS ON THE SIDES OF SERIOUSLY FIT OR THIN PEOPLE, YOU’D BE WRONG.
Your obliques are integral to any bending or twisting motion you do. Before you pull out an old bodybuilding magazine to count the obliques, you should know that even though they look like a collection of small muscles on both sides of your core, they’re really made up of two muscles: the external obliques (that’s the rippling section you can see) and the internal obliques (which you can’t really see but, trust us, they’re just as important). The external obliques are just under your skin and are arguably the strongest of all your core muscles. The internal obliques lie between your external obliques and the transversus abdominis.
Why are the obliques important? Do you think you could drive a car very far if you couldn’t ever make a turn? Could a baseball player hit a home run without twisting his torso? Could you run, walk, or even turn over in bed if your body couldn’t bend? Believe it, they’re that important to so many basic movements that we take for granted—and for some folks, they’re also a great indicator of your fitness level.
You’re no stranger to this exercise if you’ve been doing the tests in the first chapter. If you skipped it, prepare for an intense oblique assault from this simple exercise that fatigues your entire core and overall stamina.
START Balance yourself so only your right foot, right forearm and right fist are holding all your weight. Stretch your left arm above you, pointing to the ceiling.
ACTION Hold the pose for as long as you can.
If you want to make this move a little easier at the start or even partway through, you can balance yourself on your bottom knee to reduce the intensity.
Get more out of this plank variation by raising your non-weight-bearing leg in addition to your arm (see photo below).
There’s nothing simpler than standing on your two feet and crunching side to side, right? Wrong! In fact, even the most seasoned trainers often do this exercise incorrectly. It’s not about how much weight you can carry in your hands, or how much weight you can curl with your biceps. Instead, it’s about how much weight your obliques can move from a standing bend position. Sure, you could cheat through this one and swing the weight around and pretend that you hit your obliques. Or you could go light, steady, and meticulous and increase your power exponentially. Your call.
START Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
ACTION Bend on one side by lowering your shoulder while contracting your obliques and return to the start. Repeat on both sides.
Try perfecting the movement without weights if you’re just getting the hang of this exercise.
Raise and fully extend your arms so the weights are above your head and parallel to the ceiling. Perform the reps while focusing on your oblique power to create the movement.
Quite possibly the safest stability ball exercise you’ll find, this move is one that tests your patience and oblique strength with each repetition. Because it’s a seemingly easy exercise, it frequently gets rushed through. Our challenge to you is to really focus on your form in this movement and let the power of your core—especially your obliques—take control. When you’re done, and inevitably exhausted, you’re already on the floor, so you can relax. Thank us later.
START Lie flat on your back, resting your calf muscles on a stability ball. Flare your hands out at your sides, palms down.
ACTION Slowly move your lower body to the left, allowing your lower torso to twist in the process, but do not raise yourself off the ground. Your left thigh will create a 45-degree angle with the floor at the end of the contraction. Return to the starting position and repeat the motion on the opposite side. Do not swing your legs around on this exercise.
If you find the stability ball cumbersome in this movement, try doing it without it so your knees are bent at 90 degrees and you move them side to side as previously described.
Increase the depth of your lead leg from 45 degrees to 90 degrees. You can also add ankle weights to this move to increase intensity. Additionally, you can pulse one side for three reps from the top to count as one rep.
Despite what’s implied by the title of this exercise, you won’t be using a bicycle. Instead, you’ll be on the floor, crunching in two different directions to really harness the power of your obliques. If you’re actually a cyclist or just a casual rider, you’ll find that this move improves your ability on just about any bike at any speed.
START Lie flat in a crunch position with your feet flat on the ground, knees bent and hands folded behind your head.
ACTION Crunch your upper body forward and to the side so your left elbow reaches toward your right knee, which is also crunching up but straight toward the chest—not at an angle. Kick your trailing leg out straight, making a 45-degree angle with the floor. Alternate on both sides.
If you find this move too difficult, you can start with your heels on a bench so you don’t have to perform the full range of motion with your legs.
Add ankle weights to this move to make it harder.
This move is a variation on the basic crunch you fell in love (or hate) with in the previous chapters and focuses on your sides.
START Lie on the floor in a standard crunch position, with your feet flat on the floor and your hands behind your head.
ACTION Crunch forward and across so your right elbow comes up over your torso. Keep your right shoulder on the floor. Repeat on the opposite side.
If you’re finding this exercise too difficult, try performing partial reps until you can master the full movement.
Kick up the intensity by lifting your legs off the ground so your calf muscles are parallel to the ground and your toes are pointing straight up to the ceiling.
You really don’t need much to do this exercise. If you think it’ll be easy, though, you’re obliques will tell you otherwise. Get comfortable on a less than plush seat with a broomstick over your shoulders and results will follow.
START Sit on the edge of a bench or similarly padded surface with your feet flat on the floor. Rest a broomstick across your neck, above your shoulders, with your hands holding either side and your elbows bent at 45 degrees.
ACTION Twist your torso to each side, making sure not to pull with your arms. Squeeze your abdominals with control at the end of each twist. Use the stick as a barometer for your balance and to ensure that you do not hunch or bend forward.
Because this is one of the easier movements in this chapter, there is little more you can do to make it less challenging other than to perform partial reps and gradually get better over time. If that’s still too much, try doing the movement without the broomstick.
If you still want to tackle this move and are itching to increase the intensity, hold the contraction for three counts at the end of the movement and then crunch your torso forward on that side, bringing that end of the broomstick just above your knees. Still want more? Stand in an isometric lunge and twist. Switch feet after one side is tired, but count reps or track time to produce even work on both sides.
Almost every oblique crunch requires a twisting motion of your torso. The stability ball oblique crunch, however, is one of very few crunches that actually forces you to crunch with your obliques in a linear movement instead of across your body.
START Steady yourself on a stability ball so your side (armpit to hip) is the only part of your body touching the ball. Stretch out your legs and place your feet on their sides or against a wall for better balance. If your right side is on the ball, your left arm will be up by your head, bent at the elbow so your hand can cradle your skull.
ACTION Crunch your upper body off the ball toward your legs using your obliques to perform the movement. Repeat on both sides.
If you’re finding that you can’t balance yourself on the stability ball and perform your reps, use a Bosu ball.
If you want to add intensity to this movement, point the arm that is bent by your head straight up throughout the movement.
Much like the hanging leg raise in chapter 2, this variation is great for overall core strength but places more emphasis on your obliques.
START Hold your weight on a chin-up bar with your arms shoulder-width apart. Let your legs dangle directly downward so the soles of your feet are parallel to the floor.
ACTION Crunch your legs up toward your torso and twist your legs to the side, creating a crunching motion on your obliques. Do not bring your knees past your hips and continue looking straight ahead throughout the movement. Slowly return your legs to the starting position without using momentum. Repeat on both sides.
Make this move easier by performing partial reps. Remember not to jerk your weight to perform your reps.
Add ankle weights or resistance bands to up the intensity of this move.
As a general rule, it’s probably best not to announce that you’re working on some landmines. Language notwithstanding, adding landmines to your core workout is a great way to target your obliques. Some gyms have a landmine apparatus that allows you to attach an Olympic bar so there can be no shifting, but we prefer just using the corner in any room of your house. For those who don’t have a bar at home, or simply don’t want to start with that weight, you can still perform the movement with any broom or even a hockey stick. As a bonus, if you’re a hockey player, you’ll be glad to know that this exercise will do more to improve your performance than your last game of pick-up with your pals. How? The twisting motion will help with your strides and shot follow-through.
START Rest a weight bar in a corner, angled up. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart about 5 feet (1.5m) from the corner and grip the bar near the top with your hands. You can interlace your fingers if it allows for a more secure grip.
ACTION Slowly lower the bar from directly over your head to the left, letting your left arm come down to your side and your right arm cross your body. Repeat on your right side. Do not simply move the weight with your arm strength. Instead, lock your arms straight and engage your core. Focus on the very minor motion within your core to allow the movement to happen.
If you’re using a weighted bar, you can add a weight plate to the top of the bar to provide more intensity to each rep.
Most pulling motions from this position will focus on your upper abs and the initial crunching motion of this move will affect on that part of your midsection. The key for your obliques is the twisting motion that follows as you lower the weight even further across your body. If you want to skip the gym, you can do this move with an exercise band affixed to the top of a door.
START Kneel at a cable station with the cable set at the top. Set up the rope attachment and lower it down to you with both hands. Maintain a 90-degree bend in your arms and place your knees shoulder-width apart.
ACTION Crunch your torso down toward the floor while twisting, so your right elbow goes just in front of your left knee, making sure not to touch the floor. Alternate on both sides.
If this move is too difficult for you, lower the weight you’ve selected or simply perform each rep with no weight at all to master the motion of each rep.
Add more weight to this move to make it more difficult. You can also raise the knee that your elbow is twisting toward to create a double crunch motion. Do not lift your knee more than a couple of inches off the ground.
The captain’s chair might just be one of the few apparatuses that make going to a physical gym to train your abs worth it. However, most people use this apparatus incorrectly when attempting to work their abdominal muscles. You really can’t mimic the movements you can do in this chair unless you have a parallel bar setup. Our advice: Hit the chair when you go to the gym and choose a core workout that’s packed with gym-friendly moves.
START Stand in the captain’s chair with your back firmly against the back pad and your forearms on the hand pads. Hold the front handles to ensure you don’t slip. Your feet should be dangling freely above the floor without any obstruction. Most importantly, do not let your feet go under your hips. Keep them positioned slightly in front of you during the downward motions of the exercise while keeping your legs together.
ACTION Crunch your legs up while bending your knees. Twist your legs to either side using the power of your lower abs and obliques. Repeat on both sides.
HINT Are your shoulders feeling a little jammed up after doing this move? You’re probably cheating or not aligning properly in the chair. Don’t let your traps sink or your shoulders come together. No slouching either! Also, if you’re whipping your legs up and down to do a rep, those don’t count. Sorry!
If you can’t manage to perform many reps, performing partial reps is an option to make this move easier. You can also try lifting only one leg at a time.
To really pick up the intensity of this exercise, instead of simply raising your legs and bending your knees, kick your legs out and do twisting circles as you lower back to the start position.
Who says you can’t get a workout when you’re lying down? All you need to make this exercise target your sides and build core strength is a flat surface and the time to go to failure on each set. Enjoy.
START Lie on your side with your feet together and the arm closer to the ceiling bent and cradling your head. Place your other arm at your side, bent upward so your hand is resting on your hip.
ACTION Crunch your legs up toward your torso while crunching your upper body down toward your legs. This double crunching motion will work your obliques with minimal movement so you don’t have to raise your hip or ribs off the floor to complete a rep. Repeat on both sides.
Make this move easier by performing partial reps or by leaving your legs flat on the floor.
Add ankle weights to kick up the intensity of this move.
