5 Oblique Exercises to Make Your Next Core Workout More Challenging (and Interesting) (2024)

FAQs

What happens when you work your obliques? ›

Including exercises that target your obliques in your workouts is majorly important for healthy movement and function, too—since you use the muscles for bending, rotation, and spine stabilization, strong, healthy obliques are important for both athletic performance and everyday activities.

You can hold a weight or dumbbell in your hand to anchor yourself down. Then bring both knees up to your chest and twist them down to the opposite side. Use your other hand to hold your knees down. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds for 3 sets for both sides.

Want strong obliques? Do heavy lifts. Squats, Deadlifts and their variations are among the best ways to train the obliques. This will be sufficient for aesthetics for most people, although some may want direct oblique training to improve their core strength to help them lift more weight in these exercises.

If toning the waist is one of your aesthetic goals, strengthening the obliques will help with that as well!

The most common causes of hip pain include arthritis, bursitis, pinched nerve conditions such as sciatica, and injury. Hip pain can also occur if the muscles that support the body's core, including abdominals and obliques, are not well-developed.

In this article, I'm going to break down exactly how to do Hanging Leg Raises so you can confidently execute them with proper form in your exercise routine. The Hanging Leg Raise is one of the best ways to target not just your abs, but also your obliques and hip flexors, depending on the angle you use.

But if there's one part of your core that could probably use a little more attention, it's your obliques (aka your side abs). The obliques aid in breathing, rotating/bending your torso and creating intra-abdominal pressure while you hold your breath.

If your core muscles—in particular, your obliques, which run along the sides of your torso—aren't strong enough to control your torso while walking, your pelvis ends up dropping side to side, resulting in a slight rocking motion.

"If your hips sag down, or your body twists or rotates in one direction it can mean your obliques are not working together and are weak." Improper breathing, breath holding, and ribs flaring out are also signs of oblique weakness, adds Ladis.

Normally, the obliques are visible only when you start getting rid of layers of body fat. But targeting these muscles directly with added resistance makes them bigger. Because the obliques are positioned mainly along the sides of your torso, the effect is to actually thicken your waist.

What causes weak obliques? ›

Repeatedly rotating the spine the wrong way might result in weak and unresponsive obliques. The back muscles start to compensate for the lack of abdominal work, causing a lack of support on the spine (bad posture).

Common Issues with a Obliques Muscle

Tension: Tension in the oblique muscles can cause discomfort and stiffness in the abdominal region. This can be caused by poor posture, stress, or overuse of the muscles.

The core muscles, including the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, and obliques play a crucial role in supporting the lower back. When these muscles are weak or dysfunctional, they are unable to provide the necessary support to the spine which can lead to lower back pain.

Moves such as jump lunges, burpees, renegade rows, kettlebell swings and mountain climbers could be included in such a workout. All of these exercises require core activation to complete, so you get the bonus of strengthening your obliques as you burn fat from them. Run on a treadmill to raise your heart rate.

Ripped obliques frame the abs and complete the entire area. And, no, training obliques will not make them too big — it will make them more defined as long as your bodyfat is low. One of the best ways to build impressive notches along the sides of your midsection is to do standing cable oblique crunches (not pictured).