Should i workout obliques

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a medium-to-heavy dumbbell in your right hand. Engage your core and bend at your waist to the right toward the floor. Let the weight guide you down slowly.

Pulling from your core, bring your body back to start position. Stand with your feet hip-width apart.

Hold a medicine ball in both hands with arms extended out in front of your chest. Lunge forward with your left leg. As you bend your knees, rotate your torso to the left, making sure to keep your arms straight. Rotate back to center, and push off your front heel to return to start. Continue this movement alternating legs. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Place your right hand close to your right ear. Raise your right knee on the side of your body while bringing your right elbow down to meet it.

Raise your arm back up into the air as you straighten your leg and lower your foot back down to the ground. Stand far enough away from the wall so that you can bend your torso forward and press your palms against it, elbows bent. Place both hands on the wall. Lift your right leg off the ground, parallel to the floor. Bring your right knee in toward your right elbow. Then, flex your foot and kick the leg back out straight to the parallel position.

Repeat this for 8 to 15 reps, then switch sides. Stand in a fighting stance with your power dominant leg behind you. Oblique exercises are important to maintain a strong core. Your core muscles, including your obliques, are activated in many exercises and day-to-day activities as supporting and stabilizing muscles.

Be sure to also include exercises in your routine that specifically target your obliques. Some weighted exercises you can consider to build muscle include standing twisting crunch with a cable pull.

Also consider weighted twisting sit-ups and crunches. These can be done on an incline bench, on the ground or on an exercise ball, notes ExRx.

If you want to skip the weights and incorporate body-weight exercises into your routine, try a side plank that targets your abs and obliques as well as your butt and hips. You can also include twisting crunches and sit-ups without the added weight. Fitness Workouts Ab Exercises. By Maureen Malone Updated August 30, Then, in a fluid motion, bring the medicine ball toward your left hip. Then raise it back to the starting position. Increase the speed so you feel your oblique muscles engaged.

Repeat for a total of 30 to 45 seconds; then switch sides. Sit on a mat with your feet on the ground and legs slightly bent in front of you. Activate your core as you lean back so your torso and thighs form a V shape and lift your feet slightly off the ground cross your ankles to make more challenging.

Hold your arms straight out in front of you, then twist your torso to one side in a controlled motion, tapping the floor before rotating to the other side and repeating. Hold a dumbbell or medicine ball with bent elbows in front of your chest as you twist to make the move more challenging. Begin in a plank position with hands on the ground, shoulders above your wrists, and holding your body to form a straight line from head to toes parallel with the ground.

Engage your core as you bring your right knee into your chest, keeping your right toes off the ground. Return to the plank position and repeat the move with your left knee. Continue alternating legs in a quick, smooth motion. Start standing with your feet hip-width apart, letting arms hang by your sides. Bend your upper body sideways toward the right, creasing at the waist. Pause and then return to standing while squeezing your left side obliques. Repeat on the left side, being sure to keep the weight close to your body as you bend.

Continue alternating sides. Simultaneously lift your left arm and right leg. Pause for 5 to 10 seconds before lowering. Repeat on the other side. If you want to make it harder, elevate your knees so they hover just a few inches off of the floor. Dig your toes into the floor and slightly elevate your knees so they hover just a few inches above the ground. Simultaneously rotate your torso to the right and drive your left knee and your right elbow toward each other so they meet in front of your chest.

Pause, and then reverse the movement. Alternate sides with each rep. Prop yourself up on your left forearm and raise your hips so your body is straight from ankles to head. Get into a pushup position with your hands underneath your shoulders and your body forming a straight line from your head to your heels.

One at a time, swing your legs out to the side without bending your knee. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the right side of your body facing the post.

Holding it with both hands, take a step or two away from the post to create more tension in the band. Extend your arms out in front of you, pressing the band away from your body. Assume a plank position with your forearms on a Swiss ball.

Raise your right knee toward your left elbow, lower, and then raise your left knee toward your right elbow. Begin slowly to practice and then try to move as quickly as you can.

Attach a rope handle to the high pulley of a cable station. Kneel down next to the handle so your right side faces the machine. Your outside knee should be on the floor and your inside knee should be at a degree angle. With both hands use an overhand grip to hold the rope and pull it from above your right shoulder to below your right hip rotating your torso as little as possible. Perform this movement in a split-squat position for an additional stability challenge and muscle burn.

Grab a medicine ball and stand sideways, about 3 feet away from a solid wall. Your left side should be close to the wall and your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees slightly and hold the ball at chest level with your arms straight and parallel to the floor.

Rotate your torso to the right and release the ball. Catch it as it bounces back and return to the starting position. Lie faceup with your hips and knees bent 90 degrees so that your lower legs are parallel to the floor. Place your fingers not he sides of your forehead and lift your shoulders off of the floor. Twist your upper body tot he right as you pull your right knee in as fast as you can until it touches your left wrist. Simultaneously straighten your left leg.

Return to the starting position and repeat on the right. Place a bench under and perpendicular to a pullup bar. Hang from the bar, directly above the bench with your legs to one side, feet together and knees slightly bent. Without changing the bends in your knees or elbows, lift your legs over the bench to the opposite side. Lift your legs until our hips and knees are bent at 90 degrees. Raise your right hip toward your right armpit.

Assume a standard pushup position.