The oblique muscles are one of the most overlooked and difficult muscle groups to grow. You know what it takes to get a solid six pack; the diets, the exercises, and the workout programs. Having a low enough body fat to even see your ab muscles is the first way to show them off. That’s where a proper diet and exercise program comes in handy. But if you truly want to have your side muscles pop, you need to start doing oblique exercises.

Even if you are not at a body fat level where your obliques look good, you still need to train them. The oblique muscle group plays a major role in many different movement patterns, and is an essential part of the core. You need to train these muscles for everyday function.

The external and internal oblique muscles rotate and side bend the trunk. The core muscles also contribute to spinal stability, hip rotation, and anti-lateral flexion. You cannot simply perform rotation exercises like woodchoppers, side to side hanging leg raises, and side crunches to improve their strength and function. You also need to provide rotational stresses and resist those stresses by not letting the body bend to the side or let the lumbar spine rotate. There are only a few exercises that do wonders for both the strength and appearance of the obliques.

Let’s take a look at some oblique exercises that get the job done better than traditional oblique exercise like side bends and sit-ups.

Fitness model working out his lower abs with a dumbbell doing a weighted crunch

30-Minute Dumbbell Abs Workout

Chisel your six-pack abs and obliques with this efficient circuit.

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