Stand a few feet away from a wall with your shoulder facing the wall. Just a warning: Strengthening often comes with gains in size as well. Raise your right knee on the side of your body while bringing your right elbow down to meet it. Squeeze for a moment at the top and return to the starting position. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a medium-to-heavy dumbbell in your right hand. 8 BodyFit is your solution to all things fitness. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. Continue the movement, alternating sides. Lie down on your injured side and bend your knees. 5777 N Meeker Ave, Boise, ID 83713-1520 USA. Hanging knee raise with twist. Stand far enough away from the wall so that you can bend your torso forward and press your palms against it, elbows bent. Since you're using your back muscles, which are generally pretty strong, you may be able to go heavier—try 10 or 12 pounds. Place both hands on the wall. Exercises for an oblique muscle strain Side plank:. Here are the exercises that rose to the top. External Abdominal Oblique Strain Symptoms Bonus: Many of these moves also inevitably work other parts of your core, and a few even require your upper body and butt. "It is so important to train and build strong obliques muscles to help us perform better in exercise, sports, and everyday functional movements," Burrell says. Amy is a freelance writer who covers health, fitness, outdoors, and travel. © 2020 Bodybuilding.com. Let the weight guide you down slowly. Raise your arm back up into the air as you straighten your leg and lower your foot back down to the ground. The best part is that you can perform this standing stretch anywhere you like as … I suggest training your obliques no more than once a week, and there's no need to use heavy weight. "Side plank dips are a more challenging way to fire up the obliques in a side plank position," Burrell says. But the abs include a handful of different muscle groups, and it's important to train all of them—whether you're simply trying to get stronger and protect your body from injury, or trying to get more visible muscle definition. That’s why abdominal strain is sometimes referred to as a pulled muscle. Our forum members shared their best tips for strengthening oblique muscles. Oblique Muscle Exercises To carry out oblique muscle exercises correctly, you need to understand how these muscles work. Injuries to the chest from a fall or hard hit. Catch the ball, bending the knees to absorb the catch. Oblique exercises that require more weight should be done for fewer reps, while movements like crunches do not require weight are suitable for higher reps. Let’s start with a side plank. Quickly read through our step-by-step directions to ensure you're doing each Move the plate to the side and touch the floor with it. Rotate slightly off your left foot as you twist your body and swing the weight across your body up and to the right, keeping your arms straight the entire time. Use this massage ball after the immediate injury phase, when your muscles are healing. You... Start on your side with your feet stacked on top of each other and your bottom forearm directly below your shoulder. However, injure these muscles, and the athlete will have significant difficulty trying to perform. Move beyond the same old side planks and bicycle crunches! 3 If you have … Well here's the secret: You shouldn’t. While keeping your feet and head stationary, twist your waist from side to side. When you add a rotation to an exercise, you can count on your obliques firing. The rotating motion here targets your obliques, but is also great to fire up the quads and glutes, Burrell notes. "The wall ball is a great full-body exercise that not only targets the obliques but also works the lower and upper body," Burrell says. Join today and unleash the power of BodyFit! Sep 12, 2018 - An oblique muscle strain can be a real pain in the butt because the oblique is a muscle you don’t think about until it is injured. All you need is a stable wall to stand against. Do not do abs or obliques before heavy lifting, because it could compromise your form on the big lifts. Abdominal strain can be caused by: Place your right hand close to your right ear. Sadly, people fail to understand that abs are muscles just like all the others you train in the gym, and the same rules apply. more exercises, + Before trying any of the following exercises to treat your oblique muscle strain, consult with your doctor to avoid doing further damage. Be the first to receive exciting news, features, and special offers from Bodybuilding.com! We diagnosed the injury as an internal oblique muscle strain. The best oblique muscle workout is the bicycle crunch. Then, flex your foot and kick the leg back out straight to the parallel position. Hold a medicine ball in both hands with arms extended out in front of your chest. Note: Suggested weights, reps and sets will vary drastically depending on your strength. In fact, building stronger obliques can be immensely beneficial to your training and overall health. Keep your back straight and medicine ball in close to your torso as you twist to the right and left. Do a push-up. Engage your waist and hips to throw a front hook across the body. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. Or, you can do them after exercising another muscle group. Specifically, there's less of a chance your lower back is going to become strained if you have strong obliques that can help support your body through any twisting or turning movement. Holding a medicine ball, twist your torso powerfully in order to throw it against the wall. Oblique muscle strain and pain may also occur due to sudden or forceful twisting or bending, or overuse of the abdominal muscles, or direct trauma or injury to the abdomen. Ready for an oblique exercise that’s a little more difficult? Sign In. Ben Creicos is a health-and-fitness writer who is passionate about helping everyone discover the body's limitless potential. When people think of abs, they think of the rectus abdominus, the muscle that, in combination with dieting and resistance training, creates the six-pack. The sides of your core are just as important as the front. Depending on the severity of the injury, an oblique strain could take up to eight weeks to heal. Many people who lift seriously might assume that they hit their obliques hard enough when they do heavy deadlifts or squats. In this case, less is more. Check out the moves below, find a few of your favorites, and add them onto your next strength training session or at the end of a cardio workout to really target your sides. These core muscles play an important role in many common activities, including sitting, standing and walking. The entire core helps us stay balanced and perform a ton of exercises without falling over or straining our backs, but the obliques in particular have an important role. At the top, twist into a side plank, raising the top arm. Lying on your side, clasp your upper hand behind your head. The obliques are part of the lateral anterior abdomen and are one of the more superficial muscles of your “core”. Do all the reps for one side, then switch sides. Toss these exercises into your normal abs or core workout. Continue to raise your upper body while turning your torso to the side. more exercises, + Hold the weight by both ends with arms extended in front of your left leg, knees bent slightly. Bring your right knee in toward your right elbow. Abdominal strain can refer to any tear, stretch, or rupture of the abdominal muscles. "Power hooks are great way to build upper body strength along with working the core, especially those obliques!" should be done before you give it a shot. The oblique muscles are present to the side of the abdomen taking up space in between your hip and ribs and are of two types, external and internal oblique. At the top of the sit-up, bring your right elbow to your left knee and twist your body toward that side. Drop your hips toward the floor and raise back to starting position or a little higher if you can. © 2021 Condé Nast. Athletes more s… We use them every time we twist our torsos, or bend down to one side or the other. Bring your left knee underneath your body toward your right elbow by twisting your torso slightly. If you're performing compound lifts such as deadlifts and squats, your abdominals and obliques are already getting plenty of stimulation from those as well. Make sure to keep your pelvis tucked (that is, make sure your butt isn't sticking out) and your back straight so you don't feel this in your lower back. Repeat this for 8 to 15 reps, then switch sides. All rights reserved. "Not only does this exercise work the obliques, but it's also a great burn for your shoulders, other areas of the core, and quads, hamstrings, and glutes," Burrell says. Complete ten repetitions on each … Sit at the end of a flat bench. Bring your torso and upper leg toward each other, pulling with your obliques. Other muscles worked include: Start in a high plank, arms extended and your hands under your shoulders, with your core engaged. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Stretching Exercises for Abdominal Oblique Muscle Strain: Stand and keep your feet shoulder-width … Burrell says these are great for the entire core, but the side crunch part shows your obliques some extra love. Hold a medicine ball or dumbbell (try 8 to 10 pounds) with both hands by your stomach. “Since the oblique muscles are active during forward bending, side bending, and many twisting movements, a strained muscle will deter all of these motions in some capacity,” Miller says. more exercises, + Oblique Muscle Stretch To get the most out of this move, keep your back straight and core super tight throughout. Rotate back to center, and push off your front heel to return to start. Say goodbye to standard crunches, and try these fat-burning exercises that target the oblique muscles. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in both hands. Bend only at the waist to the side as far as possible. View our enormous library of workout photos and see exactly how each exercise Any weighted object can be used for the V-Ups, Russian Twists and Side Bends, and it is easy to progress in this routine by bumping up the weight or number of rounds you perform. Continue alternating arms as quickly as you can while still maintaining form. Lower back down. We all keep hearing how important core strength is, so why do so many people skip their obliques? It's important to stay active and do activities that don't cause too much strain. The oblique muscles, which run up and down our sides, are usually overlooked. However, high volume and high frequency isn't the way to go. 4 1) Side Plank The side plank is an excellent exercise for … Treatment of oblique muscle strain or pull. Stand in a fighting stance with your power (dominant) leg behind you. Hold that position for five seconds, then switch to the other side. Engage your core and bend at your waist to the right toward the floor. "The obliques help stabilize us and keep our torso protected," Danielle Burrell, a NASM-certified personal trainer and founding trainer at Rumble Boxing, tells SELF. Yes, they are, but you have to do it right. But even with this ab obsession, many still fail to train their obliques effectively, which not only holds back their quest for attractive abs, but their overall strength and physique. Use your upper body to turn toward your knee to perform what looks like a side crunch. in journalism from the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, a personal trainer certification from the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and a CPR certification from the American Red Cross. Exercises or sports with repetitive movements, twisting, lifting or stretching. They all require either no equipment or a simple weight, like a dumbbell or medicine ball, so you don't need to go to a gym to do them. Dr Donald A Ozello DC of Championship Chiropractic in Las Vegas, NV is the author of "Running: Maximize Performance & Minimize Injuries." These muscles serve as stabilizers, and are engaged in almost every compound lifting movement, and almost every physical activity. A couple of weighted sessions per week is all you really need. Hold a plate in front of your abdominals with your arms bent. For the bodybuilder concerned mainly about an aesthetically pleasing physique, this is not always a goal one would strive for. Your put these muscles to use all the time to stabilize your frame, and surely you don't want your daily activities or other training to suffer because you trained too hard. Sit with your legs slightly bent, crossed near the ankles and lifted off the ground. Raise your upper body and put one hand beside your head and the other on your thigh. Start light and adjust accordingly. 2 Bodybuilding.com℠ and BodySpace® are trademarks of Bodybuilding.com. This circuit can be repeated as many times as you want, but my personal feeling is that anything more than four times through is probably excessive. Sit up with your legs out in front of you, knees bent and your heels on the floor, your back at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Catch it when it comes back to you and repeat. Already have a Bodybuilding account with BodyFit? Here is a routine I've used that has resulted in significant oblique development. Probably the biggest misconception about ab training in general, is that the key to success is volume. Do 8 to 15 reps on one side, and then repeat on the other side. 5 Prasarita Additional training, could, however, work to improve the form of your lift, and even help to increase the amount of weight you can lift. With the obliques being on the outer ranges of your waist, this can mean a thicker waist. An ultrasonographic examination 3 wk after injury revealed that pain during trunk rotations improved and the hemorrhage reduced; therefore, she was permitted to perform trunk-strengthening exercises, and she started playing handball 1 month after injury. With your guard up (hands in front of your face), take your front elbow and raise it to chest level. Lay back on a decline bench. Repeat this movement alternating sides each time. Already have a Bodybuilding.com account with BodyFit? The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. SELF may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Do all the reps for one side, then switch sides. Hold for a second and come back up to the starting position. "Trunk rotations are great for the core, and target the obliques as well as the upper body," Burrell says. The highly sought-after V-shape is often a byproduct of a healthy diet and toned obliques. Access our entire library of more than 90 fitness programs. Don't forget to squeeze your butt the entire time. If you work your obliques at the end of a workout, they won't be exhausted for other exercises where they are crucial for good form. We’ll help you gain muscle, lose fat, and change your life! "Russian twists work the entire core with emphasis on the obliques," thanks to the twisting motion, Burrell says. Many bodybuilders on the other hand have small waists tapered down from their lats. Hit a heavy bag, use dumbbells, or just shadowbox without weights. Side Plank. Start pulling your abdomen in and lift your head and right shoulder from the floor and start rotating your trunk towards the left side. workout correctly the first time, every time. In bowlers, side abdominal strains occur on the non-bowling side of the body and the majority are strains of abdominal muscle insertions on to the lower ribs.Side strain injury is caused by tearing of the internal oblique muscle from the under surface of one of the lower four ribs or costal cartilages. Rotate off your right foot and use power from your hips to throw the ball into the wall. Here, Burrell demonstrates 13 obliques exercises she loves. Oblique tears can sideline you for weeks, if not months. As we have learned, the principle oblique range of motion is flexion and rotation. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Exercises to Help. Best Oblique Exercises For Strengthening Your CORE & Maintaining A Small Waist Discover new workout ideas, healthy-eating recipes, makeup looks, skin-care advice, the best beauty products and tips, trends, and more from SELF. A torn oblique can hamper your ability to tur… Diagonal Curl Exercise for Internal Oblique Muscle Strain: Lie down with your back and the knees bent keeping your feet flat on the floor. Higher reps is the way to go. Stand with your left side facing a wall and knees slightly bent. more exercises, + The key here is making the movement slow and controlled, and initiating the movement from your core. You'll also get a bonus upper body workout, since you're using your arms, shoulders, and back to stay in plank position. Begin in a side plank on the left elbow with the left foot slightly in front of the … "This exercise targets the obliques but you will also work all of the abdominal muscles," Burrell says. with in-depth instructional videos. Start in a high plank with your core engaged. While bodybuilders have strong obliques, focusing on strengthening exercises will not cause you to add muscle to the point point where you ruin your V-taper. … The oblique muscles in the abdomen are consistently being utilized for balance, strength, and with many types of movement and activities. fast bowling in cricket). Repeat with your back arm, and this time, rotate off the ball of your back foot. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Strong and healthy abdominal muscles only enhance an athletes performance. "This exercise primarily targets the obliques but it also works the whole side of the body (shoulders, core, hips).". Side Plank Crunch. A lot of focus is placed on training abdominals with crunches and planks, but many people forget the neighboring oblique muscles. A abdominal strain is fairly common in athletes and active populations because this group of muscles is constantly engaged to keep the athletes core tight so that the athlete can perform and execute skills using his/her extremities and/or total body. It typically occurs during a forceful contraction of the internal oblique muscle, often when it is in a position of stretch (e.g. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The content on our website is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice or to replace a relationship with a qualified healthcare professional. Lay down on your favorite side and place your forearm on … It is extremely important that they are strong. more exercises. These movements should only be done if you do not feel pain and after your doctor approves you for exercise. Ad Choices. "This exercise primarily targets the obliques, but it also works the whole side of the … For this reason, I do direct ab training at most twice per week. The oblique muscles make up 2 of the 4 abdominal muscle groups in the body and are separated into internal and external segments. Place your hands behind your head, engage your core and do a full sit-up. All rights reserved. Stand up straight holding a weight in one hand or a barbell behind your shoulders. Pulling from your core, bring your body back to start position. Sneakers are her own (similar styles available at nike.com). Even if you haven’t experienced an oblique strain, these exercises can be used for prehab. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat to the floor. She holds a B.A. Our model, trainer Danielle Burrell, is wearing a We Are Handsome Printed Panelled Sports Bra (saksoff5th.com, $50), and Essentials by Nuyu Yoga Legging With Mesh Inserts (wearnuyu.com, $70). When we think about core workouts, most of us fixate on the front of our abs. This achieves the appearance of a "V" shape and it is sought after in the bodybuilding world. Full recovery from a pulled oblique muscle will occur in around 6 weeks. Spice up walking lunges with a twist of the torso over your front leg. Lunge forward with your left leg. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional prior to beginning any diet or exercise program or taking any dietary supplement. So train them within reason! This move mostly targets your obliques, but it also challenges your balance a bit. These tips from Bodyspace members show you how to train your whole core. With straight arms, hold a soft medicine ball on the right side of your body. You know, those muscles that create that six-pack. Stand with your legs spread out to approximately double your should-width apart. People with oblique strains are typically advised to rest. Bring the weight back to starting position. Think of it as a slow side-to-side mountain climber. Lift your body up with your forearm from the injured... Stretching:. Bring your left knee to your left elbow. Hold this exact position without letting your hips drop for 30 seconds or more, then repeat on the other side. Draw your hand out so that your arm is at a 90-degree angle. Some of the exercises that have been found useful for oblique strain are: Side plank: This involves lying down on the injured side and lifting the knees and the arms up. Avoid injury and keep your form in check + You wouldn't do 300 sets of bench press and try to train your chest every day, so why should you do that many crunches? Rest a barbell behind your head along the base of your neck. Additionally, you can squeeze each circuit in between a few laps on the track or before and after your cardio to maximize efficiency. "Hooks are my favorite obliques exercise," Burrell says. Don't risk doing a workout improperly! Are they really that important to train? A side strain is a condition characterised by partial or complete tearing of one of the side abdominal muscles (known as the ‘internal oblique’). Lower your arm and do another push-up, then twist up to a side plank on the other side. Engage your core and raise your hips until your body is in a straight line from head to toe. Side Planks. Other than perhaps "Arnold," the two syllables most frequently associated with being in excellent shape are "six-pack.". Often, beginners are lured into the gym with dreams of arms and abs, and some can be so obsessed with maintaining a visible set of abdominal muscles that they fail to make progress anywhere else. Because they play such a large role in activity, lifting, and exercise it is very common that men and women alike experience pain associated with oblique muscle strain. "This exercise primarily targets the obliques, but it also works the whole side of the body including the shoulders, core, and hips," Burrell says. This is a solid routine because it does not require cable equipment or other machinery that most probably don't have. Core stability and core strengthening exercises help to improve muscle function around the trunk and pelvis to reduce the chance of another strain. A solid exercise and stretching routine may help your side strain heal faster. This oblique stretch will not only stretch your oblique muscles but will also help in the alignment of your front abdominal muscles and other muscles around the spine. And as with any exercise that's done in plank position, you should also be engaging (and therefore, working) your butt the entire time. "Side kicks are primarily butt-focused, but I always find it gives me a great burn in my obliques," Burrell says. Lean … It is also an important muscle in intra-abdominal pressure and proper pelvic function, which will become important as we explain in just a moment. Now, clasp your hand below the neck supporting your head. A torn oblique, also known as a side strain, is a common injury particularly with baseball pitchers, tennis players and golfers. You'll find greater success relying on weighted ab work performed just a few times per week rather than unweighted ab work performed daily. Stretch: Always pay attention to your body’s responses to the stretches and don’t stretch if it … Lift your right leg off the ground, parallel to the floor. Trust me: Once you begin training your abs like your other muscles, they will begin developing like them. As you bend your knees, rotate your torso to the left, making sure to keep your arms straight. They're the muscles that run along the sides of the waist, from the ribs to the hip bones. Jogging and squatting without pain were permitted soon after the diagnosis. Come back up and repeat on the other side. The muscle wraps around your lower ribs and its action is to provide support for your torso. Side Strain Exercises.