Everybody talks about developing a ‘crazy core’, about wanting a six pack and developing deep power. But when it comes to developing a core, one of the most overlooked and crucial muscles are your obliques. They’re the lateral muscles that run up and down your sides and flank your six pack, and are pivotal for any twisting or turning actions. Whether you’re a firefighter, a rugby player, or just want that cut look where you have a sharp ‘V’ running down your side and disappearing into your pants that drives girls crazy, killer obliques are absolutely essential to developing and defining a power core.
Most people do the same boring move over and over again to develop their obliques: they lie down in a crunch position, and then rise up and touch their elbow to the opposite knee. While that’s a decent move, it lacks the ability to give you a full extension (the floor stops you) and prevents you from being explosive in your exercise.
Rather, to develop your obliques, do the following. Stand erect, feet at shoulder width apart, and take hold of a medicine ball. Hold it out between hip and shoulder height with straight arms, and then forcefully rotate your torso to move the ball from one side to another. Keep you core engaged and your glutes tense to help start and stop rotational forces. As you become more proficient at this exercise, expand it to include hips, knees and ankles in the rotation, but always keep your spine erect. You can do this exercise on the cable trainer as well if you’re a beginner.
Once you’re comfortable with this move, take it to the next level. Still starting in the same stance, hold the medicine ball before you and twist away slowly from the closest wall as if winding up a spring. Use your knees, ankles and hips to get the maximum turn, and then explode back around, whipping your arms across and launch the ball as hard as you can against the wall. Try to position yourself so that you can catch the ball once it rebounds off the wall, and then repeat.
The benefit of this step up is that you develop power, not just strength. Power is the ability to generate force rapidly, and is precisely what cross crunched won’t allow you to do. This is the kind of power and strength that will not only help define your obliques and make them strong, but will also help you in a variety of different situations across the length of your day, whether it’s sports, turning to pick up your kid, or simply walking along the beach and impressing the girls. As you get better at this move, try to work with heavier and heavier medicine palls, and challenge yourself to throw from further and further away from the wall. You’ll find that your obliques will quickly begin to burn, and that you’ll be torching them and developing the kind of core you’ve always wanted.
Author Resource:
The best way to define your core is to work it from all angles, which is why Brett Hoebel's Rev Abs workout is so incredible--a revolutionary workout designed by NYC trainer with a biomed background. What's even more exciting is the Brazil Butt Lift workout, designed by the Victoria Secret trainer h
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