Oblique Exercises: The Best Moves for Side Abs
Crunches train the muscle down the front of your stomach and do almost nothing for the sides. If you have been doing ab work for months and the sides of your waist feel untouched, that is why.
The best oblique exercises are side planks, Pallof presses, dead bugs, bicycle crunches and suitcase carries. Between them they cover the three jobs the obliques actually do: rotating your torso, bending it sideways, and resisting both when something tries to twist you.
An awkward point most oblique articles skip. A great many people searching for oblique exercises also want a smaller waist. Those two goals pull in opposite directions, because building a muscle makes it bigger. There is a section below on how to train obliques properly without working against yourself, and it changes which exercises you should pick.
What your obliques actually are
You have two oblique layers on each side, running at angles across your midsection like the two halves of a chevron.
| Muscle | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| External oblique | Outer layer, fibres angled down and forward | Rotates you to the opposite side, bends you sideways |
| Internal oblique | Underneath, fibres angled the other way | Rotates you to the same side, bends you sideways |
| Transverse abdominis | Deepest layer, wraps horizontally | Compresses the waist, braces the trunk |
The angles matter. Because the two layers run in opposite directions, your right external oblique and your left internal oblique work together to twist you left. That is why almost every rotation exercise trains both sides at once, just in different roles.
Practically, the obliques have three jobs, and a complete programme needs all three:
- Rotation. Twisting your ribcage relative to your hips. Bicycle crunches, Russian twists, cable-style band rotations.
- Lateral flexion. Bending sideways. Side bends and side crunches.
- Anti-rotation and anti-lateral-flexion. Resisting a force trying to twist or tip you. Side planks, Pallof presses, suitcase carries. This is the category most people never train and the one with the most carry-over to everything else.
That third category is worth dwelling on. In ordinary life and in most training, your obliques mainly work to stop movement rather than create it. They brace when you carry shopping in one hand, when you press a dumbbell one-armed, when you row. Training them to resist is more useful than training them to twist.
Training obliques when you want a smaller waist
Here is the tension worth being straight about, because a lot of oblique content sells both outcomes at once and they are not fully compatible.
Muscle you build gets bigger. The obliques sit at the sides of your waist. So heavily loaded oblique training can, over time, make your midsection measure slightly wider. That is not a scare story and the effect is modest, but it is real, and it is the opposite of what many people doing side bends with heavy dumbbells are hoping for.
Two things follow, depending on which you actually want.
| If your goal is | Train obliques like this |
|---|---|
| Core strength and injury resistance | Anything goes. Load it, add weight, progress normally |
| A visibly smaller waist | Anti-rotation and bracing work, bodyweight or light. Skip loaded side bends |
| Visible definition at the sides | Train them normally, but body fat is what decides whether they show |
The last row is the one people most often get wrong. No amount of oblique work removes fat from the sides of your waist, because you cannot reduce fat from a specific area by training the muscle beneath it. Definition at the sides is a body fat outcome. The training builds the muscle that shows once the fat is lower, and how to get a flat stomach covers that side properly.
The workout further down is built for the middle row, since that suits most people reading this. If pure strength is your aim, load the same exercises harder.
The side bend question
Weighted side bends come up on every oblique list, so they deserve a direct answer rather than being quietly omitted.
They are not dangerous and they do train the obliques through lateral flexion. The problem is that they are the single most direct way to add size to the sides of your waist, using a heavy weight through a short range on a muscle that is already prone to responding.
So: if you want a stronger, thicker trunk for sport or heavy lifting, weighted side bends are a reasonable tool. If you are here because you want your waist to look narrower, they are working against you and the exercises below do the useful part of the job without that trade-off.
Unweighted side bends, done for a stretch rather than as a strength exercise, are a different thing and are fine either way.
Ten oblique exercises
Grouped by the three jobs. You need a floor, and a dumbbell or a resistance band helps for a few of them.
1. Side plank
Lie on your side, forearm on the floor with the elbow directly under your shoulder, legs stacked. Lift your hips so your body makes a straight line from ankle to head. Hold, breathing normally, then swap sides.
The safest place to start and the best single oblique exercise there is. Begin with 20 seconds each side and build toward 45. If that is too hard, drop your bottom knee to the floor, which cuts the load substantially without changing what is working. 3 holds each side.
2. Pallof press
Anchor a resistance band at chest height, to a door handle or a table leg. Stand side-on to it, holding the band at your chest with both hands, far enough away that there is real tension. Press your hands straight out in front of you, resist the band’s pull to rotate you, then bring them back.
Pure anti-rotation, and the exercise that best represents what the obliques really do. Nothing visibly moves except your arms, which is exactly the point. 10 to 12 each side. The resistance band guide covers what to buy if you have none.
3. Dead bug
Lie on your back, arms pointing at the ceiling, knees bent at 90 degrees above your hips. Press your lower back gently into the floor and keep it there. Slowly lower your right arm behind your head and straighten your left leg toward the floor at the same time. Return, then swap sides.
Looks gentle and is not, once you keep your lower back flat throughout. The moment your back arches away from the floor, you have gone too far. 8 to 10 each side.
4. Suitcase carry
Pick up one dumbbell, a loaded shopping bag or a full water container in one hand. Stand tall, shoulders level, and walk slowly for 20 to 30 seconds without letting yourself lean toward or away from the weight. Swap hands.
The most practical oblique exercise on the list, because it is a thing you already do badly most weeks. The obliques on the opposite side to the weight work to stop you tipping. 2 walks each side.
5. Bird dog
On hands and knees, hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Extend your right arm forward and your left leg back at the same time, keeping your hips level and your back flat. Hold two seconds, return, swap.
Anti-rotation again, this time with your bodyweight. Put a full glass on your lower back if you want to know whether your hips are really staying level. 8 to 10 each side.
6. Bicycle crunch
Lie on your back, hands lightly behind your head, knees bent. Bring your right elbow and left knee toward each other while straightening your right leg, then alternate. Move slowly rather than pedalling fast.
The rotation exercise most people already know, and genuinely effective when done slowly. Do not pull on your neck. If your hands are yanking your head forward, cross them over your chest instead. 10 to 12 each side.
7. Side plank with hip dip
From a side plank, lower your hip toward the floor under control, then lift it back to the straight-line position and slightly beyond. Small range, slow tempo.
Lateral flexion using only your bodyweight, which gives you the movement without the loading concern that comes with weighted side bends. 8 to 10 each side, once side planks are comfortable.
8. Band or towel rotation
Anchor a band at chest height as for the Pallof press. Stand side-on, arms straight out in front holding the band, and rotate your torso away from the anchor, keeping your arms locked and your hips facing forward. Return slowly.
Rotation under resistance, which bodyweight work cannot really provide. Keep the movement coming from your ribcage rather than your hips swinging. 10 to 12 each side.
9. Side-lying leg raise with reach
Lie on your side, legs straight and stacked. Lift both legs a few centimetres off the floor while reaching your top arm toward your feet, so your ribcage lifts slightly too. Hold, lower.
Trains lateral flexion from both ends at once. Harder than it looks. 8 to 10 each side.
10. Single-arm overhead carry
Press one dumbbell overhead and lock the arm straight. Walk slowly for 15 to 20 seconds, keeping your ribs down and refusing to lean sideways. Swap arms.
The hardest anti-lateral-flexion exercise here, and excellent for shoulder stability as well. Start considerably lighter than you would for a suitcase carry. 2 walks each side.
The oblique workout
Weighted toward anti-rotation, which is where the value is, with rotation and lateral flexion represented rather than dominant. Warm up first, and the warm-up routine covers it.
| # | Exercise | Sets and reps | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Side plank | 3 x 20 to 45 sec each side | Anti-lateral flexion |
| 2 | Pallof press | 3 x 10 each side | Anti-rotation |
| 3 | Dead bug | 3 x 8 each side | Anti-extension and rotation |
| 4 | Bicycle crunch | 2 x 10 each side | Rotation |
| 5 | Side plank hip dip | 2 x 8 each side | Lateral flexion |
| 6 | Suitcase carry | 2 x 25 sec each side | Anti-lateral flexion |
About 20 minutes. Twice a week, with at least a day between sessions. No equipment? Drop exercise two and add a bird dog, which needs nothing at all.
Your obliques also work hard in any single-sided exercise you already do, so single-arm rows, one-arm presses and split squats all count toward the total. Add this session on top of a normal week rather than instead of it, and the beginner core workout covers the front and deep layers.
Oblique strain: when it is an injury, not soreness
A pulled oblique is a common enough injury that it is worth knowing the difference before you train through something you should not.
Normal training soreness is a general ache across the side of your midsection, appears a day or two after a session, feels worse when you first move and eases as you warm up, and settles within three or four days.
A strain feels different. Typical signs:
- Sudden sharp pain during a specific movement, often a twist, a cough, or a hard sneeze, rather than gradual onset afterwards
- Pain at one identifiable point rather than spread across the area
- It hurts to laugh, cough, sneeze or take a deep breath
- Pain when you twist toward or away from that side, or when you sit up from lying down
- Bruising or swelling, in more significant cases
Oblique strains are slow to heal, often several weeks, and they are easy to re-injure by returning too early. The general approach is to rest from anything that reproduces the pain, keep moving gently within a comfortable range, and rebuild with isometric work such as short side planks before returning to rotation.
See a doctor or physiotherapist if the pain is severe, if you cannot take a deep breath comfortably, if there is significant bruising, or if it has not improved in a couple of weeks. Sudden pain in the side of the trunk is not always muscular, and it is worth having checked rather than assumed.
Five mistakes
- Only doing rotation. Russian twists and bicycle crunches are the exercises everyone knows, and anti-rotation work has more carry-over to everything else you do.
- Heavy weighted side bends when you want a narrower waist. Covered above. They build the muscle at the sides of the waist, which is the opposite of the goal.
- Rushing rotation exercises. Fast bicycle crunches become a momentum drill. Slow enough that each rep is deliberate.
- Pulling on your neck. Hands rest lightly behind the head or cross over the chest. If your neck aches afterwards, that is the cause.
- Expecting oblique work to burn side fat. Spot reduction does not work. Training builds the muscle; body fat decides whether it is visible.
More general ones in common beginner workout mistakes.
For the anti-rotation half of oblique training, see plank shoulder taps.
Where to go next
Obliques are one part of a core, not the whole thing. The beginner core workout covers the front and deep layers, the lower ab workout and upper ab workout go into the rectus abdominis, and the ab workout with dumbbells is the loaded version.
If your real goal is a narrower waist rather than stronger obliques, how to get a flat stomach and how to get rid of love handles are the more useful reads, and both are honest about what training can and cannot do.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best oblique exercises?
Side planks, Pallof presses, dead bugs, suitcase carries and bicycle crunches. Together they cover rotation, lateral flexion and resisting both, which is the full range of what the obliques do.
Do oblique exercises make your waist bigger?
Heavily loaded oblique training can add a modest amount of width over time, because building a muscle makes it bigger and the obliques sit at the sides of your waist. Bodyweight and anti-rotation work builds strength without much size, which is the better choice if a narrower waist is the goal.
What is the difference between internal and external obliques?
They are two layers with fibres running in opposite directions. The external oblique is on the outside and rotates you toward the opposite side. The internal oblique sits underneath and rotates you toward the same side. Most exercises train both.
Are side bends good or bad for obliques?
They are effective at building the obliques, which makes them useful for trunk strength and counterproductive if you want a narrower waist. Unweighted side bends done as a stretch are fine either way.
How often should I train obliques?
Twice a week is plenty, with a day between sessions. Your obliques also work in every single-arm and single-leg exercise you do, so count those toward the total rather than adding on top.
Will oblique exercises get rid of love handles?
No. Training a muscle does not burn the fat sitting over it, so oblique work will not reduce fat at the sides of your waist. Overall fat loss does that, and the oblique training builds the muscle that becomes visible once it happens.
How do I know if I have pulled an oblique?
A strain usually causes sudden sharp pain at one specific point during a twist, cough or sneeze, and it hurts to laugh, cough or breathe deeply afterwards. Ordinary soreness is a general ache that appears a day later and eases as you warm up. See a doctor if it is severe or not improving within a couple of weeks.
Do crunches work the obliques?
Barely. Standard crunches and sit-ups mainly train the rectus abdominis down the front. You need movements that twist, bend sideways or resist those forces to reach the obliques properly.
This article is general information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have a back condition, an existing abdominal or oblique injury, are pregnant or recently postnatal, or have any hernia, check with a doctor or physiotherapist before starting. Sudden or severe pain in the side of your trunk should be assessed rather than trained through. General activity guidance from the NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64.
